Finally, a good commercial

Have you seen the latest Payless commercial? Its about paleontologists. =)

Keys, tents and travels, oh my!

My feeble excuse for the lack of posts is my busy summer schedule. In May I went to Grand Canyon to help with their paleo program. I had a great time there. First, there were trees (imagine, not being able to see for miles in every direction while running). Second, there was snow! And hail. And rain. I had a nice place to stay, I went running to see the South Rim every day, and I worked with great people.

Since June, I have been working in Kanab, UT, which is only 1hr 15min from Page, but feels a world away. Utah is a different time zone, and although I try to stay on UT time, I still spend a lot of time adding and subtracting hours and trying to make sure I'm not late for work. Kanab has been around a lot longer than Page, and used to be the site of many western films. It is thrown in with the Salt Lake City/St. George/Cedar City news cycle, rather than the Flagstaff and northern Arizona news. There are some really great restaurants here, and more variety in terms of what is at the grocery stores.

For the first half of my time here I camped and/or drove back and forth. I camped both in town (with a showerhouse and even wireless internet) and on BLM land (beautiful vistas and solitude). Both were good in their own ways. Now I am renting a bedroom in a house, which frees up more time to catch up on things in the evenings.

Travels

Christy suggested I post this map. The colored states are the ones I've visited (not just driven through). Still a few states to go, but not too shabby...

National Park Service

There is created in the Department of the Interior a service to be called the National Park Service, which shall be under the charge of a director who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. The Director shall have substantial experience and demonstrated competence in land management and natural or cultural resource conservation. The Director shall select two Deputy Directors. The first Deputy Director shall have responsibility for National Park Service operations, and the second Deputy Director shall have responsibility for other programs assigned to the National Park Service. There shall also be in said service such subordinate officers, clerks, and employees as may be appropriated for by Congress. The service thus established shall promote and regulate the use of the Federal areas known as national parks, monuments, and reservations hereinafter specified, except such as are under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Army, as provided by law, by such means and measures as conform to the fundamental purpose of the said parks, monuments, and reservations, which purpose is to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.

New digs

Moving this weekend! I will miss the winter morning drives along the lake, watching the sun rise. And running/biking/walking along the lake. But otherwise, I am ecstatic to be moving into town. We have leased a lovely house, very open with nice big windows and a walled in backyard with lots of bushes and trees. Although my room itself is smaller and I'll eventually be sharing a bathroom, the rest of the house is huge, so space is definitely not a problem. Plus I can walk to church, to the grocery store, library, etc. Or also bike around town more.

Despite the turbulence of ever-changing roommates, my room on Scorpion Way has been a haven for me. Nine months in the same place was a nice treat after so many moves in D.C. I will miss my walk-in closet. And randomly running into people on the street. Scorpion Thanksgiving and Christmas were definitely some of the highlights. But I'm sure there will be many more card nights and dinner parties in town as well.

Farewell, my first home in Page!

This is my home

The Monument Valley-Navajo Mountain region is part of the Colorado Plateau and includes about 1,100 square miles in San Juan County, southeastern Utah, laying between the San Juan and Colorado Rivers on the north and the Utah-Arizona state line on the south. Included in the region are Navajo Mountain, the Rainbow Natural Bridge, and a part of the picturesque Monument Valley. The surface of the region is an upland, consisting of an alternating series of high eastward-facing escarpments and broad westward-sloping plateaus, dissected by the deep canyons of the San Juan and Colorado Rivers and their tributaries. The altitude above sea level of most of the surface is 4,500 to 6,000 feet. This region has unusual scenic beauty, with its varicolored rocks practically unobscured by soil and with its deep canyons, high cliffs, and a variety of fantastic rock forms caved by erosion.

The region is about 175 miles by road from Thompson, Utah, on the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad, and nearly 200 miles by road from Flagstaff, Ariz., on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway. A road from Flagstaff to Thompson crosses Monument Valley. Practically none of the area is tillable and under cultivation. The only inhabitants are about 20 white persons, who live at 4 trading posts, and about 100 Indians. The meager vegetation consists of shrubs and other small plants of desert types and a few trees; cottonwood trees grow sparsely along the stream courses, cedar and pinon grow on the uplands in scattered patches, and pine and spruce grow on the upper slopes of Navajo Mountain.

- Arthur A. Baker, USGS Bulletin 865, 1936

Magically Appearing Roommates

Government housing is always an adventure. In DC I lived in a huge dusty house that I ended up being kicked out of so they could deal with the mice. Then I lived in a house with 6-7 housemates, shared a bedroom, two kitchens on a little piece of parkland along a busy traffic route. Here in Arizona the phenomenon is the magically appearing roommates. Magic because we never know when it is going to be or how many or when they're leaving. Someday, you'll just show up at your house and there is another person there. Just when you've gotten into a routine with this new person and things are back to "normal" another one will show up.

I'm somewhat resistant to change anyway, and always resent these sudden changes in routine. Last week we had another roommate appear 4 days early and she was eventually scared off by my cluttered room. Nevertheless, I am looking at moving to a house in town soon, where my space will really be my space and perhaps there will be a few less magic appearances...