Unschooling? (In the trendy sense of the word)

We are in no hurry to get back to Minnesota!  For the third day this year school has been closed state-wide due to cold temperatures (like -50 factoring the wind chill!).  They even cancelled classes at the University of Minnesota.  The last time schools closed statewide, including the U of M, was in 1996 when I was in college and the temps were -75°F.  (I started college at age 9 ;-))  We really love our Minnesota friends and family.  We really love our routine and life there.  But we really dislike arctic tundra weather!!! 

Nielsen's Frozen Custard

With that in mind, we are looking for the longest way home possible.  My MonaVie event kept us west until last Sunday (the 19^th).  We stayed for the morning church service MonaVie hosted.  While there, our kids got to meet some of our MonaVie friends.  One friend, Uncle Bob, loves kids and decided to buy ice cream for our children.  After church we stopped at an ice cream place – Nielsen’s Custard Shop, did a few more errands, and made the decision not to go straight to Colorado like originally planned. 

Why?  Jim and Linda, Travis’ parents, texted us a few days prior to tell us they were on their way to Arizona.  They were visiting their long-time, dear friends, Ginny and Perry Baker.  Ginny and Perry, originally from Des Moines, Iowa, were spending a month in Mesa, Arizona.  Apparently Jim was fed up with Oklahoma’s cold weather and decided to take break from winter.  Now they were next door!  Only five hours!  We hopped on the interstate toward Phoenix. 

Travis asked, “Can you look up some RV parks in Mesa?”  The Good Sam’s website listed one RV Park that received a 10-star rating.  It looked fabulous!  Valle de Oro was the name.  Valley of Gold!  Of course!  Unfortunately, once again we had to be 55 years of age or older to stay.  We decided we’d just boondock (or dry camp, as the Californian’s called it).  We told Jim our plan.  Within minutes Ginny and Perry had pulled some strings and suddenly we were 55 with a place to stay in their RV park…Valle de Oro!!!  We had no idea.  How fun!

Gotta love heated pools

Ginny and Perry are stupendous hosts– even for a bunch of party crashers.  Our stop was less than 24 hours.  In that time we did lots of chatting, some swimming (between 10am and noon since that’s one of two time frames kids can swim), played games, walked the grounds, and ate some delicious meals.  In this resort there are 1800 sites for both RV’s and permanent cottages. 

There were only 10 open spaces and we totally understood why.  Everyone was extremely friendly (about 75% of the people were from Canada, Minnesota, and Iowa so that should explain why ;-)).  The resort had 6 horseshoe pits, 10 shuffle board courts, 10 bocce ball courts, 1 pool, 2 jacuzzi’s, a softball field, fitness center, woodworking building, a sewing room, a giant train track, and so much more.  The church service, held in the ballroom was led by any one of three retired pastors wintering in the park, and about 400 people in attendance on any given Sabbath.  Everything is run by park volunteers  (winter visitors).  It’s truly a community.  It will likely be our home when we turn 55. 

Taite and Perry play cribbage

“Taite, you better get a game of cribbage going with Perry before you leave,” suggested Jim.  Perry is a seasoned cribbage player.  Taite learned how to play on this trip and is always looking for an opponent.  He ran to the RV for a deck of cards to take on the challenge.  While Taite schooled Perry, the rest of us played Sequence. 

The rest played Sequence

We love Nana, Papa, and the Baker's!

It was a special treat to spend time with the Baker’s and Trav’s parents.  Big hugs all around. Check out time was 1:00.  We had an 11-hour drive to Grand Junction, Colorado, so we got on the road.

There were a couple different routes we could take.  One of them would take us through Four Corners.  On that route we would see a desolate Navajo and Hopi territory.  That made Travis very nervous.  But we did it anyway.  Taite and I were really excited to check out this four corners tourist attraction.

We got to Tuba City, Arizona, (the Navajo nation’s largest city) within the Painted Desert just in time for dinner.  We had a choice of fried food, fried food, fast food, fried food, and Denny’s.  “I want to eat at Old McDonalds!” voted Lincoln.  We went to Denny’s.  We were the only Caucasian people in the building.  It’s always a unique experience to be in the minority (that doesn’t happen very often in Minnesota). 

The Denny’s kids’ menu had a fun game on it.  It was called Would You Rather.  “Would you rather learn a figure skating routine or learn a ski jump?”  the game suggested.  Everyone voted for the ski jump.  “Would you rather live in a world where it snowed cheese puffs or live in a world where it snowed dollar bills?”  Everyone chose the obvious.  While we waited for our food we made up more Would You Rather questions. 

Me: Would you rather have a pet goat or pet wolf?

Calla:  Wolf.  I don’t like goats.  They eat everything.  Even your clothes. 

Taite:  Goat

Dad:  I’d rather have a goat

Mom:  I’d rather have a wolf as long as you get it when it’s a baby

Parker:  Wolf (she always picks whatever I pick)

Lincoln:  I would rather be a goat.  (of course)

We couldn’t wait to get out of Tuba City.  It was stinky!!!  We haven’t figured out what produced such a powerful smell, but we could see a haze in the air.  We had just over two hours of driving left after dinner.  We made our way to Four Corners in hopes of taking our touristy picture and continue toward Grand Junction. Unfortunately when we arrived at the Four Corners monument, the gates were shut and locked.  The monument’s hours clearly stated on the sign were 8am to 5pm. 

Somewhere between Tuba City and the Four Corners Travis decided it wasn’t a problem to stay in Navajo Territory for the night.  We turned the RV around, backed ourselves into an appropriate roadside spot, and got ready for bed.  Travis stepped outside.  “Kate!  You have to see this!”

I stepped outside and saw absolutely nothing.  I couldn’t tell where Travis was – I was completely turned around.  He had to speak again so I could walk in his direction.  This was the darkest outdoor place I’d ever been.  No street lights.  No city lights.  No homes or farms.  It was just dark.  Finally my pupils dilated.  Oh my goodness!!!!!  I have never seen so many stars!!!!!!!!  I can’t put enough exclamation points there!  It was amazing!!!  Of course it brought the Bible story of God telling Abraham his descendants would be as numerous as the stars.  I asked if anyone could count them.

I hesitate to insert a picture here because this doesn't come close to giving justice to what we saw

“It’s like a zillion million billion jillion stars!” exclaimed Lincoln. 

“It’s like someone threw star dust into the air!” inferred Taite.

“Mom!  Our science book said the twinkling ones are stars and the ones that are just balls and don’t twinkle are planets,” remembered Calla.

“That’s cool!” was Parker’s reaction.

“I’ve never seen that many stars, either,” said Travis following my similar comment.

A cloudy pattern streaked the center of the sky.  “What in the world is that?  It looks like something is orbiting the Earth,” I observed.  It was the Milky Way.  Wow!  So cool!  I see why they call it ‘The Milky Way.’ 

The cool night air got to us and we went inside.  I couldn’t get over the stars, though.  I opened the front shades and continued to observe the night sky.  Taite and Lincoln joined me.  We saw a ‘shooting star,’ where Taite reminded me that it’s just a meteorite burning out as it enters the atmosphere.  (Steel trap, I tell you!)

“What are you guys doing up there?” wondered Travis. 

“Looking at the stars,” I answered.

“What?!  You have the front shades open?!”  It was that dark…he couldn’t even tell we had opened the shades – and he was only 25 feet from us. 

Unforgettable.

Eventually we pulled ourselves away from the window for some sleep.  Morning came and by 8:30 we were following cars into the monument.  A park ranger, two Native American vendors, and one family from New Jersey preceded us.  The New Jersey family took their pictures, then it was our turn.  

Taite does a push-up

Calla does a push up, too

Lincoln chooses to plank

Travis balances

I do my yoga pose

All the kids stand in the appropriate state. 

“(Sigh.)  I’m ready to leave Arizona.  I think I’ll go to Colorado,” joked Travis and he took a giant step over to Colorado.  We ran around taking lots of fun, goofy pictures.  Travis had the kids stand in the states according to age...age of the kid and age of the state to the union.  He had Taite to his research in advance to determine which state is oldest, etc.  We had a book with us that gave us that information.

Then we walked up to talked to the vendors. 

“Hey!  Where are you from?” asked one Native American vendor.

“Minnesota.”

“Minnesota?!  Do you know Pipestone?” he asked.  We affirmed, shared where we live in proximity to Pipestone, and asked how he knew the small town.  “Oh, that’s where all the Native Americans go to get stones for pipes.  You know…to smoke traditional herbs.”  I had never known the origin of the name Pipestone until now.  Neat. (?)

The best part about being there was being the only people there.  We were told that during the summer the line to stand on the intersection and take a picture usually goes back about a ¼ mile.  We were glad to not be there in the summer.

Hot Tomato Cafe - a mountain biker favorite

It was just a few more hours to Grand Junction.  We were visiting a friend and co-worker of Travis’, BJ Baker – no relation to Ginny and Perry Baker.  Tuesday afternoon BJ met us in Fruita, Colorado, just west of Junction.  This town, originally founded on fruit farming, is now a mountain biking mecca.  That and other outdoor sports are its main economy.  BJ took us to the area’s most popular restaurant, Hot Tomato Café.  The pizzas were a hit – even the gluten free pizzas! Although difficult, we tried not to over-eat since we were planning to cook steaks for BJ in just a few hours.  (Thankfully his mom came over to join us for dinner and share the food with us.  It was a delight to spend time with her.)

Calla searches for fossils

BJ knew of a cool dinosaur museum in Fruita, so before we left town we stopped to learn more about dinosaurs. We first watched a video telling us all about the cataclysmic events that took place over billions of years to get our world to what it is today.  "Paleantology is, of course, a newer science, and we are still learning," the movie's hostess reminded us.  Exactly.  We enjoyed simulating an earthquake, digging for bones, building a dam, and getting spit on by a dinosaur (well, Lincoln enjoyed that one.)  Good stop.

Rock climbing/hiking took up most of our day Wednesday.  We overlooked the Grand Mesa – the largest flat-topped mountain in the world.  We climbed next to the Colorado National Monument.  I still haven’t figured out how they decided where the Colorado National Monument would begin and end – it all seemed to run together for me.  This was a very different experience from our Red Rock Canyon climb.  This area had snow (therefore mud), more trails, and less rocks to climb.  We were hiking along mountain biking paths.  One of them was called Free Lunch. Free Lunch is a downhill only, expert bike trail where one is required to ride their bike off a diving board slab!  Like…fly through the air on their bike.  No, gracias. 

BJ’s requested we eat at Fly’n Roosters for lunch after our hike.  He said Roosters definitely has the best wings in all of Grand Junction, probably all of Colorado, maybe even the country.  We’d probably agree. 

We joined BJ and his fabulous girlfriend, Sarah, at their church for a mid-week service Wednesday evening.  (Which was super fun!)  Then we all went back to BJ’s to play some games – Apples to Apples and Crazy 8’s.  It was a fun night.  Our kids adore Sarah and BJ now.  Sarah looks a lot like our sister-in-law, Michelle, and acts a lot like her too.  She’s smart, kind, friendly, smiley, beautiful, patient, and goes with the flow.  In fact, last time I was with her I even called her Michelle.  Every time we did something the kids would ask if Sarah would be there.  BJ was just as popular.  Anytime we drove somewhere, Taite, Calla, and Lincoln would all call out, “I wanna ride with BJ!”  (He just happened to have two vehicles.  Handy.)  By Thursday the boys were wrestling him, the girls were singing songs with him, and they all wanted to sit on his lap or be on his team. 

Thursday was a day for some school.  Trip Advisor listed the Math & Science Center as one of Grand Junction’s top attractions.  Sounds like school to me!  Every last thing was a hands-on scientific adventure.  Since it was mid-day Thursday, we had the place to ourselves.  We also had the attention of all three people working.  Two of them were former teachers.  One sat down to involve the kids in three experiments about air.  We played with sound and sound waves.  Taite designed a city’s energy sources and learned how expensive and environmentally friendly they are.  Lincoln made a PVC pipe track for some golf balls.  Calla used a straw to change the shape of bubbles.  Parker used a book of mirrors to learn about angles.  There was SO much more to do.  At 1:00 the building (which happens to be attached to an elementary school) had a fire drill.  Perfect time for an exit, or we might never leave.  All of the kids asked if they could return to the Math & Science Center.  It was a pretty cool place.

Learning about sounds waves

Learning about air pressure

Instead of leaving Grand Junction Thursday afternoon, we chose to stay and watch BJ and Sarah play in the championship volleyball game for their city league…and win!  Thank you to BJ for the incredible hospitality!  We all had a fabulous time!

Now on to Denver…