Palmyra Temple

We visited the Palmyra Temple while visiting my dad in early July.  My step-mother grew up in Palmyra before she joined the LDS Church, which has it's roots in this small town in upstate New York.  Here are a few family pictures with us and the temple.



Here is a picture of the stained glass from the outside:



There is a lot of symbolism in all of the stained glass windows in this temple.

In the picture below, the sun shines down on the temple and on the Angel Moroni who fulfills the prophecy of Revelations 14:6-7.

Cattails

In New York, I grew up with Cattails.  Emma here has discovered one herself!



Dad says that if you are in a crunch, you can eat the cattail roots.  I would have to be pretty desperate; I can't imagine it would taste very good!  I would eat the wild raspberries, wild blackberries, and catch and cook a rabbit before I would eat a cattail root!

Great Grandma Kimbler

My Grandma Kimbler moved from Michigan to New York this year to be closer to family so my dad and step-mom could help take care of her.  So when we visited New York we were able to see her and the kids had some time to get to know their great-grandma Kimbler!



It is pretty cool to think we had 4 generations together here:  my grandma, my father, my brother Brent & I, and my kids.  I hope my kids will remember their great-grandma Kimbler.  I do remember  meeting my great-grandma Ware when I was a little kid.  I didn't think much of it then, but now it is pretty cool to think that I at least met her and remember that.

Red Barn Family Pictures

We took a short stroll down the street from my dad's cabin to take some family pictures in front of a neighbor's old red barn.  The pictures turned out great!  We were all dressed in our fourth of July shirts (it was the fourth of July).



Rachel also did some research on why barns are red.  I can't remember all the reasons, but I do remember it had to do with using the blood from the slaughter and also using rust in the paint as the rust would help prevent mold.  All I know is that barns are suppose to be red.

Fourth of July In Chili

We were in New York for the fourth of July and went to see the fireworks in a town called Chili (in a previous post I explain how to pronounce it).

The kids got ice cream (but not using the cash Emma found earlier)!  Yummy!



Here below you can see how Henry felt about not getting any ice cream!



So, of course we caved in and he got some too:



We watched the fireworks.  It was a great show!

Emma Finds $42

While we were in New York on the 4th of July, we went to the festivities in Chili (pronounced "Ch-eye-lie").  While walking by the street venders, we spotted $42 on the ground.  Of course Emma has a knack for finding cash on the ground, so she gets the credit for finding it.

I didn't think it was right to just pocket the money, so we asked those in line near the cash if they lost the money.  Nobody claimed the  money.  In fact most people told us to just pocket the cash.

Still, I wanted to teach a lesson to Emma.  So we found a police officer and handed the money over to him.  He explained that if nobody claimed the cash in a certain number of days, then it was ours.  I wasn't convinced the officer wouldn't pocket the money himself, but it isn't like we need the cash, and that way Emma might learn something.  Emma has since been very concerned about what has happened to the money.

So, if you are ever in need of some cash, just talk a walk with Emma and she will find some money for you.  You might be surprised how much she will find!

Welcome to Clarendon!

I grew up in a small town called Clarendon.  It's not a very big town.  Last week I got to go back and visit for the week.

Clarendon was founded in 1810 when Eldridge Farwell went looking for his brother's horse and came across a waterfall.  He decided to settle by the falls and use the falls as a source of power and built a sawmill there.

[caption id="attachment_453" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="Left to right: Me, my brother Brent, and my dad"][/caption]

Erie Canal Locks

I grew up next to the Erie Canal.  It is a waterway that connects the Great Lakes with the Hudson River.  In effect, it is a direct waterway for boats to go from New York City / Atlantic Ocean to the Northern Mid-West states which before were blocked by Niagara Falls and a long trip up the St. Lawrence River.  It was a big deal back in the early 1800's when it was dug.

The town where I grew up didn't have any locks.  However in Lockport, as the name implies, has some locks.  Last week we stopped in Lockport and watched the locks in action.  In the picture below, you see the lock that is upstream and a boat has just finished being brought up and the doors are opening to let it out.



In the pictures below on the left, you can see the doors that are holding the upstream water in that lock from the downstream lock.  On the right, a boat has just entered the downstream lock and you can see the doors closing.



What happens next is that the upstream lock lets its water into the downstream lock until they are the same level.  At that point neither lock will be at the water height of the upstream nor downstream canal, but in between.  The boat moves into the upstream lock and the doors close behind it.  That is where we are at in the picture below on the left.  Then they let in water from upstream until it reaches the same level as the upstream canal, as in the picture below on the right.  Then they open the upstream doors and let the boat move on the canal upstream.



A different day we stopped by the locks in Palmyra, New York.  Here are some pictures of that lock:





For those interested in a little more info on the Erie Canal, here is a wiki page on it:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erie_Canal

My Dad's House in New York

My dad lives in a log cabin in upstate New York.  You can see it here in the picture of Benjamin and his Great-Grandma Kimbler (my Grandma):



Near the cabin is the outhouse.  You can see how thrilled MO is to have to use it:



Fortunately, they no longer use the well where you had to send down buckets to fill up on water. It is now covered up by rocks so nobody falls in.



They live among an old apple orchard.  In the fall they have more apples than they know what to do with.  In the summer when we were there, the wild raspberries were starting to ripen.  There must have been billions of raspberries, and that is not an overstatement!  Daily I wandered around and eat raspberries whenever I got hungry, just like when I was a kid.  Emma too!





Dad also has a fire-pit at his house like we had growing up.  This one had a ground-hog living in a hole right below that large log.



MO cooked the ground-hog.  It hasn't been seen since.



 

Flying to New York

Last Sunday we woke up at 4am to drive to Las Vegas and catch our flight to New York.  We went to visit my family in upstate/western New York.

Flying with 4 little kids is pretty difficult.  It is most difficult with an infant, especially when the infant is wiggly.  Here we are admiring the planes:



To help pass the time on our 5 hr flight, we prepared snacks, movies, and things to do.  Benjamin had a sticker book.  He sat next to some fellow from Brazil, who helped him with his sticker book for most of the 5 hours.  Nice guy!

First Filling

Yesterday I got my first filling... ever.  I've never had a cavity before.  The dentist said it was a cavity in the sense that there was a cavitation, but not like the normal dental cavity.  He filled it as a precautionary measure to prevent any further damage.  He only found it after examining my teeth after my 6 month cleaning.  His hook got stuck in it.  It took all of 90 seconds to fill it.  The dentist said he wasn't sure if he should feel privileged or not to do my first dental work.  Do you see it?

Mt Whitney Trip Report

On Sunday evening, I decided to take an opportunity to hike Mt. Whitney this week with Brent Cannon and some friends of his from work.  It was such a last minute decision, that I was kind of going crazy making sure I was ready.  I already had most of the things I need except the ice axe and crampons that I borrowed from another friend.  The one thing that I wasn't sure about was which boots to take.  The crampons only fit into a pair of boots that an old friend had given me, but those boots didn't fit very well and were a bit tight in some places due to my wide feet.  I tried different insoles and socks and eventually settled on a combination.  I knew it wouldn't be the most comfortable, but it would have to do.

The other item that concerned me was the weather: forecast major winds and a temperature drop just as we should be heading up the mountain.  Not good, especially since the wind is one thing I despise about this area.

Tuesday night I headed up with everyone at a little past 8pm.  We camped at Horseshoe Meadows (10,000 ft elevation) to start acclimatizing.  It was a bit windy that night, and didn't get a great night sleep.

[caption id="attachment_420" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="Starting at Whitney Portal"][/caption]

In the morning we headed over to Whitney Portal to begin the hike.  Fortunately in the first hour or so my boots seemed to stretch and fit my feet.  That was a miracle I needed.  The hike up was OK, except the wind made it cold.  While hiking, it was warm enough to hike in a short-sleeve shirt, but if you stopped, you had to wear something heavier.  As we kept going up, it kept getting worse:  more wind and more cold.  Eventually, at Trailside Meadow we hit a lot of snow and decided to start taking the snow instead of the trail as the trail was becoming difficult to find as so much of it was buried in snow.

[caption id="attachment_421" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="Trailside Meadow where we switched from trail to snow"][/caption]

The remaining section up to Trail Camp was entirely over snow, but somewhat miserable due to the high gusty winds.  At times I would turn around and wait for the gust to go down, since the wind was going against us.  We talked to everyone who was coming down the mountain, and everyone kept telling us about the super-high winds (60 mph estimates) up at Trail Camp and above.  Most said is was so high, that they turned around at or before Trail Crest.  This wasn't good news if the weather were to stay this way, but we kept pressing on.  I was a bit concerned about having another sleepless night at Trail Camp due to cold high winds.

We did arrive at Trail Camp and found the best sheltered place we could find.  Brent and I shared a tent which was a low-profile 2-man tent.  The others shared a high-profile 4-man tent that was having trouble staying up.  They put a lot of effort (in vain) to build some rock walls to get some shelter from the wind.  After a while they even moved the tent to what would hopefully have more shelter.



The second miracle happened at about 6 or 7pm that evening when the winds died down completely!  It was so nice that we weren't allowed to say "wind" anymore.  At about 8pm when the sun set, we set out for bed only to find it starting to snow!

[caption id="attachment_423" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="Evidence that it did snow on us"][/caption]

I slept well that night in my new down sleeping bag.  Even though temperatures were certainly sub-freezing, I stayed plenty warm all night long.  We woke up at 4:30am to get an early tackle on the snow chute while it was still iced over.  We started up the slope at 6am after a hearty oatmeal breakfast.

[caption id="attachment_425" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="The climb from Trail Camp to Trail Crest (12,000ft-13,600ft)"][/caption]

There is a trail that heads up this slope to Trail Crest, but you can't take it due to the snow.  So instead we strapped on the crampons and grabbed the ice axes for a thrilling ascent up 50-degree angled snow & ice.

[caption id="attachment_426" align="alignnone" width="463" caption="It was a long arduous climb up this snow chute!"][/caption]

It is actually much more awesome being there than the pictures make it look.  And the crampons seem to allow you to defy gravity.







[caption id="attachment_430" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="Trail Crest (13,600 ft)... finally!"][/caption]

I made it to Trail Crest in what I thought was pretty awesome time:  1 hr 25 minute.  That is ascending vertically at 19 feet per minute, including rests!  Conquering this part made the rest of the trip feel pretty easy.

On the other side (west side) of the Sierra crest, there is clearly still a lot of snow.

[caption id="attachment_431" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="Looking west at Guitar Lake"][/caption]

The trail to the summit was almost entirely free of snow from Trail Crest until the last 500 ft or so of elevation climb to the summit, where we strapped the crampons back on for another short climb up.



The summit was finally reached and we took our time despite the cold wind up there.  The views were awesome!  I made a short call home to my wife on my cell phone that had a clear line of sight to Lone Pine and some cell tower 10,000 ft below us.

[caption id="attachment_433" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="Summit of Mt Whitney"][/caption]

This ascent was my 7th time to the top of Mt. Whitney!  I have made it up on every attempt, which I think is a mix of determination and a certain amount of luck having sufficiently good weather conditions each time.

We hurried down the mountain just in time to get a nice juicy burger from the Whitney Portal Store.

Happy Trails!