Sight Seeing so far!

Not in correct order....

We visited the Grand Canyon which was a huge disappointment. Jack didn't like that the Canyon was so developed and so very, very crowded. He wanted to leave after the very first stop. We went three more stops and did manage to see the photographers house. Jack went half mile down the canyon at this point, while I waited at the top. I didn't like the Grand Canyon, but I think it was because it was so vast I couldn't connect with it. Everywhere else we went, I was able to feel apart of the scenery, to immerse myself in the nature. The Canyon was just 'there'.

Jack loved the Petrified Forest the most. I think it was because it was not over crowded and not nearly developed. Yes, there were hiking trails and a few other families/people at each stop, but over all we were able to feel the vast, openness of the area. The twenty-six mile drive was wonderful and each stop offered another opportunity to take in the scenery and the history of the region.

I almost forgot about Zion, until Jack was telling the girls about it. Then I remembered this was where he had the most fun running because of the people who commented to him. Several people thought he was older (possibly a college runner) or were impressed with his form as he ran up and down the trails. This was also the place he went swimming in the creek post run and I waded for a while. This was also the only place we saw wildlife. As we parked and walked to the visitor center, a mother deer was curled up under a tree. A little farther down the lane, there were two fawns playing (or eating?) in the grass under a grove of smaller trees. Then as we left the park, right in the center of town, an elk was walking across the road! The elk appeared to have a strained ankle and was limping, but appeared otherwise healthy.

As we left the Canyon to head to a painted desert in UT, Jack fell asleep. He missed the most breathtaking landscape I had yet seen. It may not have struck him the same, so I let him sleep. This also meant I didn't get pictures of the landscape. I thoroughly enjoyed the ninety minute drive.

We did manage to find the 'painted' desert that I had wanted to see. It was five miles down a dirt road, but it was worth it. Most of the scenery had been in shades of red up to this point. Here there was a lot of blues and purples to go along with the red. It was beautiful.

Yosemite was very green. As we drove in at dusk, it was very nice. Here, again, we ended up on a dirt road, this one a single lane, down to a campground where we spent the night. There were no facilities other than a pipe hole toilet. No lights, no campfire wood, nothing. We set up the tent, Jack went running and did a quick clean up with our drinking water. The next morning, we had granola bars and water for breakfast and headed down the the Valley. Jack thoroughly enjoyed his run around the Valley followed by a quick rinse off in the freezing creek. We then went to the Visitor Center and the Ansel Adams museum. It was starting to fill up and we were so glad we had stayed in the park to get an early start.

We weren't going to get to the Redwoods until late afternoon. The choice was made to skip the Avenue of the Giants (I wasn't sure if there was a fee...still haven't checked) and continue north. We made it to Drury and saw some impressive trees and old growth forest. We located the Fern Canyon trail, but were afraid we wouldn't have time to hike it. We turned around and drove another single lane dirt road to see something of interest! We had to ford a stream, which freaked Jack out thinking we were going to do great damage to the rental. We made it and spent a good while hiking through the Canyon.

We got to Portland and Jack looked for a park to run in. We found McLeay Park and Jack truly loved it. He ran many miles and set an elevation record and a recorded speed record for this trail. I walked down the the stone house and took several pictures, one of which I plan to turn into a painting.

That is our trip on the way to Seattle. Minus the Hoover Dam.

Worship in Eugene, OR

Another UMC, another female pastor!!

We were in Eugene, OR, on this Sunday. Googled UMC and found four. One was meeting at the Yacht Club, one met at 10:00, one was all about inclusion, the fourth was only the find-a-church link (which I find are usually sorely outdated). So to the 10:00, we went.

Jack was with me, as he couldn't be elsewhere. We arrived and entered the building. We were greeted warmly, went to our seats, and waited for worship to begin.

The church had a lead pastor and a "neighborhood" pastor. The neighborhood pastor filled the role of announcements, children's message, prayer time, etc.

The church seemed very community oriented. A special offering was taken for their African village, a blessings offering was taken for the discretionary fund, and they are pursuing a zoning change in order to build a community coffee shop on the church grounds.

The message was very interesting. The verses after the Good Samaritan parable have the disciples asking Jesus if they should rain down brim fire on Samaria. This was tied to the OT story of Elijah calling down brim fire on the fifty men sent by the king (twice) and refraining from doing so a third time. The disciples would have known this story and for them, it was perfectly logical to rain down fire from heaven on people.

The point of the sermon was how do we treat those who are not hospitable to us. How do we respond like Jesus to those whom we have a history...remember, Jesus often went through Samaria on his way from Jerusalem to Galilee rather than going around as was the norm.

I really enjoyed this experience.

worshipping in Flagstaff

Since I had to pick Jack up at camp at noon, I found a church that had an early worship service. A church in the neighborhood of my hotel was meeting at nine o'clock.

I found the church in a neighborhood nestled in the mountain. I was greeted at the door and given a bulletin, but no conversation followed. I smelled food, but none seemed to be offered though there were tables in the back of the sanctuary. I took my seat. A few people walked by and said hello, but no one initiated a conversation.

Worship started. The lay leader gave the announcements and later read the responses and scripture. The service started with a passing of the peace. It was here that several people introduced themselves and asked my name. They must have been waiting for the proper time, although there was no conversation. No one asked if I was new or a visitor to the area. One lady remembered my name long enough to introduce me to her pew mate.

The first hymn was Alle, Alle, Allelujah. The arrangement did not seem familiar and I had trouble following the pastor as she lead the congregation. The congregation had no clue about this hymn. A group to my left talked loudly through the first two of three times through. The 80+ year old men behind me tried desperately to sing Allelujah over and over again. The pastor noted the congregation would definitely get a chance to try again next week with this unfamiliar song.

The kingdomtide series was to work through the Psalms. Today the Psalm was written by David after his affair with Bathsheba. The pastor took the opportunity to share about David and Bathsheba. She actually began with the anointing of David and his time with Jonathan and King Saul's court. When she got to the part regarding David's treatment of Bathsheba, she noted, "We could have an R rated sermon today. We could talk about men abusing their power. We could talk about (I don't remember her exact phrasing, but was talking about the me too movement and the abuse of power that we are seeing in our country)... but we won't. If you want to talk about this in more depth, we can arrange a time. Just come to see me."

This service (UMC) was more along the basic worship order, though prayer concerns followed the offering. There was no children's message, but there was a plug for the cancer walk that was coming up on the calendar.

The organist was a substitute, which may have accounted for the lack of familiarity with the tunes attached to the familiar hymns that were sung. The powerpoint was on point. The pastor put up each scripture as she referenced them in her sermon and they appeared in a timely manner. The songs were shown (without verse numbers) but also flowed smoothly as we sang.

Over all a pleasant experience, though nothing life changing.

Old Flagstaff

The historic district is a few square blocks on Route 66. There are modern buildings mixed in and the buildings are almost all stone or brick. There are historical markers showing some of the buildings are indeed over 150 years old.

The current tenants are an eclectic mix of bars, food, and shops. Several of the shops contain work from local artisans. I was impressed with some of the artwork. I talked to Jack and I will be taking him there on Sunday after I pick him up from camp.

Yesterday, I was there for lunch. Since I don't eat sushi, or thai, or other spicy foods, I stopped at an Irish Pub. I debated between the fish and chips (I had fish the day before) or the shepherd's pie. I decided that though it was hot, I would try the shepherd's pie. It was good. There was a spice I wasn't expecting, but it didn't ruin the experience. The dish looked small, but as I ate, I realized the size was deceptive. There was a lot of food in that little dish.

Today, I went back to have breakfast. There was another restaurant that had a breakfast special of two eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, and toast. I got there just after opening and ordered my eggs over easy with white toast. The waitress came back to clarify, scrambled or over easy. I wasn't surprised when my toast turned out to be wheat! I was surprised that there was only one piece of toast, though. The waitress brought out the condiment caddy with my plate. I don't use hot sauce or catsup with my eggs, so I felt bad that she had to carry what seemed to be a rather heavy carrier to the table.

After breakfast, I walked toward the far end where the City Hall building was. I wasn't interested in City Hall and the building did not look historical so I turned around and went back to my car. I drove to the other side of Route 66, and other than finding an international hostel, didn't see anything of interest.

First Travel Worship...with a friend

Time to update on the worship service in Newcastle, OK.

The parking lot was mostly empty as we arrived twenty five minutes before the published worship time. We entered and the first thing to catch your eye is an entire wall filled with crosses. Crosses in plain wood, crosses with detailed carving, crosses with painted designs, crosses with tile work. It was actually pretty moving. Then we were greeted and welcomed to our first visit to the church. An indication that it was a tight congregation and visitors were recognized immediately.

I explained that the pastor and I were classmates from COS and the greeter offered to get the pastor. I said that wouldn't be necessary as I was sure she was busy getting ready for worship. As Pastor Lamarla worked her way from her office to the sanctuary. We met in the hallway and she actually recognized me. She mentioned that out of context (as in not at Duke), it took her a minute, but that she recognized me immediately.

We caught up and as expected were interrupted by her lector asking about the reading. So at this point, Jack and I entered the sanctuary.

Remember, these posts are observational and not at all meant to judge or demean in any way.

As the lay leader began the announcements, the pastor interrupted several times to clarify or offer updated information. I think this is one of the reasons I took over the announcements. No matter how plugged in the laity is, there is no way they can have all the information that comes across the pastor's desk.

They either had just started using their screens or they didn't have a dedicated powerpoint person. During the first hymn, the lay leader had to go to the booth to pull up a second, larger font version of the hymn. This was the only hymn on ppt. The others were from the hymnal.

Next, the children's message included a video and a slide show from VBS. Again, the tech didn't cooperate and it took a minute to get the video to play. The slide show was created and left longer than the music. The tech person tried to get the slide show and the music to coincide and had to be told twice that the video was longer than the music.

Then it was time for the message.

The pastor began with an illustration going back to the Coke commercial from the 70's about 'the real thing'. I was slightly confused at the beginning as the Gospel lesson had just been read, but soon realized she was using the Colossians text that had been read earlier.

I was also surprised by her use of an ipad. I think I knew from COS that she used an ipad, but the reality was not what I had envisioned. She carried the ipad balanced in her left hand and as she set up the illustration she touched and touched and swiped and looked and scrolled as she talked. I had noticed that during the reading of the Gospel she was looking at her ipad. I had assumed she was familiarizing herself with the outline of the sermon, so I was confused as to all the involvement with the ipad once she stood to preach.

The message itself was good. Christ is the real thing.

The service closed after the message and final hymn.

Horrible Travel Planner

We began our trip on July 11th. As we left Erie for Flagstaff, we had only one stop planned. I wanted to see the Arch in St. Louis. Everything else was going to be if we drove by and wanted to stop we would.

Well, we really didn't see anything! We did stop at an Ikea to have Swedish meatballs. Jack was rather taken with some of the rooms in the gallery. Such a touristy thing to do!

 The arch in St. Louis was everything I had imagined it to be since I first learned about it in 10th grade algebra class. The history of the area and the history of the building of the arch were equally fascinating. However, the Mississippi River in that location was underwhelming. The Allegheny and the Susquehanna are equally as impressive if not what I imagine as deep as the Mississippi.

We had no other plans after this. So we just kept driving.

We saw something called Uranus Fudge and the clerk at the hotel said it was a wonderfully irreverent place to go. We went the next morning. It was certainly irreverent, but not really much more than a bar and a tourist stop.

As we entered Oklahoma, I realized that most of my facebook memories from the last few days involved a COS classmate who had a church in OK. I looked her up and realized that if we stopped early on Saturday evening, her church was only fifteen minutes south of our route. (see next post)

Lamarla and Benjy took us out to lunch after worship and though Jack would have preferred to just get on the road, he and Benjy had a two hour conversation over lunch on many, many topics.

Texas didn't look much different than OK and so far all of the terrain was familiar. Rolling hills and trees abounded. Jack wondered when we would see something different. Western OK was slightly different, but still not what we were expecting from the south west. It wasn't until we hit New Mexico that we saw real changes. Jack was still disappointed that there were no cactuses, but was in awe of the mesas and buttes. He took so many pictures of the ridges and the sharp points. He noted that he wished he knew more about geology and the formation of what we were seeing.

We started to see signs for petroglyphs and decided to go see them. These ones were on black volcanic rock and lined a very steep mountain trail. I wasn't impressed and I don't think Jack was either.

As he continued to research, he said we had to stop at the Petrified Forest. We didn't know that the Petrified Forest was twenty six miles from the start of the National Park and that there were many, many other items of interest.

We spent four hours seeing some beautiful landscapes and history of the area. I pray the rest of the National Parks give us the same joy as this one did.

Though the walk down and back up was strenuous, I enjoyed seeing the blue landscape. The petrified logs themselves seemed to be the work of someone chopping wood for the fireplace. It was strange seeing the calcified wood broken cleanly as any chainsaw cut into logs and some of the logs had fractured into cord wood.

Today, I expect to go to historic Flagstaff for lunch and walking around enjoying the sights.

Just a small note about my hotel. I failed to deep dive the accommodations.  There is no seating area as I had imagined. There is no pool, which I really don't mind, but it would have been an outdoor seating area. There is no breakfast. There is no hairdryer or coffee pot. I would need to purchase a microwave safe cup to make tea as there is a microwave and fridge. Since I booked a single room, I do not have a desk. Instead there is a dresser! If I would not have booked ahead, I probably would have stayed at the hotel Jack and I stayed at before dropping him at camp. But I will stay the four nights I prebooked and just deal with what I have.

Fourth of July weekend

Jack's girl friend, Gia, was able to accompany us on this trip. We played tourist to show her the area where I grew up and Jack spent his summers as a younger child.

 The first stop was at the Austin Dam. I remember fishing at the base of the dam as a child. We had to park on the road and climb down the bluff to the stream. It was just a small stream and my brothers and I fished while my mother read. I remember that my youngest brother fancied himself a fly fisherman. The rest of us just dropped our worms in the water and waited for a bite. Brian on the other hand spent the entire time casting and reeling, casting and reeling, casting and reeling. It drove me absolutely insane.

This trip was slightly different in that though Jack also prefers to fly fish, there was another person (I won't call him a fisherman) who was splashing up and down the creek casting once and moving on. There was no way there were any fish going to be caught in that stream any time soon!

We got to my mother's and had lunch before heading out to Kinsua Dam. Here, we showed Gia the dam and the spillway which was filled with carp and there were people throwing bread so we not only got to see the fish eat but watch the birds catch the bread mid flight. After convincing Jack that he did indeed want to fish from the observation area and not the boat launch, we spent about thirty minutes as he tried to fish the fast moving stream. He had only been pond fishing so it was quite an experience trying to gauge the current and his casting. The entire time he was fishing, we were listening to thunder. The lightening seemed to be cloud lightning so we weren't too concerned about a strike. We left just in time to miss getting hit by the downpour. It did rain pretty hard while we drove to several areas to show Gia more of the area.

The next morning we spent with my father working on the four wheeler. It was a very nice visit and we did get the four wheeler running again after sitting for four years. It seems that a new battery and spark plug were needed, but the real issue was with the choke which had come unwired and the throttle needed adjusted.

 After another lunch with my mother, we went to the Kinsua railroad bridge. I knew they had been doing work on the visitor center, but I was shocked with the changes. We managed to arrive just as the visitor center closed, so we didn't get to see the changes inside. That was okay as there were a lot of informational areas along the pathway. The kids had come to run the trails. I explored the changes to the area and took pictures from the bluff of the bridge. I didn't feel the need to walk out to the end. I've been there before and didn't need to kick up my vertigo.

 As we were driving out, a small deer was drinking from a puddle in the road. Gia said, I want to pet them. This lead to a plan to visit the deer park on the way home. After a very nice family picnic at camp in which the rain held off until after lunch, we headed out to the deer park. Though both my kids had been here with my mom, I had never stopped. I also did not know that the kids had done the gem mining at the deer park. Further along the road, there is another tourist stop that has large 'gem mining' signs and looks like an old mine. We go to the deer park while it was raining. Just as we arrived, two little girls came out with their bags of sand and stones to gem mine in the trough. I had never really noticed it before, but there it was and Jack assured me he had gotten his gems there. The deer were tucked away in their shelter, but Jack and Gia went out to see them. I picked up an abandoned cup of food from the seating area and went to join them. I noticed there was a canon shooting area and went to look at it. As I moved to the other end of the area, the deer came out of the shelter. The only went as far as a grove of trees. Soon they ventured over to Jack and Gia. She finally got to pet the deer!

 After some browsing, we moved on to the 'gem mining' stop. They actually had a two person stand and the rest of what I saw was just a store. However, there was a train car that contained seating and drop down sleeper space as well as a dining area. They also had a bear dressed as a conductor which Gia thought was really cute and picture worthy. I thoroughly enjoyed playing tourist in my own home town!

First Sunday as a Visitor

I am reactivating my blog as a travelogue/journal during this Sabbath Year. Today was my first day in fourteen years that I have not been the pastor of a church. Since we only have one Sunday at home before leaving on this trek, I decided to visit a church whose pastor had spoken at the Alive! service at my church. This is a lay led service for which I only attended over the three years I was connected to this church. This church also has one of the worship leaders from the Alive! service as a worship leader for their Sunday am service. Please note, these are my observations and feelings and in no way are a criticism of anyone mentioned or of the denomination of the church I attended. My first impression upon arriving was that I was way over dressed. Mind you, I was wearing a casual dress, but a real dress. Most in attendance were dressed in pants and shorts and a lot of denim was noted. The pastor was wearing a polo shirt and well worn jeans. The woman (in my church would be called a lay leader) was wearing a cotton sun dress. As the prelude played, twice we were exhorted to stand and sing a patriotic song in commemoration of the July 4th weekend. Announcements were made, including a followup to the VBS that had occurred previously. There was much excitement about the 36 children who attended the three day event and the obstacles that were overcome (ie, there was not water two of the three days and no stove one day for the hot lunches that were served), but Satan did not overcome. Being used to a "Basic Order of Worship" an not having an outline (there was a bulletin and three inserts, but these were all informational and not about the morning service), I didn't know where the service was headed. After the prelude, there was a scripture reading from Psalm followed by the announcements. Then there was the offering, followed by a time of singing with the praise band. After this, it was time for communion. There was no communion liturgy or naming of the elements. We were reminded that Jesus died for us, that all are welcome who accept that Jesus died for them. At this time, everyone received the bread so that we could receive together after a prayer of thanksgiving. Then we all received (grape kool-aid to my taste buds) to consume after another prayer. I remember one of the churches I belonged to also served communion in the pews in this way. My daughter was about seven at the time and she would always laugh at the way I partook of the bread. Well, she would have died today! Even though I half expected it, I did nothing to stop the bread from becoming glued to the roof of my mouth. I spend the intervening time between the bread and the juice trying to muster up enough saliva to loosen the bread and to chew and swallow it without choking. After an announcement regarding a church member and a time of greeting (which I thought might have been the end!), the pastor noted that it was time for the message and he only had ten minutes left in his hour and it was not long enough! We then turned to 1 Peter 5 for the word. I should mention, the pastor grew up in this church and had only been in the pulpit about a year or just over. His message was filled with familial references. The lay leader was his aunt. His secretary was his mom. The ppt operator today was not his dad, who normally did it. His grandmother was in attendance. As he unfolded his sermon from 1 Peter, he made reference to "elders" not being the "old people", but those who are mature in their faith. He noted he was third youngest (the other two being contemporaries who were only months apart) person in attendance, yet he had been called to "shepherd" the flock in the way of the "great shepherd". The pastor did a wonderful job tying his life to the scripture unlike some independent pastors who tell story after story and never really get to the scripture. Today we heard what Peter was teaching and what that looked like in the life of this church and their pastor. The people were exhorted to humility in claiming that they were doing God's will and the work God had laid out for them. Without an actual altar call, you felt that you had been called out to begin to do the work God had laid out for you, to claim the title of elder in some aspect of your life. The prayer following the message became the benediction and the service was over. I have many Sundays to explore a wide variety of worship styles and denominations (this one was 1st Baptist) over the next year, but I won't rule out a return visit to this particular church. Blessings all.