Kelly's Wedding

Last weekend was my niece Kelly’s wedding in downtown Minneapolis. I flew from Phoenix to Minneapolis with no problems except for the very cold hike from the light rail station to the hotel – walked about 6 blocks! My sister Ruth and her son Tom came from Michigan. We explored the skywalk system which is all indoors. Tom and Ruth are in front of the IDS Center, where I worked for a few months! As we walked around we found St. Olaf’s Catholic Church and went to Saturday mass – look at their pipe organ! The wedding, dinner and dance were at the top floor of the Millenium Hotel, which has a fantastic domed roof and gives a view of the skyscrapers downtown! My nighttime pictures are blurry, but here is the beautiful couple – Kelly and Matt. My other niece, Elizabeth and her husband Isaac posed in front of the skyline just at dusk – the view outside was so amazing! My sister and others toasted the happy couple, then the wedding dance commenced. The band was wonderful, the food was awesome and the company was so fun. What a great weekend!

From Lytle Creek, CA to Quartzsite, AZ

Last week found us by Los Angeles. We stayed in a campground by Lytle Creek. The forecast was for torrential rains - signs in our canyon warned of possible flooding and mudslides (typical California). Well, Lytle Creek swelled somewhat as you can see, but it didn't threaten anything, since the rains didn't come as much as predicted. We woke up to a dusting of snow but it quickly melted. Also, the most amazing jet contrail just glowed in the morning light - it has a shadow of some kind! The very bottom picture here shows the contrast of wonderful palm trees and snowy hills all around - very unique to me. After visiting Ron's sisters we traveled on to Quartzsite and set up our spot in the desert. Some of the ocotillo cactus are in leaf, and I caught the first little barrel cactus of the year in bloom! Spring is coming (eventually). Behind Ron you can see some of the campers that dot the Quartzsite valley. Behind me, our camper is way down there on the valley floor - can't you see it by the cactus? The big valley picture is supposedly where gold lays, although Ron hasn't found any of it yet. This weekend I am braced for the big weather change since I am flying to Mpls. for my niece's wedding - it is supposed to be a high of 7 degrees! I will huddle up to the heaters with my family. Maybe I'll be able to get some pictures of my beautiful niece and her man!

After an icy trip from South Dakota to Arizona, we finally arrived at Gold Basin, the first stop on our winter adventure. During the 30’s this area was filled with hopeful miners, the gold nuggets dispersed ages ago throughout the gravel and sands that ran off from the Grand Canyon. The morning dawned cold (low 30’s) and so still you could hear Las Vegas, a good 60 miles away. Here is a Joshua tree in the early morning light. I hiked to the top of a small mountain and got a view all the way to Lake Meade and a view of the valley leading down to the beginning of the Grand Canyon. Supposedly a meteorite zoomed down this valley and scattered fragments, one of which Ron might have found – we will ask John to look at it to determine if it is so. Also here is a picture of a beautiful purple rock which I just can’t identify, although I saw a stringer of it between shale (shist?) layers. What do you think, John and Elizabeth? Ron got busy metal detecting and loves to do this – he gets an adrenaline rush from wondering what the sounds he hears could be. The Joshua trees are so unique, they look a lot like animals and people if you look long enough (maybe I’m getting loopy in the desert!) So with rain the forecast, we decided to go to Los Angeles area to see the family.