West Jordan visits Mesa

Hello again ...... West Jordan went wandering over the weekend to get a look at Mesa.
CENTEX Homes office in Scottsdale -

(1) Front view (with signage)

(2) Staff entrance

The apartment on Val Vista in Mesa -

(1) Entry/Dining area

(2) Kitchen, with Julie













More apartment, more people
(1) More Living room with GMaC and German

(2) Looking toward halls/bedrooms from Living room, with Joshua/Julie/German













More apartment, some people
Parents room, desks and stuff

Does anyone remember Papago Park ???
From a long time ago when you were 6 or 4 or 2 or 1/2 .... well, yesterday.
(PHX Zoo, Desert Botanical Garden and these prominent rock formations are in Papago Park)













The idea for this trip came from .... who knows where.

We flew Friday and Monday.
The JoshuaGClark lodgings are in Mesa about 10 miles straight East on the Superstition freeway (US 60)
from our Tempe InnSuites lodgings of long ago (which are still there) on Baseline and I-10.

The GParents stayed 1 block from the lodgings of yore at a more recent Marriott property with a nice price.
Mom is still recuperating from the jarring encounters with TSA (any encounter with TSA is jarring).

23 September 2007

Greetings from BYU!

Well, it's been an interesting couple of weeks. I took the GRE on the first of the month, and am reassured by my boss that my scores are good enough (I'm still a little doubtful, but that may just be my own silly perfectionism kicking in). Not a terrribly exciting experience; but I'm still debating whether I 'want' to retake it. Not inclined to give ETS another $140(??!).

I'm just starting my last fall semester at BYU, and taking some very interesting, albeit taxing (and there are only 13 credits' worth...!), classes: Humanities of Asia, Mayan Art and Culture (one of two capstone courses for my major), Greek New Testament (John, and possibly Mark if Prof. Duckwitz decides we've got it too easy), selections from Herodotus (the 'Father of History,' naturally in the original Greek), and private organ lessons (last requirement for my music minor). I'm also auditing Turkish (!!!), which I'm really enjoying; a classmate and I (who also happens to be a former colleague from Special Collections) are also helping the professor's wife practice/learn English (which means we also get to practice our two words of Turkish).

Since June, I've been serving on the Temple Committee in my ward; unfortunately, though, I haven't gotten a chance to do much of anything yet (bishop said there was a guy in his ward who had wads and wads of family names to be done, but said individual has yet to get back to him with the details. Guess I should have just scheduled things anyway. Oh well.) At the beginning of the semester, though, I was called as the Enrichment counselor in one of the two Relief Societies in our ward (there are twice as many women as men in our ward, so they decided to split us into two sections so that every sister would have a chance to have a calling). I have yet to be released from the Temple Committee (replacement still pending). The day my presidency was sustained, we were asked to speak in sacrament meeting the following week, and, amusingly enough, I seem to be a lot more memorable to the ward now - might have something to do with the fact that I dragged my little obsession into it.....

I bet that's more than most of you have 'heard' me say my entire life.....

Love you all!

West Jordan - 8 Sep 2007 - summary of our screwed up trips

Hi from West Jordan

What this post might have consisted of had we not been interupted

by vehicle mechanical issues was a report of a trip to Fish Lake and then Bluebell Knoll.

As it was we did not get to either place - at least under our own power.

We did get a short glance of part of Fish Lake when the tow vehicle went up

there to pick up a second vehicle for tow back to Richfield.

Here is all we will see of Fish Lake until next season:

The summit we were planning on was Fish Lake High Top (elevation 11633)

To get up there, we planned hike up past here --->

The paved highway shown in the foreground is Utah Hwy 25, which is 7 miles long and

connects Fish Lake with Utah Hwy 24.

Our 2005 Safari developed a sudden leak in the oil cooler line almost exactly at the intersection of the highways and sprayed all our crank case oil all over Hwy 24 just as we were to have turned, so we overshot the turnoff by about 1 mile. Had we not missed our turnoff, we presumably would have lost our oil during the first mile of Hwy 25.

The turnoff is on an uphill grade along Utah 24 anyway, so we would have been on a strong uphill grade either way. So, The rest of the day was spent ....

..... Being towed 31 miles to Richfield

..... Finding a repair place

..... Finding a new oil cooler line

..... Getting the line replaced in time to head back to Salt Lake for the day.

We have been having screwy mechanical issues with our 2005 van all summer long;

This is a little disturbing because it was supposed to be our strong vehicle. Oh well

While we are on the topic mangled trips, here are some shots of Aspen Grove trail on Timpanogos

This was a missed summit attempt with Amanda. Check out the pretty waterfall.

The original idea was an offer to Amanda to help her try out an overnight pack trip to Timpanogos Summit via the

American Fork (Timpooneke) trailhead. I got spooked in the face of the trip launch complications and started us in Aspen Grove instead.

Don't anyone else try this at home....

The terrain is all just like what you see in front of you for about 4 miles and it is "all or nothing"

with no place up trail to put a tent. That's why no one does Aspen Grove as a 2 day, and why American Fork trail is sometimes done as a 2 day - there are more level spots spread along the route.

Amanda gets a rain check for this trip. She tells me that the messed up trip was nevertheless very productive as a guage of her own capabilities on equipment carries, terrain evaluation, site selection, night hiking, and rugged minimalist camping. She claims she had a blast and wants to have another go. Hence the rain check.

Here are two shots she had me take from our highest uphill travel point. This is actually a 2 part pan shot, from left to right.

This is further illustration of suitability of Aspen Grove for an overnight unless Emerald Lake is where the overnight stop is. This is all straight up: 4850 feet in 5 miles According to the topo map, the straight line distance is only about 2 miles, not counting contours.

The contours in this case are close together, meaning steep terrain and therefore switchbacks. So the actual trail distance is 4 miles in switchbacks to bring the entire route total to 7 miles from Aspen Grove to summit.

The American Fork side is longer by map, but is also more level, so there are many more places to stop over. We have tried this before and it works.

So much for messed up trips this season.....

Even with that we managed to get out a bit this summer:

(1) Catherine Pass hike, Dad alone, 14 June

(2) Willard Basin/ Willard Peak recon trip, Dad alone, 5-6 July

(3) Sunset Peak and Catherine Pass, Dad/Amanda, Mom/Melissa at Lake Mary, 21 July

(4) South Tent summit, Dad and Amanda, 28 July

(5) South Tent summit, Dad, James, Amanda, (Mom, Marilyn at trailhead) 18 August

(6) Bluebell Knoll summit, Mom and Dad, 21 August

Possible trip list for other seasons:

Incomplete first ascents:

(1) Willard Peak - (Weber county)

(2) Fish Lake High Top (Sevier county)

(3) Eccentric Peak (Daggett/Uintah) - Accessible from Spirit Lake

(4) Boxelder Peak - Wasatch front

(5) Bull Mountain (Boxelder)

Possible repeats:

(1) Timpanogos 2 day - Amanda

(2) Mount Nebo (Utah county) - Dad

(3) Bluebell Knoll (Wayne county) - James/Marilyn

West Jordan - 21 August 2007 - Bluebell Knoll

Gayle Clark, noted mountaineer, standing in front of the sign indicating the location of the terrifyingly steep and precarious ...

Bluebell Knoll (11322). It is in the medium distance behind the sign.

A lovely day out. Long drive, short hike.

Gayle Clark descending from Bluebell Knoll summit -
which we had to hunt around in the woods a bit to find.

PPS

Hey, Joshua and Julie, We'd love to see the pictures of German. The address you provided did not work with the only password I have; have I misunderstood something? Thanks for the help - and I always need lots of that! Though I did do this "all by myself" (after your Dad coached me!)

"Tidal Tomato Wave"

Hey, Bodies! Kilroy was here! So were tomatoes; taught a canning mini-class at the church kitchen twice this past week, so I have one more case of the things in the basement hall. Steve and Maurine (he has a beard again, and looked better to me than he has in a while) seemed to enjoy the garden corn and tomatoes while they were in town. But then they got a double dose 'cause Jared and Margie Brown had them over for dinner one night after a bunch of Jorgensens had congregated at Aunt Eleanor's one Sunday evening. Jared brought lots of his garden produce to Aunt Eleanor's place, and was distributing it liberally among the visitors (squash, odd-looking Armenian cucumbers, corn, and the like). Last Monday, Dad and I went with Steve and Maurine to the Church History Museum and the Family History Library; I think they enjoyed the day. Your Dad and I worked in the yard week before last, and cleaned the carpets; I did the livingroom and hall, and he spent over an hour doing the stairs for me. I really appreciated the help, and it was fun to work together. As I was unloading the stuff last night from the car after the second canning mini-class, I heard a noise in the pine tree next door (by the cars). I looked up the tree in time to see a small raccoon peering down at me. I hope it won't get into the apples still on the tree; I've got enough to do some more applesauce this fall. We already picked all the corn; they're notorious for going after that. Anybody need some prunes? How about cherry tomatoes? Enough with the garden talk. Love to you all. It was great to get together at the airport, if only for a shorter visit.

Oops, I forgot.

I'll probably do this alot; sorry. Last Sunday evening, Steve and Maurine and your Dad and I went to visit Jeff and Robin White. They now live at about 4400 South and 4100 West. Robin told us that they are expecting child 3 in February. They have a cute 4-year-old named Rebekah and a cute 2-year-old named Joseph, both of whom were very well behaved, I thought, while we were there. And then we found out from Maurine the following Tuesday after they returned to Livermore that Ruth Bragg is engaged, to the particular Justin whom we met on one trip north last spring for Ruth's graduation from USU in aerospace mechanics (or such like; she works on airplanes). Ruth and Justin were sitting on the couch poring over a book on airplanes for at least an hour and a half while we were there. He's about 6' 6'' tall, kind of a "gentle giant". (My father gave me a book when I was a child entitled, The Gentlest Giant and Other Pleasant Persons.) I believe he lives in the area with his family, like she does, but I don't remember what he does for work. Ran across a word in Talmage I hadn't heard in a long time: trenchant. Had to look it up. 'Bye, Y'all.

Our Trip to California

Hello everyone!

We, the Josh Clarks, went to sunny California over the Labor Day weekend. It was a lot of fun and very relaxing, especially compared with the weekend before when we were in Boise for Julie's 10 year high school reunion. If you'd like to see a video of German at the beach you'll have to check out our family blog. I had good intentions of posting it here as well, but it took so long that to post it once I said forget it! (our address: joshuagclarkfamily.blogspot.com) We were also able to spend some time with Uncle Nick. It was nice to get to know him better and especially for he and German to meet. They hit it off right away. German even started saying, "Uncle Nick," although it sounds nothing like it! Hope you're all doing well.

Midvale- Sept. 1, 2007

Greetings from James and Marilyn! We just enjoyed a pleasant evening with the parents, Amanda, and Stephen and Maurine Clark from Livermore at the Owensboro homestead. Apparently we can call Stephen "Uncle Beard" if we get tired of his regular name. Marilyn received a lesson on how to cut men's hair from Mom Clark and used James as the guinea pig. She has prior experience grooming poodles, but people's hair is different. Fortunately, he didn't have to shave his head with the 3/4 inch guard on the clippers after she was done with the scissors.

We have gone to a night-owl existence as of 8/27/07, with James switching back to the swing shift at Ultradent. Marilyn started a new job this week, doing a temp agency assignment at LDS hospital's medical records department. Apparently the agency doesn't get many people who actually ask for swing shift, and the job is going well so far. She is assembling in-patient charts into the correct paperwork order after the patients are discharged, and has warnings to all and sundry to be careful with cars, motorcycles, paragliders, lawnmowers, and other potentially dangerous equipment. Horses and muggers are also suspect. Fortunately the maternity and delivery charts keep things from getting too depressing. The assignment is currently slated to last until November 1.

We both have callings extended to us in the ward, and will probably be sustained and set apart on Sunday. James will be serving in the Sunday School presidency as a counselor, and Marilyn will be a visiting teaching supervisor.

We will be posting some pictures from our honeymoon at a later date. We love you all!