Travis and me on Etna Summit. Travis is about to go snowshoeing and I am about to take off on my snowboard. This is one of the spots mentioned in Outside Magazine for the Backcountry Snowboarding.

Pictures from Snowboarding at Etna Summit yesterday. Click my photo link to see the larger pics (snowboarding folder). 

What a Great Day...

I sit here by the fire still in my ski clothes, thinking about what a great day it was today. I worked most of the day and accomplished a good bit on my boat trailer project (pictures coming soon). I finally found a kit to convert our wire feed welder to an aluminum welder. About noon I decided to go into Etna. The Volvo needed to be driven because the battery is kind of week from sitting for a long time. So I goto a few shops in town and then get in the car to leave. I turn the key and nothing happens, the battery is dead. I finally found someone willing to help me jump the car after and hour or so. Late this afternoon Dan, Chad (chris's friend) and I decided to go snowboarding off of Etna Summit (pictures on the way). This is a great backcountry run. We got about 4 runs in and took turns shuttling to the summit. Jim, you should seriously think about taking a week off of school to come to do this while the snow is still great. At the top of the run the powder was nearly thigh deep in places. Etna was listed as one of the top 3 dream towns in the US. Here is the article http://outside.away.com/outside/destinations/200408/best_American_dream_towns_3.html
There is about everything you can think of as far as Outdoor adventure goes withing a few hours of the Ranch. As one of my friends put it, I am definitely in my element here.

We returned from snowboarding to have dinner with Luis and April at the Ranch. April and Luis are and older couple living at the Ranch right now. April works in the office and Luis can fix anything so he does a little of everything around the Ranch. April fixed a Mexican Feast for us tonight, it was so good! After dinner we sat around the table and they told us stories. Everything from the tough times they made it through to how proud they are of their children and then what is wrong with our society today. It was and incredible time of fellowship.

Now I sit here typing, worn out from a full day. The past few nights we have taken turns sharing about ourselves with the other guys. It is amazing how much better you understand a person and what they are about when you know their background. I think we are definitely becoming a more tightly knit group through times like this. I think I will stop typing now.

January Quote Page 2005

January Quote Page...

1) "Only those who are willing to go to far will have the chance to experience how far one can go."
-T.S. Eliot
I heard this quote on the Dave Ramsey show while I was driving. I had to pull over and write it down.

2) " Today men are consumed by desires to buy things they don't need, with money they don't have, to impress people they don't like. Where do these desires come from?"
-The Man in the Mirror (book)

3) " Everything is permissible for me, but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible for me, but I will not be mastered by anything"
- Thoughts from I Corinthians 6:12

4) " Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income"
-Ecclesiastes 5:10

5) " The life which is unexamined is not worth living."
- Plato (apparently JH Ranch borrowed this quote)

6) "Life is hard and then you die" - Don Ulinski

7) " There is more to life than increasing its speed." - Gandhi

8) " The mass of men live lives of quiet desperation." Henry David Thoreau

9) " I have come that they may have life and have it to the full." - Jesus, John 10:10

10) "No se" (Spanish for "I don't understand") - Jose Luis

11) "Lean into the fear" - Dan Price's advice on how to get better at snowboarding NEW!!!

Goto this website to see all of my pictures:
http://saundha.dotphoto.com/CPListAlbums.asp
The pictures from my trip to park city are now there.

Mt. Shasta Snowboarding and the rest of the weekend

Saturday, Chris and I explored Yreka looking for things to potentially sell on Ebay. It seemed like every shop I went in was several shops in one. The sporting goods store has an old time soda fountain in it (kind of Random) and the biggest Elk mount I have ever seen (had to be bigger than the 440 we saw in Canada,dad). Then the Hardware store had the biggest Chinook Salmon I have seen. The salmon must have weighed over 100 lbs. It was a great morning. We met up with the other guys that afternoon at Mt. Shasta city to go snowboarding. We boarded from 3-9pm. I was surprised at how many runs the mountain had (32) and the quality of the snow. The lift ticket was only $15. The weather was beautiful. There were people skiing in shorts and t-shirts and even some people without shirts.
Sunday was more laid back. We went to church in Etna and then watched the NFL playoff games (2).

My time studying the word (Bible) was great this week. One of my goals for my time at the Ranch is to spend a lot of personal time outside of the group studying the Bible. I have been reading straight through the Bible and reading the book The Man in the Mirror. In our group times with Ray we have been studying the authority of Christ and the scripture.

I posted new pictures on my photo website http://saundha.dotphoto.com . So check those out.

Snowboarding Cardiac

So tonight was my first time to board in the backcountry. It was great. Jim you would love this. We left the Ranch for the top of Cardiac around sunset (about a 30 minute hike). Dan and I had snowboards, Chris and Matt took sleds. It was difficult and frustrating at times because the trail was so narrow. I fell on a small tree one time and got scraped up. We took turns on the sleds to. I made it from the top to the bottom. That's all that matters right? We are planning to climb Mt.Shasta in the spring and board down from the top.http://www.climbingmtshasta.org/









Dan, Me, and Chris on Cardiac Mtn. next to the Ranch.

Snowshoeing Anyone?

I bought these snowshoes today. Kind of random I know. Travis got me into it. He bought a pair yesterday, so I decided to see what I could find on ebay. I bought these for about half price and they have only been used once! I figure if I don't like them then I can always sell them again on ebay. Now I can climb any mountain around the Ranch and snowboard down. I can also use them to hike to the lakes above the Ranch that are surrounded by ice. Travis and I are planning to use them on our monthly climbs of Mt. Shasta and our May ascent of Mt. Ranier in Washington. Hopefully we will recruit the other guys into our new sport also.

Tubbs Mountain 25, my new snowshoes.

The Return to California

I flew out of Birmingham on Southwest after a 1 hour delay on Jan. 15th. My time back in Birmingham was great. I got to spend alot of time with friends and family. I also got a new digital camera so I can add lots of new pictures. The flights out were great to. I sat next to this Lady named Betty who was with her grand daughter (5 years old) who she is raising. She was a Christian, we talked for over an hour about how she moved by faith from California to Mississippi and got a new job as a social worker and the Lord has been blessing her in many unexpected ways. It was very encouraging to hear her story. I also told her about what we are doing out here at the Ranch. Betty also told me about her grant writing business and how she applies for grants for her community and the schools. This was very interesting to me and I have decided to take this on as one of my projects this winter (applying for grants). She gave me all the info I need to get started. The Ranch is a 501 c3 non profit organization so if you need a tax write off we will take almost anything (http://www.jhranch.com). This flight was a close second to my flight with the Mormons returning to Salt Lake City from their 2 year missons (on my way to Park City Utah Dec. 2005).

Back to the flights. I flew through Las Vegas and San Diego, two very cool cities. I have been to Las Vegas several times but never San Diego. It looked like a beautiful city, at least from the plane. I arrived in Sacramento where Dan picked me up and we went to see a movie while we waited for Matt Nolan to arrive. You would think the trip is almost over but no it is not.

So we spend the night in Sacramento beacuse it is late when we pick up Matt Nolan. We wake up Sunday and drive to Bethel Church in Redding and goto church. After Church we come out to the van and it won't start. We tried everything. So we decided to go eat and try it later. So we come back and it still doesn't work. Then we decided to goto church (It is 6pm now). After church it still did not work so we called triple A (Thanks Dad) and they came to tow the van to Yreka (about 100 miles) for free because of my Triple A membership. So the tow truck shows up and they try adding gas one more time and then the car cranked! So I drove the next 2 and 1/2 hours back to the Ranch and went to bed. Another great adventure...

Goto this website to see all of my pictures:
http://saundha.dotphoto.com/CPListAlbums.asp

Blog Updates

Check out the new features on the blog. I added the Google Search box at the top, the links to my roomates blog sites and the Google ads on the right side. I am in the process of trying to figure out how to add a profile picture. If you are bored please click the links to my ads as many times as you can, Google will pay me for every click. All proceeds will go to my travel fund/survival fund. Does anyone read this? I am starting to wonder because I have not received any comments on any of my posts. This makes me think either everyone is in a huge hurry when they read it or no one reads it. So someone please leave a comment and then I will know.

Goto this website to see all of my pictures:
http://saundha.dotphoto.com/CPListAlbums.asp

Weekly Update

The past week or so has been really busy. I went kayaking with Jonathan one day. The river was a little higher than the last time we went (above 3 for those of you familiar with the Mulberry Fork). The rapids were mostly class II+ and III. It was a quick trip, but lots of fun. Jonathan bought me a set of nose plugs, which made it a much more fun experience for me. I dropped into 5 - 0 (a surf wave near the take out) which was was much more sticky than usual and surfed for a few seconds and then realized how sticky it was and wanted out of it. Later in the week I went for a long Bike ride around the neighborhood and found a great trail I hiked on for a while. My sister and I went back there later in the week to go for a hike and take some pictures. The rest of my time was spent working for Mom and Dad, lake trips, eating with family and friends, and getting packed up to return to California. I leave January 15th.

Goto this website to see all of my pictures:
http://saundha.dotphoto.com/CPListAlbums.asp

Eric Nikoli with the kayaks at the Mulberry Fork. 

Kayaking on the Mulberry Fork

Eric and I went to paddle the Mulberry Fork Tuesday. It was a great day on the river (every day on the river is a great day). The water was low (around .5) but we had fun scraping through the rapids. The mulberry is a great river located 30 minutes north of Birmingham near Hayden, Alabama. It is mostly class 1 and 2 rapids depending on the water level. When the water is high there are a 1 or 2 class 3 rapids. It is a very fun river with a great surf wave at the take out called 5-0 (pronounced five - oh). See this website for more info on the Mulberry Fork of the Warrior River http://www.alabamawhitewater.com/guide/guide_files2/mulberrylow.htm

Me, Kathryn and Jim by the slopes. 

The Canyons. Park City, Utah. 

My brother jim and me with the snowmobiles in the background. 

Picture from our day of snowmobiling. This is at 11,000ft, great view. 

My Favorite Picture of Vaughn, Jim's girlfriend. 

All of us at The Canyons Resort in Park City, Utah. 

CCI Conference Dec.2-9

Another mini roatrip...

Dec.2
I took a shuttle from Birmingham to Atlanta to meet the other JH guys at the airport. We drove to Matt's parents' house where we stayed and his dad cooked a great meal for us that night. We hung around the house in Atlanta that night.

Dec.3
We slept in this morning and then met up with Ryan Archer for lunch (former JH Rancher). Ryan works for UPS corporate in Atlanta. It was a great lunch. He had many encouraging words for us and our time at the Ranch.

That night we decided to drive to Athens to stay with Matt's brother David Nolan. We hung out with several JH people that goto UGA and even got to play basketball in the UGA Coliseum.

Dec.4
After a quick breakfast at Chick Fil A we were on the road again. This time we were headed to Savannah, GA for the CCI conference. The drive was about 3 hours.

We met up with Dan's Mom in Savannah for dinner. Dan's mom works for CCI (Christian Camping International). We ate at Lady and Son Restaurant and it was very good. We checked into our hotel and walked around the historic district the rest of the night.

Dec.5-8
Our purpose for being at this conference is to help the full time staff with anything they need.
This involves alot of AV setup and running errands. Dan is a security guard. We can goto the seminars when we have time.

The historic district of Savannah is beautiful. There are 22 squares located between the city blocks. It is a great layout for a city. I was disapointed we ran out of time to take the tour of the city by trolley car. I did walk around alot though. The city was founded in the early 1700's and is one of the oldest and most historic cities in the south.

I was able to goto a few seminars that were interesting and I met several people who will be great contacts in the future.

While I was there I met a guy who told me his life was dramaticly changed by watching the JH Ranch video. He was very emotional and told me that video is what made him decide to get into Christian Camping as a camp director.

After the conference we drove back to Atlanta and stayed another night at Matt's house. The next morning I took the shuttle back to Birmingham.

Overall, It was a good trip.

Goto this website to see all of my pictures:
http://saundha.dotphoto.com/CPListAlbums.asp

Nov. 26 - Dec. 1

This week was fairly uneventful and boring. I spent all of my time working on various projects for Mom and Dad.


Goto this website to see all of my pictures:
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Thanksgiving

It seems strange to be back in Birmingham. I feel like I have been gone for a long time even though it has been only a few weeks. I will be here until Jan. 4th with a few exceptions. I am going to Savannah for a week (CCI conference) and then to Park City for a week to ski with my family.

Thanksgiving was good. My family and I went to eat at both of my grandmother's houses. One for lunch and one for dinner. They live about a mile apart in Birmingham. It was fun as always.


Goto this website to see all of my pictures:
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Portland and Seattle Nov.18-22

Another Roadtrip begins...

Nov.18, Thursday
We left the ranch early for Portland today. We crammed ourselves into the Ranch's Jeep Cherokee. Travis stayed back to do some things around the ranch. Our first stop was George Fox University. Gearge Fox is a small school in Portland (about 1000 students I think). We set up a table and played the Ranch video while we talked with the students about the Ranch. The purpose of our visit was to promote the Ranch.

That night we stayed with the Gilbertson's. They are a JH host family and have been to the Ranch several times. They were great. Also, that night Dan's brother, who lives in Portland, showed us around the well known 23rd street and gave us a tour of downtown Portland. There are many coffee shops in Portland.

Nov.19, Friday
We left the Gilbertson's house early Friday morning and picked Dan up from his brother's apartment on our way out of the city. Today we drove to Seattle Pacific University in downtown Seattle to meet up with Sara (our contact their). We set up a table like we did at George Fox and basically did the same thing (promote JH and talke to people).

Seattle is an awesome city (also with lots of coffee shops). We stayed with the Zorn family for the entire weekend. We felt so welcome in their household. SaraRachel Zorn (the two oldest daughters) showed us around the city (the tour was great). We ate Dinner Friday night at a small Mexican restaraunt named Mama's. It is supposedly the best Mexican restaraunt in Seattle.

Nov.20, Saturday
We woke up this morning and Mr. Zorn (Jim) told us he was going to take us on a tour of the Seattle Seahawks headquarters. He is the quarterbacks coach for the team and played for the Seahawks in the late 70's and early 80's. It was great! We got to see all of the training facilites and the locker rooms and offices. This took about half of the day.

The Auburn Alabama game was today. I got to watch the 4th quarter but it was over by then. Auburn won easily but the score was not that impressive (21-13). I wish I had been able to watch all of the game.

The Zorn girls took us to Pike's Place market today. This is one of the most well know things to see in Seattle. It is a market that is covered and right on the edge of Puget Sound. This is where they "throw" the fish and people buy them. We also visited the first Starbuck's today and ate Clam chowder at Puget Sound. Mrs. Zorn cooked dinner tonight and then we went downtown.

Nov.21, Sunday
We went to church with the Zorn's this morning. After church we went to the Seahawks game against the dolphins at Quest field in Seattle. The four of us got tickets for $5 each and then the Zorn's got us into the club level seats. The Seahawks won by 7 on a last second interception that was returned for a touchdown. We got to meet several of the players after the game with Jim Zorn.

Dan, Chris, and Matt left to return to the Ranch after the game (9 hr drive). I went to eat Sushi with the Zorn family after the game because I was flying back to b'ham from Seattle the next morning. Overall, It was a great trip! We had a lot of fun.

Nov.22, Monday
Sara Zorn took me to the airport early Monday morning. I left the Seattle Tacoma airport at 11:15am and arrived in Birmingham at 11:15pm. It was a long day.


Goto this website to see all of my pictures:
http://saundha.dotphoto.com/CPListAlbums.asp

Dan, Harris, and Chris on the top of Castle Dome. Mt. Shasta is in the background. The view from the top of the dome was one of the most impressive views I have ever seen.Not bad for the first weekend here... 

Weekly Update Nov. 5-12

I have been here a little over a week now and alot has happened. Last Friday we went to an Etna High School football game. It was so cold. The Etna Lions lost to the Mt. Shasta bears 47-20 to complete their winless season. The game was also homecoming. One of the girls rode in at halftime on the hood of an 18 wheeler tractor (I know you wish you could have done that, right Kathryn?). The game was fun. I think the crowd thought we were a little crazy. Jonathan Jensen and a friend of his came to visit us for the weekend. We went to Castle Crags state park. I have always wanted to go there. It was even better than I expected. The rocks are so big. We hiked for about 2 hours to get to Castle Dome (see pictures)and then we climbed it without ropes. It is like a miniature half dome (yosemite) without the crowds. The view was incredible. It was the highest point for hundreds of miles. Definitely one of the coolest things I have climbed so far. Jim (my brother) and I hope to return to it this summer and climb one of the more difficult routes to the top with climbing gear. Sunday, we went to Bethel Church in Redding, CA. We stayed Saturday night with some guys who are in the school of ministry at Bethel. The best way to describe Bethel is the California version of Church of the Highlands in Birmingham, if that makes any sense. Sunday night was the JH Ranch potluck dinner. The winter staff has a potluck dinner at least once a month during the winter months to fellowship and share what God is doing in there lives.I met several people for the first time at this dinner.

Monday Night Matt suggested we spend and hour reading the Bible or another book and share what we learned from it. 3 hours later we finished sharing what each of us had learned. It was an amazing time of fellowship that definitely brought us much closer together and helped us to know where each person is at and what they are struggling with. I think we are going to try to do this at least 2x per week. Matt also suggested we come up with a basic structure for our off time during the week. So that is something we are thinking and praying through as a group.

Tuesday through Friday were pretty much the same. There is a group here until Friday so we have worked in the kitchen for 1/2 of each day (washing dishes, cooking, cleaning). I have been working to get flight info together each of us (5)for the holidays and the Christian Camping International Conference in Savannah,GA we will attend in December. Matt and Chris Installed the Wood burning Stove in our house (The Greanbean is actually a double wide trailor). Also, the heat quit working yesterday so it is cold in the mornings in the house.

That is about all that happened this week. We have big plans for the weekend though. Tomorrow it is Mtn biking in the morning, and then we plan to take a break to watch Auburn Destroy Georgia on their way to winning the National Championship. I wish I could be there. It will be so much fun. War Eagle! Sunday we plan to go fishing for trout in the morning and then to church at Bethel in Redding that night. Don't forget to check out my new picures at the link listed below...

Great Verse:
Psalm 31:24 Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord.

Goto this website to see all of my pictures:
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Road Trip Nation by Matt Nolan

Road Trip Nation by Matt Nolan

Three days after resigning my previous job, I was on the road heading across this great nation. Harris generously designated his stylish white volvo for our travels, and Sunday afternoon we met at the GA-AL line to head west. We stopped in at Birmingham to meet three lovely ladies for some Arby's, and then it was time to take some ground.
We tackled five states that night - Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. A special thanks to cracker barrel's genius system of renting books on CD...Lisa Beamer kept us enthralled with her recollection of Sept 11 in "Let's Roll." We finally decided to call it a night, stopping just past Oklahoma City to crash around 3am. Pulling off the nearest exit, we ironically threw up a tent right beside a recently gutted motel.
Day 2 we woke up early to a cloudy cold wind and some penned up buffalo down the hill...only in Oklahoma, folks. After some delicious sausage biscuits we were back on the interstate into Texas, stopping in Amarillo for some much needed cowboy hats (yeah c'mon). Upon entering New Mexico we drove, much to our surprise, straight through a blizzard. Harris insisted we pull over and get out, but I refused to make snow angels. We busted it all the way to Flagstaff Arizona, passing some beautiful scenery in the painted deserts and rock faces. The CD player broke so we managed to get by finding some killer AM stations featuring the likes of Savage, Hannitize and El Rushbo. Two days down and we had flat crossed the entire nation. We snagged a room at the Super 8 for an actual good night's sleep.
Early the next freezing morning, we shot up to the Grand Canyon, hooked up a national park pass, and cruised the rim. After driving around and getting lost for about an hour, we bagged the tourbus for our own exploration of multiple viewpoints. You could find the trusty volvo pulled over along the road as we hiked up through the woods to scope some breathtaking cliffs. Mid-afternoon we'd seen all we came to see, so we shot up to Zion National park in Utah. This place was absolutely amazing, driving through the towering walls of the canyon until dark. There were some killer day hikes that we didn't have time for, so put it in the books, we'll be back. Once the sun had set, we detoured down to Vegas, since I'd never seen it before. (Vegas, baby, Vegas). We ate at the famous Binion's Horseshoe and caught a lightshow on the ceiling of Freemont Street, and then enjoyed some cheesy old geezer with a mullet and a velvet jacket play his saxamophone. We walked the casinos in the new section, and though they looked pretty interesting, going from the beauty and majesty of creation to the corniness of adult-disneyland disenfranchised me. Speaking of disenfranchisement, the election was that night, so we'd intermittently watch polls come in. Vegased out, we drove to the outskirts of the city to grab a room at a normal hotel. It was late, and they gave us the last room just as Ohio went for Dubya. Four more years, beeyotch!
Rising late we piled back in our travelmobile to head west into Death Valley. I was expecting a flat wasteland barely eyecatching beyond some cracks in the ground. What we encountered was an extremely mountainous region spotted with dunes in the valleys. The car struggled.
Next destination was Sequoia National Park and then King's Canyon, but we soon found out that there is not eastern entrance to either park. A massive Lord-of-the-rings-mountain range void of any overpasses. So we followed along the base figuring on an afternoon at Yosemite. A pitstop at a ranger's station along the way informed us that the only way we could get in the park was to completely circle it, since snow had closed all entrances but the South gate. We were further informed to "just get in the car and drive," to immediately continue North, or we wouldn't get through the oncoming snowstorm about to blanket the overpass ahead. We hit the road and soon met old man winter. Although Harris nearly freaked driving, I rather enjoyed the experience of traversing extreme geography through extreme weather. Once we got through the storm, I gladly volunteered to drive the rest of the night to Susanville, CA. Harris was not impressed. Whats up Super 8?
Morning we sprung for the nostalgia of breakfast at a Black Bear diner, then took our time enjoying the scenery towards Shasta and then made the final leg to the Ranch. 5 days, 3000 miles, and 500 dollars later, we'd accomplished one of the top bullets on the list of "things to do before I die."

by Matt Nolan

Goto this website to see all of my pictures:
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This is a great view of Mt. Shasta, located about 1 hour from JH Ranch. 

Picture from the trip out to California. Whiteout in New Mexico. It was cold.

Trip Log - Birmingham,AL to Etna,CA

It has taken me longer than expected to to get this update out. Here it is...
The trip across the US was incredible! Below is the day to day log of the trip. Matt Nolan road with and is also participating in the program at the JH Ranch. I will be adding pictures to this post as soon as I learn how to do it.

Oct. 31, Day 1
- I left Birmingham at 11am to meet Matt at the Georgia State Line (He is from Atlanta).
- We drove from until 3am and made it to the west side of Oklahoma City where we camped for the night (see picture of campsite)
- Traveled a little over 1000 miles today mostly at night
- It was a slow start because the drive to Memphis was very slow (not interstate highways the entire way), but we made it a long way. Our goal was Amarillo, Texas (probably to ambitious). We were 200 miles short.
- There was not much to see between Birmingham and Oklahoma City so we made few stops today

Nov. 1, Day 2

- Today we drove from the west side of Oklahoma City to Williams, Arizona (50 miles from Grand Canyon National Park) see picture of hotel (It was to cold to camp, below 20).

- 900 miles traveled today

- We drove through a blizzard in New Mexico today (see picture). The weather changed from Sunny and Mild to cold and snowing in about 5 miles. It took about two hours to drive through the storm. It was snowing so hard we could barely see the road (6 inches of snow on the ground).

- Matt and I stopped in Amarillo, Texas to buy Cowboy Hats, Something that will be very useful at the Ranch. Notice I am wearing mine in many of the pictures.

- There was very little traffic today and it was interstate all the way so the drive was easy.

Today was a great day. The scenery west of Albuquerque, New Mexico was the best yet. It is a desert with many plateaus (see pictures). The tape player in the volvo quit working this morning. So we can't listen to CD's or books on tape. It was very cold today.

Nov. 2, Day 3

- Now we are finally in the area we came to see. From here on the rest of the trip is non stop beautiful scenery. We plan to take our time (somewhat) from here to the Ranch.

- We left Williams, Arizona at 7:15am for the Grand Canyon (51 miles)

- Upon arrival at the Grand Canyon we wandered around for a little bit trying to get our bearings and decide what to see on our limited time schedule.

- We walked to the Kolb Studio first. This was where two brothers built a chalet style house on the rim of the Grand Canyon in the 1900's.They were photographers and all around adventure lovers. They took numerous trips down the Colorado river in home made boats and other crazy things. See this link for more info http://www.kaet.asu.edu/kolb/thestory.html . Jim, I think this is what we were meant to do.

- Next, we decided to bypass the guided bus tour to explore the canyon on our own. We took off in the volvo down the Desert View Road (about 30 miles long). See pictures. We did not have much time to do any of the day hikes, but that is definitely something I want to return and do one day. The views were incredible as you can see from the pictures (If I ever get them added).

- We left the Grand Canyon and continued on to Zion National Park, which is north of the Grand Canyon. This looks much closer on a map than it is. It took about 3 hours to get there, We arrived just before dark.

- We took the Inner Canyon Road through Zion. This took us through a tunnel that was over a mile long and opened up to stunning views of the canyon. It is difficult to describe the difference between the Grand Canyon and Zion. They are both so beautiful (see pictures) in very different ways.

- Time was running short so we drove to the end of the canyon and took a short hike through the Zion Narrows and took a few pictures. I definitely want to visit Zion again when I have more time for the day hikes.

- Next Stop Las Vegas!

- Matt had not been to Las Vegas so we had to stop and see a few sites (see pictures). We ate at the World Famous Binions Horseshoe Casino. Home of the World Series of Poker. Then we saw the light show on Freemont Street (http://www.troutman.org/trips/vegas-gc/freemont.html ) and visited a few casinos, took some pictures and went to sleep.

To be continued...

Trip Log - Birmingham,AL to Etna,CA part II

Part II: Birmingham to California

Nov.3, Day 4

- The plan was to leave Las Vegas early, but it did not happen.
- The route I planned for the day included visits to Death Valley, Sequoia, and King's canyon, and camping at Yosemite National Parks. Due to snow storms were were able to visit only Death Valley.
- Death Valley was incredible. It seemed like we were on another planet or something out of the movie "Lord of the Rings"(Matt said). It took several hours to drive through it. The drive was great (see pictures)
- Once we were through Death Valley the weather began to change. I had to drive through another near Blizzard on our way to highway 395 West of Death Valley. It was terrible. The sun went down while we were in the middle of a steep mountain pass. The roads started to Ice up and we almost had to stop for the night and continue on the next morning. We made it through and drove on through Reno, Nevada to Susanville, CA where we stopped for the night.
- We took many pictures today.

Nov. 4, Day 5

- We slept in this morning until 10:30am. We are not far from the Ranch so we planned to take out time.
- Tried to go to Lassen National Park but it was closed due to snow storms.
- Stopped in Mt.Shasta City to try on snowboard boots. Walked around town for awhile.
- Arrived at the JH Ranch at 3:30pm
- Dan Price cooked Chili for Dinner, I moved into the Grean Bean (where we will live for the winter).

Summary:
Overall it was a great trip across the US, lots of adventure. Curt and David, you missed out. Hopefully this was the first of many cross country trips. There are so many more things to see. Maybe we will go through Montana and Wyoming next time? I will be adding the pictures very soon.

Why am I in California???

The profile picture is from my cross country trip to Northern California. It is from a snowstorm in New Mexico. I am in Northern California until the end August (I think? just kidding Mom)working at the JH Ranch (a Christian Outdoor Adventure Camp for parents,teens, and high school students). There are 6 guys here. Soon to be 5 (but that is another story). We do everything together. We are here to work, study, and seek the Lord's direction for our lives. The scenery is beautiful. We are in the mountains of Northern California about 40 miles from Oregon. Check out my link to www.JHRanch.com to see what the place looks like. Also look at my photo link (Harris's Photos)where I have around 900 (and growing)of my best digital pictures.