My Cave My View

Parenting 2.0

Like most grandparents these days, we have had the opportunity for one of our kids and four grandkids to move back in with us for a short time. I call that Parenting 2.0. Of course, I am thrilled to have them for a short time. But suddenly we have found our house back into full blown chaos,...

A season to be happy

My too kind and loving wife said that it is the holiday season, and I should be happy. My first reaction was to say bah-humbug, mind your own business. There is a good deal of pressure in America to be happy. If you are not happy, then by golly you better get happy. If you must, go see a...

Communicating: Then and Now

“What we have here is a failure to communicate.” Some of life’s best advice comes from movies like Cool Hand Luke. I am in the communication business, but I am having a harder time understanding what people are saying to me and I don’t know if it’s my hearing or I am just getting dumber because I...

Lessons from my dad’s garage

To really understand your parents, you must raise your own children. When we are young, we love our parents, we get a little older and we are certain they know nothing about being a teenager, judge them harshly, and refuse to listen to them. Eventually, we grow up and realize the sacrifices they...

If you build it, they will come

Recently, the National Geographic called Utah out as the best place in the world for adventure destinations. Most residents of Utah already know this and that is at least some of the reason we live here. Utah has much to brag about; Arches, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, Canyonlands and Zion — and...

Tribute to good men everywhere

Mark Twain said, “Let us live so that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.” As I get older, death becomes more real and personal. When I was in college many years ago and my grandfather died, he was the first person that I really “knew’ that had passed on. Now I have experienced...

Enjoying the view from San Juan Hill. Courtesy photo

Called on a trek to climb San Juan Hill

One benefit of being married to my too kind and loving wife is that she is a “Hole-in-the-Rocker”. Her great grandfather Benjamin Perkins helped blast a passageway known as Hole-in-the-Rock. I would like to see them get a permit from the BLM for that now. I am guessing there would be some...

False Kiva, in the Island in the Sky District of Canyonlands National Park, is no longer accessible after misuse by visitors. Courtesy photo

Cave dwellers and Tourons

You know there was a time when living in a cave was left to us professionals. Like the title says “My Cave. My View.” But it turns out living in caves has been a thing in San Juan County for a long time. Go play tourist for a few hours and visit some of them. But, do NOT be a touron (tourist-...

Historian Bob McPherson has spent his career documenting and writing about the remarkable lands, culture, and people of the area. Courtesy photo

Swapping stories with historian Bob McPherson

We live in an iconic landscape. John Wayne used this rugged, harsh, beautiful landscape to tell stories with San Juan County as a backdrop for his movies; many others have as well. Thelma and Louise, Back to the Future, Geronimo, City Slickers, and Forest Gump, just to name a few. When John Wayne...

It’s not a job, it’s her way of life. Heidi Redd is a true cowgirl, and that was officially confirmed when she was inducted as a member of the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in Fort Worth, TX. Gary Torres photo

Heidi Redd named to Cowgirl Hall of Fame

A Real American Cowgirl – Heidi Redd I am on my way to interview Heidi Redd, so I am driving down Indian Creek to the Dugout Ranch listening to the John Denver song, I’d Rather be a Cowboy. Heidi is going to be inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in Fort Worth, TX. If I am...