Zion, Alive and Beautiful

By Maddy, Brayden, Gracie & Alex

On Saturday we went to Zion National Park outside of Saint George in southern Utah.  We went with our family so we could learn about this area where Mormon settlers came in the 1860s. After having been to amazing places like Yosemite and Yellowstone we did not know how this park would compare.

After entering the park, we jumped on to a shuttle that took us on a scenic route through the valley floor.  We saw huge mountains, cliffs and formations created by erosion, uplift, wind, water, ice, and sedimentation.

 We stopped for a delicious lunch at the Zion Lodge.  As we looked up at the beautiful rocks we felt like tiny people compared to them. 

The colors of the rocks were magnificent.  There were red, orange, white, blue, green and brown rocks.  You could see the different layers of rocks like the sand in our collection jar at home.

As the day wore on, the sun fell behind the rocks slightly and made the sides of the cliffs glow.  In the glow of the light we could see rock climbers 3/4 of the way up.  Seems pretty crazy to climb that size of a mountain!  When we went on a hike along the Virgin River up toward the Narrows and we saw this funny looking feature in the rock.  It looked like a big drippy nose.  When rain falls it collect in the sandstone it finds its way through crevices and seeps out down below.  Here it seems to drip out the nose.

 The Virgin River can increase its level dramatically during a flash flood.  When this happens it can move giant boulders, knock down tress, create flooding in nearby towns and change the landscape.  The color of the water ranged from muddy to a sandy turquoise color. When we came to the end of the trail some of us decided to cross the river and hike up the area called the Narrows.  This area is called the Narrows because the area between the cliffs get very close together.  The vegetation was very lush in this  area and there were plenty of wildflowers.  There were also a lot of fat squirrels that weren’t afraid of the people.

We had to wade through freezing cold water that made your feet numb.  After a while you got use to it.  It was fairly shallow, only about ankle deep to about knee deep.Some areas had dry patches along the sides and we would criss-cross back and forth from one to the other.   This is the point where we decided to turn back.  You can see that there is a small but beautiful waterfall on the rocks.   After a day full of appreciating and exploring this national park we all agreed that this park was just as beautiful as Yosemite and Yellowstone.  The huge cliffs, beautiful colors and the reflective sun shining through the trees and on the faces of the cliffs made it magnificent.  We would recommend a visit to Zion in the fall like we did:)

Tracks & Trains

This week our Friday field trip took us to the Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad (NCNGRR) Museum in Nevada City.  Once there, we meet 4 volunteer docents who lead each of our groups on a guided tour of the museum, yard and restoration workshop.  This museum is operated by the Nevada County Historical Society.

The NCNGRR began operations in 1876 to provide reliable year-round transportation to the rich mining districts of western Nevada County.  The original 22 and half mile route began in Nevada City, traveled to the railroad’s headquarters in Grass Valley, then on to Colfax for connections to the Central Pacific.

This museum is home to “Engine 5”, a completely restored 1875 Baldwin engine that began service hauling lumber, then passengers and freight for the NCNGRR, and finally as a movie engine at Universal Studios in Hollywood.

 The engine was returned to Nevada City for restoration in 1985 on the flat bed of a large truck.

 We all got to climb around this reproduction of an old caboose.  Cabooses are no longer used.

 Here is a car waiting to be restored – big job ahead!

 Inside the restoration workshop we got to see more project they have completed and a few others they are currently working on.

 Brayden climbed aboard this engine and tried out the bell – it was a loud one!

 This old rail bus is in the process of being restored

  If you look close you can even see the manzanita plant growing out of this old oil tanker car 🙂

A common question was “why is it called narrow gauge?” The picture shows why.  Narrow gauge means exactly that – narrow.  A narrow gauge track is only 3 feet wide wile a standard track is 4 ft 8 inches wide.  it was cheaper to build a narrow track so it was sometimes used for smaller lines such as this.

    Back inside the museum their were many more things to see.  This picture titled “End Of The Line” depicts the Nevada City depot and rail yard in 1910

The museum also has on display other turn-of-the 20^th century transportation modes such as an electric streetcar line, a steam powered automobile, and the first commercial airport in the United States.  In the picture above, the Jeffery Steam Car.  Below is a picture of a traditional buggy that would have been drawn by horses.

This is a model of an early airplane designed and built by Lyman Gilmore here in Grass Valley.  The map shows the first commercial airport built in California by Mr. Gilmore.

Finally, the museum also hold this model of the Kidder Mansion.  The Kidders were the owners of the NCNGRR.  This 7,800 sq ft mansion was built in 1886 across the street from the depot in Grass Valley.  Mr. Kidder sod the home in 1913.  It was left to deteriorate and finally torn down in 1982.

So after our fun tour at the NCNGRR museum we grabbed some lunch at Cousin Jack’s Pasties 🙂

Wild Oak Llamas

Our trip with the Juarez and Greene families to Wild Oak Llamas in Grass Valley was truly delightful.  Upon arriving at the beautiful farm off Greenhorne Rd we were greeted with a warm and welcoming hug by the owner Mary Adams.  Mary and her husband Rick purchased the property about 7 years ago and moved up from Benecia in the bay area.  Their hard work is evident in the well groomed grounds and lovely home which sits at the top of the property and looks over the farm.  Mary and Rick created this farm so that their grandchildren could come and experience nature and the animals.  It is apparently by their very nature that they love kids, human and llama!

Llamas are raised to breed, compete in national shows and produce a very soft fiber

used for making blankets, hats, scarves, sweaters etc.

Here is a basket of fiber that was sheared from the llamas on this farm.  It is cleaned, brushed and spun into yarn.

 You can see the skeins of yarn here.  These are all natural colors with no dye.

They let the llamas up into grassy lawn area.  Here you can see the two babies, the silver one is only one week old!

A baby llama is called a cria. A mama llamas is called a dam.  They are pregnant for 11 1/2 months before giving birth.

They explained that llamas are generally friendly and nonaggressive.

We learned that llamas are part of the camelid family.

They weigh between 280-450 pounds and live for 20 – 25 years.

The llama’s gentle nature makes them non-threatening and safe even around small children.

When we sat quietly on the ground several came up to the children.

Llamas have a delightful habit of coming close to sniff you.

This one is quite curious about Sophia

Gracie and Brooke make a new friend:)

Mary and Rick hold this one still long enough for us to feel how soft the coat is.

We watched as the llama enjoyed eating the leaves from this apple tree.

This one enjoyed leaves from a nearby cherry tree

Another interesting thing we learned was about hydroponics.

Hydroponics is growing plants in mineral nutrient solutions, in water, without soil.

Here they sprout barley to use as part of the llamas nutrient rich diet.

The first tray shows how the barley seed has sprouted and began to grow after about three days.

The bottom tray had been growing about 5 days.  It was about 6 inches tall!

Mary let each of us pull a blade out and taste it.

Not a big surprise but it tasted a lot like grass 🙂

The way it works is that a water solution is fed into each tray every four hours for about 15 minutes each time.

This is done on a timer.  The room is keep at a temperature around 72 degrees and dark.

You can see here that there is no soil.  The bottoms are a weaving of roots.

The llamas are fed a strip about 18 inch long.  In addition to this they are fed a “slice” of hay.

Rick was nice enough to offer those both tired and curious a ride to the lower portion of the ranch in his golf cart.

No one wanted to be left out.  Who knew a golf cart could hold one friendly llama farmer and 9 happy kids! 🙂

More curious and friendly llamas to meet.

Llamas reputation for spitting is highly exaggerated.  Spitting at people is rare in most situations.

These are some of the sires, male llamas.

Several of us wondered what the difference between a llama and an alpaca was.

Mary explained that alpacas are generally smaller.

They also have shorter pointy ears whereas  llama have bigger ears often called banana ears.

Mary showed us how llamas do not have upper teeth.

Did you know llamas give kisses?!

Kristen wanted a kiss too 🙂

Rick got this guy to stand up nice and tall for us by offering him snack from a willow tree.

Llamas weren’t the only animals here.  This is a not so friendly African goose.

They also had a cage of doves

This one was a Eurasian Collared dove (according to our ornothologist,
Brayden) named Colfax.

We even learned a little about composting.

Llama beans (no, they are not really beans!) are watered and turned and eventually become nice rich soil for planting.

Mary and Rich’s sister in law Carol even made us some delicious cookies that we sat by the pool and enjoyed along with some cool drinks and apples.

What a fabulous afternoon!  We can’t say enough about this wonderful couple and their beautiful farm!

They welcome vistors, just call ahead.  You’ll be glad you did 🙂

Bridgeport

On Friday, May 3rd we visited the historical site of Bridgeport.

It is located about 20 miles outside of Nevada City off hwy 49.

Shortly after the discovery of gold in Coloma, gold was discovered by

Jonas Spect at Rose Bar, just 15 miles downstream from Bridgeport.

Bridgeport was a stop along the Virginia Turnpike, a road connecting the

silver mines of Virginia City, Nevada and San Fransisco.

What made Bridgeport so important, as evidenced by its name,

is the 229 foot bridge originally constructed in the 1860s.

It allowed travelers to cross the Yuba River safety and they did so by the hundreds .

As many as 100 might cross in one day.

This bridge is the longest single span wooden covered bridge still in existence in the United States

This large barn, since reconstructed, was a place for early travelers

to feed and rest their horses along their journey.

Today it is used to display some of the wagons used back in the day.

This wagon was a passenger wagon – still doesn’t look very comfortable.

Imagine a long ride on bumpy, dusty roads in this!

This is a freight wagon.  Notice the solid wood wheels.

That bridge had to have built strong to handle this wagon and its load!

Later a small gas station was added.  The price for gas at this time was 12 cents per gallon!

Inside the vistors center they had displays on the native indians, Southern Maidu Nisenan,

native animals including a grizzly bear and rattlesnake skin,

and photos of some of the early settlers of the area.

We walked along the short cemetary loop trail.  Lorenzo decided Brayden was his new best friend 🙂

Gabi, Lorenzo and Gracie watch as a squirrel scampered along the rock wall.

We spent sometime in the Kneebone family cemetary where Brayden

read stories about each from a handout we picked up in the vistors center.

This tomestone marked the grave of a sea captain who left a wife and

young daughter behind when he died of illness in 1863.

These were a few of the wildflowers we saw along the trail.

Glimpse of the river

We found a somewhat sandy spot in the shade along the river to eat our lunch.

The kids were more than anxious to cool off in the river.

Some were more prepared for swimming than others …

The river was surprisingly warm for early May and the water looked clear and clean.

We were glad that our friends the Juarez family and Jake and Blaynne Rogers were able to join us.

Another wonderful Friday! 🙂

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Civil War Days

Last weekend our family traveled to central California to the samll town of Mariposa.  Mariposa is about 45 minutes west of Yosemite. Mariposa County hosts a Civil War reenactment each spring.  It is held at a private ranch about 10 minutes outside of town.  With Gracie studying US history we thought it was the perfect opprotunity for some hands on learning.  Melodee Trentman and her girls, Lizzy and Annie were able to join us as well.  We stay in a quaint Victorian inn right in town.  This first thing on our schedule when we arrived at the reenactment was to catch some of the historical presentation by “Abraham Lincoln”.

The weather was beautiful!  Civil War reenactments happen all across the country and there are many clubs that participate.

 These clubs encourage the whole family to participate.  Here are two little toddlers frolicking in the field near there family’s camp.

At noon, a fashion show was held to show off the fashions of the day.  Here the women are wearing work dresses.

 Notice how they are all wearing aprons to protect there dresses and almost always wore something on their heads.

These were the fancy dresses woren on special occassions or by the wealthy.

 They wore hoops or layers of petticoats under their dresses.

Many had detachable sleeves so they could be washed by themselves if they got dirty.

The young boys would often be outfitted in a dress or little pant suit like the one shown here.

After the age of 5 they would no longer wear dresses.

At 1:00 the first battle began.  The Union army was on the far side with the Confederate army’s back to us.

 The firing of guns and cannons (blanks of course) went on for at least 30 minutes.

Here comes the cavalry!

Firing of cannons. They were very loud!

This guy really got in to his part.   He acted out his death over a large area and fair amount of time.

While it was kind of funny to watch him act out his demise, the truth of the tragedy of this war was no laughing matter.

Here is a better view of both armies with the Union camp in the background.

 Medical kits use during the time of the Civil War.

Of the over 600,000 that died during the Civil War, many died of infection or disease do to the lack of knowledge of germs and bacteria.

The Confederate army marching into the the twilight battle.

Eric joins the ranks…

The Twilight Battle

Brayden cuddling up to a bear.  If you thought that was a piece of grass in his mouth you are wrong. It was actually an ear tickler ;P

With help from Yelp and some locals we found a great little diner.

They had fabulous food and friendly staff.  We ended up eat there 3 times in row.

It was a fabulous weekend with family, friends, beautiful scenery and education!

K.A.R.E. for Pie?

On Friday we worked at the K.A.R.E. Crisis Nursery’s pie booth at the Draft Horse Classic and Harvest Festival in Grass Valley.  

 

KARE Crisis Nursery is in Nevada City and offers safe, nurturing care for small children of families experiencing stressful situations.  Our Relief Society made and donated some of the pies being sold.  Mom, Maddy, Brayden and Gracie all worked from 12:30-4:30.  The time went by faster than we thought it would.  Mom did the register and the other three took turns taking orders, serving up pie, scooping ice cream, and passing out orders to happy customers.  

 

We had a fun time and were glad to help  We also got a chance to walk around before our shift to see some of the horses.  The had some really big horses!  Beautiful too!

Piano Guys Concert

On Wednesday night, September 19th, while in Utah dropping off Carter, we were able to attend a Piano Guys concert.  Carter first turned us on the them.  We were lucky enough to be in SLC the one night they were performing but don’t tell Carter since he missed it!  The concert was held just above the University of Utah at the Red Butte Gardens Ampitheater.  The concert was being filmed for a PBS special. This made it kind of fun because we also got to see how the filming was done but a draw back was that they kept have to redo things to get it just right.  We did end up leaving a little early because we got cold.

 

The Piano Guys  name is actually a little miss leading since there is really only one “piano  player”.  Jon Schmidt is that guy and he is amazing.  The other main member of the group is Steve Nelson who plays a variety of cellos.  There are also 3 other members of the group who are mostly behind the scenes.  All five however, did perform one of our favorite numbers at the concert.  Check out the video of this one at http://thepianoguys.com/portfolio/one-direction-what-makes-you-beautiful/ .  It is imaginative and fun!  If you explore around on the rest of their website  http://thepianoguys.com/ you’ll see amazing videos of some of their other songs.  They combine classical music with modern music and add beautiful video to it all.

 

 

 

Five Years of Blueberries

By Gracie

On Tuesday we went blueberry picking in Penn Valley.  I chose my title for this blog because we have been going to this farm for five years now.

When we first arrived, we were given buckets to collect the blueberries in.  We were assigned a certain row to pick in.  There were lots of blueberries.  Some were not quite ripe yet but many were ripe.

 We started picking on our assigned row.  It got a little tiring and some of us went to sit in the car but I kept picking even though it was warm.  I knew I could do hard things.

We picked 4 quarts of blueberries.  They taste delicious, I know because I ‘sampled’ many of them while picking! My mom paid a little extra for all the ‘samples’.

I am glad I didn’t give up because if I had I might not have been eating blueberries while writing this blog.  Blueberries are my very favorite fruit.  We plan to eat peaches, blueberries and cream for breakfast with the rest of our berries.  Lazy Valley Blueberry Ranch is open 4 more weeks for upick.  We think we might go back again this year for more.  You might want to too 🙂

Venus + Sun = Vun, for us this meant FUN!

By Gracie

On June 5th an usual event took place in our skies.  The planet Venus cross over the sun.  You could only see it with special glasses or lens and it only happened between 3:00 pm – 9:00 pm.  This event is not expected to happen for another 150 years.  We went down to the Auburn Dam Overlook, where a group of astronomers had set up there telescopes for all to see.  Venus is close to the same size as Earth.  The sun is about 100 times bigger than both.

 

 

When I looked through the first telescope I saw a hugh yellow ball with a very small black dot near the bottom left side.  The big ball was the sun and the small dot was Venus.

 

There were lots of telescopes ther.  Some were tall, some small, some big and some homemade.

 

Through other telescopes the sun appeared red, green or orange depending on the lens used.

 

One telescope you did not have to look through.  If projected the image with a mirror onto a screen.  If you look closely you can see it here on the right.

 

I had a really fun time looking at Venus cross the sun.  It is cool to think that this is the only time I could see this in my whole life.