Petrified Forest and Meteor Crater

Tuesday we drove out to Petrified Forest (lots of old Triassic trees) and Meteor Crater, the first confirmed meteorite impact on earth.

Jason has a whole folder of squirrel photos!

Doesn't look like a fossil does it?

Collared Lizard

All the brown stuff is petrified wood!

Lovely colours... Meghan, I got you some for jewelry making!

Serena checking out the Agate House, a Pueblo (reconstruction) made entirely of petrified wood!

Painted Desert

Petroglyphs

Meteor Crater is big...

Really Big

Goosenecks

Our Last day in Utah we visited Goosenecks State park, where the rapid uplift of the plateau combined with river downcutting has led to some spectacular (and textbook) meanders.

Grand Canyon North Rim

On Wednesday the 4th of August we visited the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Much better than the south rim and a lot less crowded.

Zion National Park

On August 2nd and 3rd we (Jason, Rowan, Serena, and Bill) visited Zion National Park. We hiked up a slot Canyon, went to the museum, hiked around in Kolob Canyons, and went to the Zion Canyon overlook. Enjoy :D

I get around

Hi Folks,

I (Rowan) have been kicking around Europe for the last 2 weeks!

First to London for the International Palaeontology Congress where we all got very nerdy and talked about fossils (it was awesome). I went to the deep ocean life exhibition at the Natural History Museum and we dined beneath the Brachiosaurus Skeleton during our "formal dinner"
(sorry for the bad photo)

From then I went on to Poland to talk about Triassic corals with the leading expert in coral microstructure. We stayed inside the old Jewish Ghetto

and ate some traditional Polish food (Pierogie and Beet Soup)

On the way back, after going through airport hell (3 flights, 2 boarder control checkpoints, one missed flight and one almost nervous breakdown when I was told there were no more flights and I'd have to stay in Las Vegas for a night (this was a lie... there were totally flights to LAX!)) ANYHOW... on the journey I finished these:

And on the 10 hour flight from Heathrow, I made this sock:

So if anyone asks.... It takes me about 20 hours to knit a pair of socks! (Less for anklets and much much more for knee highs... So all y'all with socks knit by me.... be impressed!)

PS Hey Daddy, check out the building blocks of the "Gift from Stalin"

My first Post as Flamie-Wife!

Things I have Learned in Austria...

1) The Hills are only alive with the sound of MORE COWBELL! 2) Austrians are part mountain goat.. seriously, I grew up hiking in the Rockies and some of the trails are scary! 3) American beer is like having sex in a canoe... it's f***ing close to water (but we knew that already). 4) Doppelmalt is heaven! 5) A whole lot can be conveyed with hand gestures alone! 6) Those two years of German I took... useless! 7) Those two years of German I took can save my ass! 8) No one is Austria speaks French, therefore my now seemingly vast knowledge of the French language helps me not at all! 9) Leiderhosen is actually everyday wear! It's a fashion thing around here... people over 30 often wear "traditional" garb! 10) Cowbells can be heard from 3 mountains away! 11) Ich stricke eine Socke 12) Bröt ist güt! 13) Käsespatzlen ist wunderbar! 14) Married=Geheiratet 15) Ich bin ein Geologe, ich studiere versteinerte Korallenriffe! 16) That Al Fischer Guy on my committee is somewhat of a celebrity over here! 17) The Port Mark gave us is really good when watching the sun set over the Gosaukamm! 18) My German sucks!... But again, I knew that!