There will be more blog posts with details of our trip to follow, but we've at least organized our top photos from the three national parks we visited - the Grand Canyon, Zion, and Bryce Canyon. Click here to see them!
Also, here are two videos - one tracing the path we followed on the Bright Angel Trail here and the other one of the summit of the Angel's Landing hike here.
Monday, July 4, 2011
Sunday, June 19, 2011
New Videos
We're just getting organized on all the videos we've taken lately, and hope to have some more up within the next few months. But here are three for now. You should be able to just click on the link...
Joseph playing the piano (videographer: Henry Rodgers)
Jack pitching
Henry hitting
Joseph playing the piano (videographer: Henry Rodgers)
Jack pitching
Henry hitting
A Lucky Hike
Joseph has already blogged below about our trip to the Olympic Peninsula over Memorial Day weekend. One of our activities was a hike through the Hoh Rainforest - one of the wettest places in the U.S., yet amazingly enough, it was not raining while we were there.
Since it's so wet there, the plants grow quite large. We started walking along some clover that were much bigger than the kind you find in your backyard. As we walked by them, I said to the boys, "Whenever I see some clover I always look for a four-leaf clover, but I've never seen one. I'm not sure any exist."
And then, in the next patch, what was there but ... a four-leaf clover!
Here's the photo - the fourth leaf is a little discolored, but it clearly is a separate leaf and the four leaves are evenly spaced around.
Unfortunately, there was no outlet selling lottery tickets near the hotel we were staying at that night!
-- John
Since it's so wet there, the plants grow quite large. We started walking along some clover that were much bigger than the kind you find in your backyard. As we walked by them, I said to the boys, "Whenever I see some clover I always look for a four-leaf clover, but I've never seen one. I'm not sure any exist."
And then, in the next patch, what was there but ... a four-leaf clover!
Here's the photo - the fourth leaf is a little discolored, but it clearly is a separate leaf and the four leaves are evenly spaced around.
Unfortunately, there was no outlet selling lottery tickets near the hotel we were staying at that night!
-- John
Monday, June 13, 2011
5/28 - Trip to the Olympic Peninsula
For Memorial Day weekend, the Rodgers Family headed west to the Olympic Peninsula. Our first part of the trip was taking the ferry across the Puget Sound. After a short ferry ride, we were on the Olympic Peninsula. After driving for a while, we parked the car at our first stop - Dungeness Spit. Dungeness Spit is what Dungeness Crab (a type of crab that people in our family like to eat) are named for. The spit is really neat - it's not very far across, but it's about 5 miles long. After walking along the beach and eating lunch ,we got back in the car for our next destination. A little while longer and we got to our hotel in Port Angeles, WA. After checking out the Olympic National Park visitor center just outside the city, we went to sleep on the first day of our three-day journey.
Day 2 began with a short drive to Hurricane Ridge, in Olympic NP. There was a ton of snow up there, and you could see some of the closer Olympic mountains. We went inside the visitor center, which was just a few feet short of a mile above sea level. After playing around in the snow for a bit, and taking some pictures, we got back in the car for the next part of our day. We headed west again, toward the town of Forks, WA. On our way, we stopped at Lake Crescent, which was just off the side of the road. It was a really neat lake, with a beach and a lodge.
We spent about an hour at the lake, and then got back into the car for Forks. After dropping our stuff off in the hotel there, we drove south to the Hoh Rain forest in Olympic NP (It's a big park, we drove around it). The rain forest is a temperate rain forest, and it gets 140-170 inches (or 12 to 14 feet) of rain every year! Thankfully, it wasn't raining while we were there. After stopping at the visitor center, we took a short trail through the Hall of Mosses, a path through big trees covered with tons of moss. Then, we checked out the Hoh River, a big river that was only partly filled with water. In the later spring, when the snow melts off the mountains, the river fills up and becomes huge, spilling into the Pacific Ocean. After spending the rest of the day in the Hoh River valley, we headed back to Forks for our last night on the trip.
The last day of our trip began with a drive to the Western Washington coast, along the Pacific Ocean. There, we spent much of the day at Second Beach. Second Beach was one of three beaches (along with First Beach and Third Beach) in the other part of Olympic National Park. The were rocks, sand, and big pieces of driftwood. The beach was a short hike from the parking lot through the woods. We spent a few hours at the beach, before driving home.
We drove home nearly the exact route, except we drove south and went across a bridge over the sound instead of waiting in the long lines to drive on to the ferry. We arrived home after our Memorial Weekend trip, and settled down for only 3 more weeks of school.
-Written by Joseph
Here's a map of our trip:
Here are some pictures of the Olympic Peninsula (click to enlarge):
The Olympic Mountains from Hurricane Ridge
Hall of Mosses in the Hoh Rain forest
Big clovers in the Hoh Rain forest
Lake Crescent
Rocks off the Olympic Coast
More rocks off the Olympic Coast
Day 2 began with a short drive to Hurricane Ridge, in Olympic NP. There was a ton of snow up there, and you could see some of the closer Olympic mountains. We went inside the visitor center, which was just a few feet short of a mile above sea level. After playing around in the snow for a bit, and taking some pictures, we got back in the car for the next part of our day. We headed west again, toward the town of Forks, WA. On our way, we stopped at Lake Crescent, which was just off the side of the road. It was a really neat lake, with a beach and a lodge.
We spent about an hour at the lake, and then got back into the car for Forks. After dropping our stuff off in the hotel there, we drove south to the Hoh Rain forest in Olympic NP (It's a big park, we drove around it). The rain forest is a temperate rain forest, and it gets 140-170 inches (or 12 to 14 feet) of rain every year! Thankfully, it wasn't raining while we were there. After stopping at the visitor center, we took a short trail through the Hall of Mosses, a path through big trees covered with tons of moss. Then, we checked out the Hoh River, a big river that was only partly filled with water. In the later spring, when the snow melts off the mountains, the river fills up and becomes huge, spilling into the Pacific Ocean. After spending the rest of the day in the Hoh River valley, we headed back to Forks for our last night on the trip.
The last day of our trip began with a drive to the Western Washington coast, along the Pacific Ocean. There, we spent much of the day at Second Beach. Second Beach was one of three beaches (along with First Beach and Third Beach) in the other part of Olympic National Park. The were rocks, sand, and big pieces of driftwood. The beach was a short hike from the parking lot through the woods. We spent a few hours at the beach, before driving home.
We drove home nearly the exact route, except we drove south and went across a bridge over the sound instead of waiting in the long lines to drive on to the ferry. We arrived home after our Memorial Weekend trip, and settled down for only 3 more weeks of school.
-Written by Joseph
Here's a map of our trip:
Here are some pictures of the Olympic Peninsula (click to enlarge):
Hall of Mosses in the Hoh Rain forest
Big clovers in the Hoh Rain forest
Lake Crescent
Rocks off the Olympic Coast
More rocks off the Olympic Coast
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Mariners to Play in Championship Game !
The Bellevue AA Mariners advanced to the finals of the Thunderbird Little League on Tuesday night and will face the Rays on Wednesday. It is a double-elimination tournament, so teams are "out" once they lose two games. The Mariners have lost one game (to the Rays); the Rays have not lost any, so the Mariners will need to win two in a row against them to win the championship. The three other teams in the league have been eliminated.
In the first game of the playoffs, Jack had perhaps his best little league game ever. While playing 3B in the first inning he turned an unassisted double play on a sharp line drive. While playing C in the second inning he blocked the plate and held onto the ball to make a nice tag on a runner trying to score. At bat he got a double, a single, and a long fly out that scored a runner from third who tagged up. However, the highlight of the game was his pitching. Scheduled to pitch the final two innings, Jack came in an inning early and for the first time all year pitched three full innings, giving up just two runs and striking out four. The Mariners won, 16-8, and Jack got the "game ball."
The Mariners lost to a tough Rays team on Sunday, but then defeated the Nationals on Tuesday night, 17-11. Jack was ineligible to pitch in those games (eligibility is determined by pitch counts and having thrown 51 pitches on Saturday, he cannot pitch again until Wednesday). However, Jack went two-for-three with a double on Tuesday.
The Mariners play again at 5:30 Wednesday night, and if they win, play 5:30 Thursday night. Here's a pair of photos of Jack on Tuesday against the Nationals - hitting his double and then on second base.
In the first game of the playoffs, Jack had perhaps his best little league game ever. While playing 3B in the first inning he turned an unassisted double play on a sharp line drive. While playing C in the second inning he blocked the plate and held onto the ball to make a nice tag on a runner trying to score. At bat he got a double, a single, and a long fly out that scored a runner from third who tagged up. However, the highlight of the game was his pitching. Scheduled to pitch the final two innings, Jack came in an inning early and for the first time all year pitched three full innings, giving up just two runs and striking out four. The Mariners won, 16-8, and Jack got the "game ball."
The Mariners lost to a tough Rays team on Sunday, but then defeated the Nationals on Tuesday night, 17-11. Jack was ineligible to pitch in those games (eligibility is determined by pitch counts and having thrown 51 pitches on Saturday, he cannot pitch again until Wednesday). However, Jack went two-for-three with a double on Tuesday.
The Mariners play again at 5:30 Wednesday night, and if they win, play 5:30 Thursday night. Here's a pair of photos of Jack on Tuesday against the Nationals - hitting his double and then on second base.
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