Thanks for Thanksgiving

Once again I come to the table and begin a blog after a long absence. Brenda and I have been very busy like most of you, but I now have a chance to post a few pics. This Thanksgiving we did what any childless, young, couple who does not live close to family would do. Go camping. I know this was a bit of a long trip and the irony that we drove longer to go camping then it would have taken to visit to the formentioned family is not lost on us. Last year we went camping in Utah as well and we had such a good time that we thought we should go back to Utah and hit up the national parks that we did not get to see the first time.

We arrived on Wednesday in the afternoon at Arches National park and set up camp. This would be our home for the next 3 nights so we pitched the tent and set up camp. We went to bed early this night and that is a good thing, because not 15min after we shut the tent...it started to sleet and rain. The rain was light, but it continued for the next 35hrs or so. We still did a lot of hiking on Thursday regardless of the rain...we did drive a long way so we thought we had better make it worth it. The mist and clouds gave us a view of the desert that most do not get to see.

Friday the rain stopped and the mist was lifting. By 1pm the weather was great and we could see for miles from the vista points in canyonlands national park. The views were quites something and we were very glad that the mist lifted otherwise the park would have been a lot less spectacular.

Saturday we went for a few hikes before driving to Salt Lake City to pick up the elk meat from the butcher. after that it was home yesterday afternoon and back to work today. All in all it was a darn good trip and as always was an adventure.

Brenda at the unofficial Utah symbol of Delicate Arch. It is a lot bigger in real life than on the licence plate

Brenda at the campsite on Thanksgiving morning.
Rain....huh. Nothing a little trunk lid with a tarp rigged over a sideways picnic table can't fix. Thanksgiving meal was delicious and fun despite the way it may look.

Our neighbors at the campground deep fried a turkey and gave us a bite. We went over there when they asked if we wanted to warm up by the fire and then they gave us this. We had already eaten, but it was so good we could not pass it up.

Brenda at Landscape Arch

Brenda in Canyonlands at the Mesa Arch

This was a great viewpoint that we could not pass up.

After a short hike we were rewarded with this great view.

One of the few pictures with me in it...nevermind I look like a dork

This dirt road we tried to go down, but the wimpy park service had blocked it off due to rain and mud on the road. What ever happened to personnel responsibility...thanks park service for keeping me from having a good time.

One of the Arches known as the windows.

Balanced rock...really creative naming.

My not so subtle attempt at an artistic shot.

Climbing in the slot canyons.

Skyline arch which was about 200yds from our campsite.


We hung out at a Cabelas in Salt Lake and Reno during the trip. Brenda loves going there because it make her feel at home...you know all of the dead animals on the walls. I finished the elk mount about two weeks ago and here it is. Yes I did do all of it myself and it was not all that hard.



I had this plaque made and mounted the two shell casings from the fatal shots. I have one of the bullets, but I decided to to mount that.

Comstume party #2

Last weekend we went to another costume party and then on the saturday we went to Andrea Kampers art show. It is always a good time seeing friend's and of course going to see some good art. Here is Andrea giving her artist talk.

The costume party we went to is becoming a tradition every Halloween. We played some scary tricky games and had a pretty fun time.

Here is Jen and Camille..or is that Leia and Yoda???

This weekend we got a free night at a hotel in downtown San Jose. Normally I would not get a hotel just 10min. away from our house, but since it was free we thought why not. the hotel was very luxurious and we had such a good time walking around downtown and staying the night. It is so nice that the election is now over, but yet again the liberal far left is not happy here in CA. These people seem to always be bitter and need something to complain about or they would have nothing to say. I am talking mostly about Prop 8 which defined marriage as between a man and a woman. This proposition passed and now the minority liberal complainers are out in force saying it is the same as racism or sexism. I calling BS on that. Get over it and quit complaining about everything.

Here is Brenda dancing to a little Bluegrass...and no she did not drink a bunch of moonshine before the filming of this video.