Family Reunions are fun to do, fun to do, ...

This year was time for the Hanks family reunion. It was fun. We traveled from our far northern home to the surprisingly green mountains of Arizona. In the process Emily has become a great traveler. We counted and she has now been on 14 flights before her 1st birthday!

The reunion took place at the Triple T Ranch in Heber. Then we saw Kathy off to the UK for school and had the chance to visit family around Phoenix before heading home.

There were a number of activities going on. From craft projects, to water balloon games, light construction, games, and just enjoying the family. One night we heard the Elk as they bellowed out in the distance. I had never heard an Elk before, it surprised me to hear what they sound like.

The main craft project was fabric art. You take a foam board, cut your pattern into it, and then fill it in with fabric. These can come out looking amazing.

A master at work.

They even had a snow cone machine. And as you can see the neighbors dog liked to visit.

Ginger liked to chase the light on the floor. She had a harder time finding it on the steps.

Quintisential Grandpa.

Dad had fun with his solar ovens. He had two of them going. Arizona gets a lot hotter than California. He was able to bake bread the day before we got there. And here they are taking the oven apart to get a roast chicken out with it's potatoes and carrots. It was a good meal.

Robert, just relaxing.

Jenny had her camera out a lot, I think she had it out more than me!

Emily with her Uncle Tony.

Aunt Kathy taught Emily how to play ping-pong.

Grandpa and Grandma in the Gazebo.

Laura and I, stealing a quick kiss.

Mom and Dad.

For the last night at the ranch we had a talent show. There were some good entries. Jean showed off a quilt that she designed. Laura and Emily sang. Robert and Jenny performed. I showed off pictures. Jenny also showed off pictures of the many quilts she has made.

Jenny and Robert ate bananas to the theme of 2001. It was actually pretty funny.

Emily and Laura singing the 'Itsy bitsy spider'.

We stayed with Dave and Erica while were in the Phoenix area. Emily loved to play with Uncle Dave's glasses.

Emily is pearing at her Great-Grandpa's latest project.

The Triple T Ranch

We had a good time at the family reunion. Northern Arizona was beautiful and the ranch was fun. Here are some of our pictures from traveling and our stay at the Triple T Ranch.

Traveling to Arizona took us across the Grand Canyon. Laura took a few pictures when we saw it. It was fairly impressive at 30,000ft. These shots capture some of the amazing size of the canyon. These shots have had the color played with, so it did not look this colorful, but I like these.


We stayed at the Triple T Ranch. It is a few miles outside of Heber AZ. We were really surprised with how much of a tourist area it was. Also, gas was cheaper out in Heber (the middle of no-where) than in Phoenix (or in WA for that matter). The ranch was also littered with pieces of old equipment from by-gone decades (and centuries), this was a lot of fun photographically for me.

Here is the main ranch house. We spent our days together out here.

Individual cabins for sleeping. They were a small and dusty. So we only stayed there long enough to sleep. We passed the night with the doors open for a few hours each night.

An old wagon out in front. I took some pictures for Ken and Jean here. Unfortunately I don't have a copy of those photos (I used their camera).

An old grinding wheel. I like the texture on the wheel.

Another beautiful old wagon.

I'm honestly not sure what this is. I suppose that it is used in preparing the ground. Visually it is a circle inside of a circle inside of a circle ...

Details and texture are fun for a camera.

I love this shot, and it is from a simple flower bucket.

This pine had a wonderful color to it.

Ginger, Ken and Jean's dog.

The neighbors dog. I don't know her name, but she was always around.

Trip to Cali

LIGO decided to send me to California for a few days of meetings last month. This was a pleasant suprise. I had thought (and been told) that it would be a trip to Louisiana, so we did not have much warning.

It was fun to see family. Here Aunt Kathy is making sure Emmy knows how to play all the family games.

Grandpa had fun with his granddaughter.

Umm can I get into this ...

Eli and Emmy had fun playing at dinner. Eli would color and then give Emmy a crayon. Emmy would eat the crayon and then give it back to Eli for some more coloring.

On the road again ...

This weekend we found Lake Sacajawea and the Ice Harbor dam. This area is on the trail that Lewis and Clark traveled on their trek to the pacific. The lake was formed by damming the Snake river in the 50s. We were actually trying to find the dam's visitor center (we didn't realize you have to sort of ignore a stop sign and a restricted area sign to get to it) and ended up at Charbonneau park up the river a bit.

The park was a pleasant surprise. It is pretty good size, and we enjoyed spending the afternoon on the lake front. There were a few playground toys, lots of grass, trees, picnic benches, fishing, swimming, and boating areas. There also looks like it has some camping areas as well. So we will have to go back some time.

The dam at the lake has a large lock in it. Here is a barge that came through (when were not looking).
Emily did manage to have some fun with us.
Mommy and Emily getting ready to stick their feet in the water.
Yeah !!!!
Fun with Mommy. Although Emmy thought the water was really cold.

We were not at the swimming area (although there was one)

Walla Walla

Exploring is exceptionally fun when everything is new.

Last weekend we went out to Walla Walla Washington. To get there we traveled along the Columbia river as it bends south toward the Oregon border. Then we crossed the Snake river and headed eastward towards Idaho.

There is a large amount of open land going out this direction. It is filled with nature reserves, winery's, and farms. We passed one spot where there where thousands of ducks sitting on a partially frozen pond. Laura spotted two bald eagles there as well.

As we headed inland from the Snake and the Columbia rivers we found a depression era lookout point. So we had to stop and take a look.

The Snake river gave us a preview of what was to come.
We were heading roughly that way.

There was a beaver dam below us the whole time. Laura got to see the beaver,
but I was not quick enough to catch it.

Looking back towards the Columbia, we came from that path.

When we got to Walla Walla we found a wide range of styles. Many of the houses where goregous old Victorian styles houses. We drove around for a good half hour looking at them. If it was close enough to comute from Laura would make sure we lived here.

As we left we spotted an unusual sight across the street from us. They keep a old steam engine around and light it up for Christmas.

Visiting us ...

If anyone wants to visit us here are a few pointers.

We will have some sort of a guest room wherever we land. So if you call/email ahead we will probably be able to accommodate you.

If that does not work out, then we suggest Paragon corporate housing. We are staying with them while we wait for our place to become available. They do fully furnished apartments (washer, dryer, dishwasher, fridge, stove, oven, microwave, ...) for around the price of a hotel, and the rooms are much nicer. The only thing is that you must stay 3 or more days.

There are a few ways to get here (Pasco tri-cities airport PSC). When flying through Seattle or Portland you take a smallish turbo-prop plane. When flying via Salt Lake you take a smallish jet (which holds less people than the turbo-prop). Both ways you should plan on small carry-ons, the airlines do not tell you how small the overhead compartment is.


Also you can fly out of Vegas via Allegiant Air you can get flights as cheep as $70 each way. I have not flown with them, but my boss recommends it.