Melissa & Shane

I just upgraded this blog to the latest WordPress version, 2.6 as of this writing. WordPress is a very nice, mature, full featured weblog engine that I highly recommend.

We arrived at Lake Havasu late Thursday night and were informed by our hosts that there were scorpions in the house that day! Luckily Scott and Maryam were able to get a pest-control person out to remedy that particularly unsettling situation. Renae still chose the taller of the two air mattresses and we all thought it best to wear our “Scorpion Shoes” (aka Flip Flops).

Shane, Scott and Claye got up early on the 4th to launch the boat before the parking lots filled up. The rest of the crew joined up around noon and we all spent the day in a wonderfully cozy little cove known as “Mallard Cove“.

We managed to find a place to dock the boat in the canal and headed off for dinner at a really good Mexican food place. After dinner we cruised out onto the lake to watch the fireworks, it was a really good show.

The next day was spent cruising up the river and just generally relaxing while floating about. When we made it up to Topock we set up the Easy-Up and some chairs and spent a couple of hours napping and playing in the river. At some point Austin was bitten by what Shane thinks was a Dragonfly Larvae (image). Claye was able to capture it in an empty water bottle, he referred to it as his “science experiment”.

We decided to get off the water before it was too late so that we could head back to Scott and Maryam’s to get the grill going. When Shane was retrieving the truck from the parking lot, Scott found the very last water bottle in the ice chest and without any reservation he took a great big gulp from what turned out to be Claye’s “Science Experiment” water bottle! Ha! Scott then proceeded to completely flip out! He threw the bottle, his hat, sunglasses and shoes and leapt off the boat into the lake. Needless to say, Renae and I were wondering what exactly he was up to. Once we found out what happened, we fell down laughing! Luckily though, upon later inspection of the water bottle I found that the mysterious creature was still in it, not in Scott’s stomach.

A big thank you to Scott and Maryam for their gracious hospitality at Lake Havasu. We survived the scorpions, mice, heat and drunken fools. Click on the picture below to see some pictures from the trip.

P.S. I think I am more of a Lake rat than a river rat.

Well, it has been a wonderful year. We got married (thus the anniversary), bought a house and had a  great deal of fun. We are certainly looking forward to the next year!

It has been a while since we have written anything here, so I thought I would catch everyone up.

We had a great holiday season with our families and friends! We have settled in nicely to our new home and are finding that home ownership is a whole new set of challenges. We are planning a trip to Miami! Should be super fun.

Well, that’s it for now…

I cut 10 inches off of my hair off today, so that I could donate it to Pantene Beautiful Lengths. I would like to dedicate this my “train-mom” and “surrogate father” who are currently battling cancer. These two people are very important to me and I wish them all the best. I hope that my small contribution will help to make life better for someone who is also suffering.

We had an amazing trip to the Grand Canyon! We left on a Thursday and returned on a Sunday. We camped in Mather Campground and had a wonderful time. We cooked a number of wonderful meals over hot coals from our campfire, even a burridillia (a combo burrito/quesadilla). The canyon is absolutely breathtaking. Next time, we will definitely want to take a mule to the bottom (or hike if we get in REALLY good shape!).

Is a very, very, very fine house. With two cats in the yard… Well, we don’t really like cats, but the house is very nice! We are currently in escrow and, if all goes according to plan, we should be able to move in around the 1st of November.

We traveled to San Diego to visit with Jeff and Penni who recently returned from Africa! We had a fun filled day, ate some great food and found a new activity that we think we will thoroughly enjoy.

1. Bodies: This was an amazing exhibition of the human body. I think we were both a little apprehensive of viewing human bodies in various states of dissection, but it was an amazing experience. My favorite exhibit was the primary nervous system. I had no idea that the major nerves running through the body were so large. I was also amazed to see that we have so many tendons running through our hands and our feet. I think the thing that we all found extremely educational was the organization and sizes, of the major organs in our bodies (especially the liver, it is huge!).
2. San Diego Zoo: Always a treat. The San Diego Zoo is, by most accounts, the premier zoo in all the world. We arrived just as the park was closing it’s entrance gates, but we had plenty of time to wander around and see some things that Melissa and I missed on our last trip. My favorite exhibit is, and always has been, the Orangutans. These gentle giants look so thoughtful and intelligent that it is sad to see them enclosed in any type of non-natural setting. My love of the zoo and the joy that seeing such exotic animals brings me is tempered by my wish to see animals left alone in their natural habitats. The main saving grace of the zoo is that so many people get to see, learn about and hopefully appreciate these animals from far off lands. I truly think that the zoo does a fantastic job of educating each and everyone person about the importance of habitat preservation.
3. Turf Supper Club: Very cool restaurant and bar. It seems to me to be a throwback to simpler time, with a bit of a hipster flair. The food was fantastic, but be warned, you have to cook it yourself!
4. Shakespeare Pub & Grill: We recommended this to Jeff and Penni on the recommendation of an acquaintance of ours. We were told about a trivia game that they hold on the last Sunday of every month. When we finally got there, the game was in full swing and looked to be super fun! I certainly hope that we will be able to actually participate in the future.

Our most recent jaunt was to the Sequoia National Park. We drove up to within an hour of the park and stayed at Melissa’s Grandmother’s house for the evening. After visiting with her and having brunch we headed North-East towards the Sierras. Upon entering the park we learned that their was a bit of construction under way on the main road through the park. Luckily the National Park Service had coordinated a simple and well executed plan for getting the visitors through the park. Our plan was to stay at the Lodgepole campground, but it was full so we had to press on to Grant Grove. The temperatures in the park were a very welcome 70°F during the day and down to 40°F at night. After this summer’s 100°F+ temperatures it was a bit of a relief to actually be cold! To see a map of where we stayed and the main attractions of this park, click here.

Our primary goal for this trip was, of course, to see the Giant Sequoias. These trees are absolutely phenomenal. While visiting the various groves of trees in the park we saw the most massive organism on the face of the earth. The tree known as General Sherman is awe inspiring. One of the most amazing features of the tree is a branch, some 100+ feet off the ground, that is larger than most of the other regular pine trees in the park! Absolutely amazing.

After visiting this park and spending a couple of nights there, we have decided to try and visit all of our country’s National Parks. These are amazing resources to be treasured and enjoyed. One of the things that we noticed was that the majority of the park’s visitors were foreigners. While we think it is great that these treasures are shared with people from other countries, we are a little saddened that the rest of us don’t take a few moments out of our busy lives to enjoy these phenomenal places.

Hello, this is our new blog. If you are wondering who we are, well, we are the Pinnells; Melissa and Shane to be exact. This weblog will be used to chronicle our adventures together and to share with the whole world our experiences. So, please enjoy…