Wednesday, June 24, 2009

A Day with Ethan

Today I took Ethan with me over to Montpelier to take care of the yard at our old home.
The following photos will explain why I didn't get done in time to take the clippings to the landfill. We did, however have a great time together. Thanks, Ethan for going with me. First stop was Ricks Springs in Logan Canyon. The water was really gushing out this year, maybe more than I have ever seen it in other years. Very fascinating indeed.
We did a little spelunking along the way as well. The cave was not large, but we did find it interesting, and decided we'd like to go to a larger cave some day.
Another photo of Ethan, the Spelunker.
We stopped at the Bear Lake Scenic Outlook. There was a group of four young men in a van from Maryland, and I overheard one of them say: "This is the most beautiful valley we have seen on our whole trip." The Bear Lake Valley truly is a gem in the Rockies, a truly magnificent place.
Ethan sitting in a patch of wild flowers at the Bear Lake Scenic Outlook.
We stopped for a few minutes in Paris, mostly a photo op, for Ethan in front of this beautiful historic tabernacle, completed in 1888, by the pioneer settlers there, some of which were our ancestors.
A day with Ethan would have been incomplete without a little paleontology and archeology.
It has been said, that the three-part task of an archaeologist is to find, dig, and analyze. We found, we dug, and Ethan will do most of the analysis. We found a few good trilobite fossils, probably a million years old.
Cowboy? Archaeologist, Paleontologist? You can tell by his hat, he is not a sailor or a baseball player, not that he couldn't be if he really wanted to.
Ethan posing near the little stream near Red Hill, where we found some of our fossils. The ground was rather wet, so as we dug and found fossils some of the slate rocks in which they were embedded kind of crumbled, destroying them as we found them, but we did manage to find a few good ones.
Most of the yard work did get done eventually, but we failed to finish in time to get to the dump. People in Montpelier are friendly and a few stopped by to talk. One lady stopped by and wanted me to show her the house, which is for sale. She is a widow and acted like she hadn't had anyone to talk to for a long time. I enjoyed visiting with her. We finally left about six o'clock. By 6:05 Ethan was sound a sleep. His heart must have been beating, but honestly, I didn't see so much as a muscle twitch for the next hour and a half until we got back to Logan. I hope you enjoyed your time with Grandpa as much as I enjoyed being with you. Thanks again for a fun day, Ethan.
As I thought about the day and he beauties that surround us and our family, the words to the song "How Great Thou Art" kept running through my mind. I am in awe of His creation and grateful to be a part of it.

3 comments:

Alison Daugs said...

What a great day for Ethan! He will forever remember his times with Grandpa Bart. I should have come to help mow while you explored.

meegz said...

Great to have time with those grandkids -- they treasure it, as I'm sure you do to.

Rene Weston-Eborn said...

Looks like a great day! I agree Bear Lake is the most beautiful place on earth.