Utah Trip - Part 2 - Harvest House

      When my sister Suzanne and her husband George visited Zion National Park several years ago, they stayed in a B & B in Springdale, Utah. Springdale is a "funky" little town which is on the doorstep of the park.  They gave it a good recommendations, so I made reservations for our first three nights.  It was a good recommendation, and one that I happily continue.  The inn is owned by Tom and Mary Ann Burns, with Tom handling most of the inn keeping duties as Mary Ann has a job in Las Vegas.  Tom was quite garrulous and a charming host, plus his breakfasts were great.

      We stayed in the Garden Suite, which had a separate entrance and all the amenities.  The separate entrance was nice as it gave us access to the hot tub and some wonderful views.

     The garden was in full spring bloom, as witnessed by the purple locus tree in bloom behind the hot tub in the picture above.  We could walk every where.  Zion uses a shuttle bus system rather than allowing individuals to use all of the park roads.  You can drive part of the way into the park, but it is easier to catch the shuttle and explore the park by getting off at one of the 8 shuttle stops.  The Town of Springdale has a bus system that takes you into the visitor center where you can catch the National Park Service shuttle.  All for no charge.  It was an easy way to see the park and get to the trailheads.

      This is the view from the back yard of Harvest House. Not a bad way to start our vacation.

Utah Trip - Part I - Valley of Fire

       After Nan's semester ended we took a trip to southern Utah.  We left Durham on Sunday, Mat 8th at 4:00 AM.  Nan's co-worker and friend Mike Ennis drove us to the airport and stayed in the apartment and watched the dogs while we were away.  We flew fron RDU to Charlotte and then on to Las Vegas, where we picked up a car and drove northeast to Zion National Park.  On the way we stopped off at a Neveda State Park called "The Valley of Fire".
      The park is in a basin composed of Aztec sandstone created some 200 million years ago (for you creationists that's 6,204 years ago).  The comination of wind and water scoured the rock into odd shapes and formations.

     Here's Nan holding up a portion of a formation called the Beehives.  I got inside one to see if it really housed any bees.

     It didn't.
     In addition to the interesting rock formations we visted Atlatl Rock, where you climb up irons stairs to see Native American petroglphs on a rock wall.

      It is assumed that the petroglyphs were left there by Anasazi tribes that lived near-by from around 300 B.C. to 1150 A.D. The desins were carved through desert varnish, a dark coating on the rocks caused by the leaching of certain minerals inside the rocks.  It's kind of a natural varnish that preserves the drawings.

     One of the other interesting rock formations in the valley is Elephant Rock, which is reached on short side trail.

      Sometimes you really have to use your imagination.
      From the Valley of Fire, we drove on to Zion. More on that park my next entry.

Two Down - Three To Go

     April 29th was the last day of classes at Duke. Nan has a week to correct the final papers of her students and submit their grades.  Duke has an interesting tradition on the Last Day of Classes.  They hold a day-long party on West Campus which starts at 9:00 AM with a breakfast on the Main Quad and ends with a Midnight Snack at - well- midnight.  In between, the schedule called for such activities as the Chapel Climb(which I believe is a climb up the stairs to the tower of Duke Chapel), Bocce Ball & Cornhole(I know what the first is, but don't ask on the second), Inflatable Jousting(I again have no idea), and a "Grease" Sing-Along(You're the one that I want -oo, oo, oo). The feature event is an evening concert, which this year featured Dev(?), Hyper Crush(?), Ludacris(Ah ha -one that I recognize), and Rudy Currence(?).
      The other featured event appears to be the consumption of alcohol.  Actually alcohol other than beer is not permitted. As the published rules state: "no wine, hard alcohol, Joose(?), 4Loko or other similar beverages(?)".  The punishment for getting caught with one of these prohibited beverage is - having to pour the contents out.  Lest you think the students might be deprived, the rules state that a "student may have a maximum of six 12 oz. cans on them at any given time".  I assume if you get caught with 7 or 8 you might be required to . . . pour the contents out?  For a school founded in the Methodist tradition, which generally frowned on the consumption of alcohol, this is a very tolerant policy.
     Anyway, for Professor Mullenneaux forty-two, twelve page papers await.  Here's a shot of her after her last class.

      East campus of Duke is the portion of the campus reserved for freshman.  For those not wishing to partake of a festive, alcohol-oriented West campus LDOC(Last Day of Campus), one could get a flight in a hot air balloon.

     While Nan was correcting papers, I went to a couple of Duke sporting events.  The first was the ACC lacrosse championship game  Duke v. Maryland

      Duke lost 11 - 9.
      I also went to a Duke v. Virginia Tech at the Durham Athletic Park.  Duke has an on-campus baseball stadium, but plays over half their games at the home of the Durham Bulls.  One of the games I actually played in when a member of the Oneonta Red Dragon baseball team was against Virginia Tech.  It was a spring baseball trip in April, 1968.  As I remember the trip we played VaTech, Washington and Lee, and Lynchburg.  We went in private cars, and had to drive back through Washington D.C. the night after Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated.  I remember we had to be diverted through D.C. because of rioting. Of course it didn't help that we were 6 white boys in an out-of-state car. I sure we might have been viewed with some suspicion by the D.C. police

    Duke won 3 - 2