Lake Tahoe

I seem to perpetually be behind on writing about our adventures, this one is about our second road trip of the year- to Lake Tahoe! Also a note, most of my writing has the same main entry in each blog, but girls you will find specific messages in your blog and Deacon you will find them in yours at the end of each of my entries- just so you don’t miss them.

We have friends, the Barrett’s who travel to Tahoe every summer. Their pictures always looked so great that this year we indevoured to join them, and boy am I glad we did. We went in late July, it was a 12 hour drive door to door but we made it in one straight shot. You guys did great in the car, maybe you got used to it from driving to Idaho. We rented a nice little house in South Lake Tahoe, we were all very happy it came with a hot tub- my muscles were especially happy after that drive. The night we arrived we actually joined the Barretts on Baldwin beach for dinner. Watching the sunset while you played in the sand enjoying the 70 degree weather was a nice change from 115 humid degrees back in Phoenix.

The week was just a wonderful mix of adventures. We rode our bikes to the beach, stopped by and got ice cream from Camp Richardson almost every day, had lazy mornings and late nights. One of our favorite days we went to Heavenly Ski Resort. During the summer they have ropes courses, a mountain roller coaster, and tons of other activities set up. Cora, you and Mom did a ropes course that there is no way on earth I would have done as an 8-year-old! It frightened adults, you were afraid, but you did it anyway and overcame that fear, which made me so proud of you. Deacon you loved the mountain roller coaster- as did Quinn- you guys don’t scare easily either. All of you got to pan for jewels which was fun to watch, that night some trading took place, somehow Cora ended up with a lot more than when she started…. We had such a great day as a family running around the mountain.

Lake Tahoe is stunningly blue and clear, so of course we had to rent a boat and check it out. We shared the boat with the Barrett family, and did a lot of tubing. Deacon your ideal speed was about 3 ½ miles per hour, you rode with Will. Quinn, you rode with mom and decided 2 miles per hour was your cutoff, guess you didn’t trust my driving. Cora, you and Anna Jean wanted full speed ahead and got it! I didn’t manage to shake you two off, but I got close a few times. We checked out quite a bit of the lake and found an awesome cove on the north-east shore to do some swimming in the clear but chilly water. On the way back we got caught in a bit of high seas adventure when the wind stirred up some pretty good swells. There wasn’t one of us left dry by the time we made it back, we were all so cold I think we forgot what summer even felt like for that hour! It was kind of fun riding the waves though, just another adventure.

Bike rides were really great, the weather was so nice it felt good to get outside as much as possible. Deacon I want to say you did awesome riding a lot further than I thought you could manage. You are already outgrowing the bike we got you two years ago. Quinn, you were in the trailer hauled by yours truly, often with our beach chairs and your trusty horses you never wanted to leave behind. It was always satisfying passing long line of cars waiting to park as we zoomed by to the beach. We also did a hike down to Emerald Bay, it was about a mile down, which meant it would also be a mile up. You guys did great on the down part…. The up part took a bit more encouragement. Quinn, I carried you a good deal of it up, but had to ask you more than once to hold off on incessant questions as your out of shape father huffed and puffed up the trail. Deacon and Cora it was a mental game for you two, but once you reached the top I could tell you both felt a great sense of accomplishment that you had made the climb. Its really cool seeing your successes, even in the small things. The woods in that area were so beautiful, such a lovely mix of redwood, pines, even a sequoia or two.

You guys loved time in the hot tub when we got home from bike rides or nightly adventures. Its so much fun seeing the three of you interact and play. Quinn, you certainly never back down from anyone, Deacon you love your sisters, and Cora you are very playful and at night would be sweet and read Deacon and Quinn books. I don’t want one of those mean families you see so much in the media, damn Hollywood jades me into thinking all families are perpetually fighting and hostile towards one another. I feel like all the writers hated their parents, or hate their kids with most of the stuff that comes out these days. I am so blessed by the family we have, and I will really work on keeping us all close through whatever may come.

Deacon- you did a much tamer version of the ropes course in Heavenly. You reacted more the way I would have, less certain and more afraid, but you completed it, with a few tears and many protests you finished it. I didn’t let you quit because I wanted you to gain the confidence in your ability, and lean many things in life take determination. I could tell when you were done you were proud of yourself. I had a bunch of fun riding the roller coaster with you- on that you had no reservations, just like on all the ones in Legoland you were fearless. You have started school without a hitch, I think you really love having something to do all day every day. I expect you are making lots of friends, though you don’t talk about them too much. When your guy friends come over you love to play “BayBlades”- if you ever forget they spin around crashing into each other and then coming apart. You also love to wrestle and rough house, and play dinosaur hunting games- really its less about the game and seems to be more about you weaving elaborate stories. One of my favorite things is when I get home from working out around 5:45 in the morning you always come out, kind of asleep still and give me a big hug, then you grab a cliff bar and your ipad. You are such a sweet boy and I love every bit of who you are. 

The Flying B

Well the first summer vacation for 2019 is in the books. Last week we made, or rather I made, and you rode along for, a 1,000-mile drive to Challis Idaho. Cora and Deacon you did great, Quinn…. you did good. Sometimes you felt the need to remind us of your unhappiness during our car ride odyssey by screaming/ crying for about 20min or so before falling asleep. We stayed in Cedar City UT on the way up and back. You all got a kick out of the hotel as usual, and eating out at “fancy” restaurants- aka Chilies! We did have ice cream at a cool place where they freeze it in front of you with nitrogen.

We accompanied the Bishop family for this trip. Mr. Sean as I call him has been going ever since he was little to a ranch called the Flying B. The “B” is located in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness along the middle fork of the Salmon River. To get there we took a Cessna 210 which was piloted rather excellently by a man named Mark- mostly good people share that name.  I was a little nervous about the flight as if something goes wrong in mountain flying you don’t have a ton of options to get it fixed…. Or to land somewhere flat. In any case we made a smooth landing on the grass field by the river as intended.

The first thing we went to do was catch some fish. Deacon and Cora, you had not yet ever caught one, despite at least two attempts at Lynx Lake in Prescott. Well it only took about 10 min before each of you got to reel one in! I was relieved as I had promised you we would all catch at least one. The best way to catch them was fly fishing so Mr. Sean let you each reel in a few more that he hooked. I actually caught my first fish through fly fishing there as well, it was pretty fun. You guys all crashed hard that night after running around and playing all day. We had a beautiful cabin overlooking the river and hills surrounding it.

Horseback riding was next on the agenda. Cora, you had been eyeballing a white horse with some light black markings named Paul, and sure enough you got to ride him. Deacon you were on Fuzzy, with a lead rope connected to Mom who was on Ziggy. Quinn, you sat in my lap and we rode Clancy. We crossed the river over a narrow bridge, at which point Mr. Seans horse, Digger started acting up and wanting to go back home. He was not a very good horse but thankfully Mr. Sean knew how to handle him. I ended up leading the pack as Clancy was a pretty good paced lead horse. We rode along some beautiful country following the river. In one spot I was not particularly fond of we were basically on the side of a steep drop off down to the river below- didn’t enjoy that too much at all! Thankfully we had a snack and returned home safely and I was fairly relieved after getting off! I don’t know if I care too much for horses at this current time in life.

We spent our remaining days fishing, playing at the beach, playing with other kids that were guests and just generally enjoying being outdoors and disconnected from the world. The ranch had no phone or internet service. I read my book on the French and Indian War, talked with friends and travelers as they came through and just enjoyed the downtime. There were two backpackers that came in from Hamilton MT, a place I have thought about moving before… perhaps it was a sign! It was strange not seeing any news or generally caring about what else was going on. Being disconnected really helped you just be present in the moments and enjoy a different pace of life. One of those things I often think about when I consider moves to a smaller town or less demanding career.

Being out in the wild has always been a place of joy and peace for me. Now in this circumstance we had most of the comforts of home, but regardless its just being outside the hustle of the city and its demands on your attention and mind. I often wish I could just work a small plot of land and do a side job to make enough money to live comfortably. The longer I live the less I want riches, unless the end of them is to bring me the freedom for my time I desire. It was great seeing the three of you enjoy it so much as well and be brave and adventuresome. I loved the family time and can’t wait until we go to lake Tahoe in a few weeks.

Deacon- you were also a brave boy on this trip. You rode the horses without fear and grabbed the fish, wrestled around with the other boys and just had an overall great time. You were also really excited about flying in the small plane. I really enjoy our time together being silly and exploring new things. You always get excited to tell me about bugs and animals, and this week you got to shoot your first shotgun and you actually broke a clay. I am so happy you are my son and I really enjoy watching you grow and change into a fine young man. Also you are very sweet and cuddly still, and I hope that never changes.  

New Job, New Places

Well my new role at Honeywell is off to a busy start, I cannot remember being as stressed by a role in my career. There is a lot to be learned and a large amount of responsibility that comes with this role, I am looking forward to a few months from now when I have my bearings, and when someone takes my last position so I don’t have to do both roles at once. Last year I hardly traveled, and so this year it came as a welcome surprise to be able to do several trips internationally, downside being that they were back to back!

My first trip took me to Milan, Italy to negotiate a deal with a company called Leonardo that manufactures helicopters. The negotiations went well, I found that Italians primarily try to wear you down through excessive talking, repeating points time and time again until you wish to argue no longer… I stuck to my plan though and walked away with the deal I wanted, in negotiations the most organized often wins. Since airfare was inexpensive I decided to have mom join me at the end of my work trip, she flew out all by herself all the way to Milan, her first time traveling alone internationally.

Mom and I rented a car in Milan, a bright red Fiat 500- most cars in Europe are stick shift, thankfully I learned to drive one in high school, my first pickup truck was a stick. We started our adventure with a drive to Lake Como. Lake Como is primarily a summer destination, as people flock to the lake to stay cool and have fun doing watersports. Therefore, arriving in the winter we found it mostly empty, we were the first to stay at our hotel in 2019 (Hotel Olivedo) they had just opened. We had a great couple of days exploring the lake and the sleepy towns that dot its shores, we took the ferry to a few different ones and rode a funicular up to the alpine town of Brunate that overlooked most of the lake. The views were spectacular, and the building style and large pine trees made it feel more like Switzerland and less like Italy.

After Lake Como we headed to Bergamo. Bergamo is perched high on a mountain and surrounded by massive walls dating back to the empire of Venice. It was a great stop for a few hours, I could have stayed the night easily. Really beautiful quiet streets, fascinating medieval architecture, and magnificent views over the valley below. Moving on from Bergamo we arrived in Verona for the evening. Verona was made famous as the setting of Romeo and Juliet, it has a lovely old town with twisting streets to explore, a Roman amphitheater, and bridges running over the Adige river. That night at dinner we happened to sit next to a man from Utah. He heard us speaking English and introduced himself and we had a nice little conversation, he was a stone importer and so traveled to Verona often. One of the fun parts of travel is the interesting people you meet, often in the strangest places.

We departed Verona and stopped by Parma on our way to Milan. Parma is at the heart of the region where Parmesan cheese comes from, I guess every regions soil, and climate have effects on the final product hence the regional affiliations with most of the food in Italy. It was a sleepy day in Parma with some rain so we were able to stroll most of the town and have a wonderful lunch before heading to Milan. On our arrival mom found out about the last supper painting, which she really wanted to see so we went straight to the church where it is housed. Issue was the tours were sold out for two solid weeks, while we were milling outside trying to decide what to do I saw one of the tour operators looking around so I headed towards her, she had a ticket so sell from someone who didn’t show up! I grabbed it right away and so mom got to see the painting after all, worked out perfectly.

We spent the rest of the night exploring the fortress and stopping in small cafes for a glasses of wine as we meandered through the city. The last and final day we saw the famous shopping areas and the first indoor mall, went by stores where they sold handbags as expensive as my truck, and generally had fun exploring the city. Our final stop and tour was the Duomo. The church was a mass of marble and granite, every inch embellished with sculptures and figures with no two repeating. You can tour the rooftops, which we did, and find amazing views over the city. It always strikes me that many of the stone masons and other trades most likely worked their entire lives on one project at so many of these places mom and I have now seen. I am not sure if I would have liked that or not, but I am sure those who were able to create structures such as these were very proud that their work would be admired by so many for so long.

All in all it was one of our shortest trips, but wonderful. Travel is really one of my favorite things in life, the adventure and experiences really energize me and keep me going. We flew from Milan to Heathrow and while we were waiting in Heathrow we went to one of the lounges I used to frequent for American Airlines. I remembered one time as I was waiting to check in I saw a little boy that was battling a cancer known as DPIG. It seems to be fatal in almost every case, his mother and he were in Germany for an experimental immunotherapy treatment as there is not much they can do conventionally, though I hope they make rapid advancements for treatment in the future. I remembered sitting there speaking with him and his mother. He seemed fine, like any little boy, focused on his games and telling stories of their trip, I could remember exactly where he was sitting having a snack. That might have been one of the last places I saw him alive.

I don’t mean to end this entry with something sad, I mean to keep you aware that life changes slowly, and then all at once. It is good to be filled with joy, and live life with passion, but it is also important to remember that others are suffering, and we should do all we can to alleviate it. Sometimes we cannot change it, or help, but we can care, and remember, and show them love and compassion. I will never again fly to Heathrow without thinking of Hollis. When I am in a joyful time of life I temper it with remembering that others suffer. When I suffer I know others are too, and that joy can come again, and should it not, that no amount of time or pleasure on this earth will compare to what waits for those who love God after this life is spent. In the meantime, I make of this life what I can with your mother and the three of you, being grateful for the good, and taking joy in the many sweet moments we have. I always think of a line from some poem I once read “arriving early they stayed late, theirs was a long day in the sun”.

Love you Deacon Man.