West With The Night 2005

Wrapping up 2005

2005-12-23T09:48:00.000-05:00

As 2005 draws to a close, it is time to look back at a busy year.

At the Taj Mahal

January's highlight was a fast visit to India for the wedding of our friends Rupa and Taimur. This was Veronica's first time in India, so we made the most of her five days in Delhi. The first few days revolved around wedding events, with some sightseeing and shopping squeezed in between the Athreya family's extraordinary food and hospitality. On Vero's last day we went to Agra, where we saw a grey and rainy, yet still spectacular, Taj Mahal. Veronica then had to jet back to the lab, while Martin went south of Madras for a few more days to visit Dave and Natasha Storey and their daughters. Dave was running tsunami recovery efforts for the Auroville community where he has settled with his family, so Martin joined in on the cleanup for a day, an experience you can read about here.

It was February by the time we were back, and the rest of the month was consumed with our normal cycle of going to the lab, teaching, and dictionary editing. We had bought some used snowboards at tag sales and tried to teach ourselves when a big snowstorm covered a hill at the local golf course. In March we packed the snowboards and our skis into travel bags and trundled off to Colorado for a week. From our base at a cheap motel in Silverthorne, our passes gave us six days on the slopes among five mountains, and we managed to hit Arapahoe, Keystone, Breckenridge, and Vail. When the conditions were good we'd ski the hard stuff, and when we could barely see we would get out the snowboards and hit the bunny slopes. And hit, and hit, and hit - Martin ended up with a broken rib, but we were finally able to make it down an intermediate trail with only the occasional bang-up. We also got to see niece Iliana, who was spending a semester at the High Mountain Institute in Leadville, we met up with friends Janka, Dave, and Rochelle from ultimate frisbee in New Haven, and one day we spent driving through the mountains looking for hot springs.

Martin went to Madison, Wisconsin, for a conference in April, and had a great visit with grad school friend Jen Arzt and her beau Mike, and Donna Perry drove up from Chicago to join the party, while Veronica stayed in New Haven and hosted the year's first raucous barbeque on our balcony. May was mostly work, with some chances to get outside and enjoy the long days.

June - June was busy. For starters, Veronica had laser surgery on her eyes, so now she can see perfectly.

Vero after eye surgery

Laurence picking tea in TZ

Vero and her mom Andreea
atop East Rock, New Haven

A couple of days after the surgery Martin went off to Tanzania, and a couple of days after that Veronica's mother arrived from Romania. Martin spent the month in rural Malangali filming video for the online Swahili learning center he is developing, working on a big grant proposal, and trying to get our house in shape for the day Veronica can finally get there (2006?). He was able to spend a lot of time with his friends and sometime research assistants Martha Chaula and Laurence Luboka and their families. Connecticut friend John Ho showed up for a couple of weeks, providing the excuse for a trip to a tea estate in the highlands and a one-day safari in Ruaha National Park for some serious game spotting. While John went off to Zanzibar, Martin gave a couple of papers in Swahili at a conference at the University of Dar es Salaam, before the two met at the airport with minutes to spare before the trip home. Meanwhile, Veronica and her mother had a great month together in New Haven, with a short escapade to Boston visiting Kate and Chris White. They danced their tails off at a salsa club, the most fun Vero's mom had had since our wedding in Romania. Vero and her mother also picked oodles of strawberries at a Connecticut farm, and spent many evenings watching the sun set at our local beaches.

We went to visit the family in Vermont in mid-July, and when we got back Veronica's mother mentioned that she was having trouble seeing out of one eye. After an evening at the emergency room it was confirmed that she had suffered a detached retina. The best option was to put her on the next flight home to Romania, where she had surgery two days later, sooner than would have been possible in Connecticut. She has now had three operations, and we are hopeful that a final upcoming surgery will leave her with her vision restored, but the remainder of July was a particularly anxious time.

In August we combined a wedding in Colorado with a visit to Martin's grandmother Rose in San Diego, and rented a car to connect the dots. Go to the bottom of this blog and scroll up for a photo tour of the trip.

Rose Sparer at our wedding
September 25, 2004

Grandma Rose came home from the hospital a few days after we left, but, though she remained mentally sharp as ever, her physical health continued to decline. One night in November she told Martin on the phone, "I'm really starting to deteriorate," and the next evening she died of a heart attack in her home. The family will join her ashes with those of Grandpa Max and Martin's mother in Lake George, New York, sometime this spring.

September was mostly a working month, with a party at our apartment for Veronica's birthday and a nice dinner out to celebrate the first anniversary of our US wedding. Veronica finally got the elusive result that she's been pursuing in her experiment, so she now only needs to reproduce the result under modified conditions and she'll have the material she needs to write up her dissertation.

Supreme Veronica

In October we drove to Washington, D.C., to see the capitol and visit with grad school friend Grace Chern. We walked the Mall, saw monuments and museums, had an evening with our friends Jonathan Young and Nellie Wild, and, courtesy of Senator Dodd's office, had a private tour of the Capitol building and a chance to watch the Senate inaction. The next weekend Martin ran a marathon to raise money for his Swahili project, which is currently slated to go bankrupt at the end of January. October was one of the wettest months on record in New Haven, so the marathon ended up being a solo venture in the gym, with no cheering throngs at the finish line. Still, it was a nice cap to months of training. Other than that, October was pretty tame.

November saw publication of a feature article about the Swahili project in the Hartford Courant, which filtered through various internet fora, especially the geek site Slashdot, and led to some interesting contacts for Martin's project. We also spent a lot of time beginning Veronica's job search, since we expect her to be done at Yale fairly soon. We went snowboarding at Killington during the first weekend of the season - a truly bad idea, because you have all the diehard ski bums packed onto way too few, too easy trails with cruddy snow, but it was fun to at least get back on the mountain. We were with Martin's brother David in Brooklyn for Thanksgiving and had a relaxing couple of days with the New York branch of the family.

The highlight for December, so far, was Veronica's surprise visit home to Romania. We realized she needed to go home to renew her passport asap, and we found a really good fare for the middle of the month. We didn't tell her parents that she was coming. Instead, we told them to be at the airport because she was sending their Christmas presents in a suitcase with a friend with whom they would not have another chance to meet up. The ruse was complicated when Veronica's connecting flight in Amsterdam was cancelled, and she had to invent ever more devious explanations for them to explain why they absolutely needed to be at the airport for her eventual arrival at 1 a.m., and why they couldn't call us at home (the snowstorm had knocked out our incoming telephone service, you see). They were completely shocked when she finally walked out of customs. Vero only had a week at home, and was back in the lab Monday morning.

Now it is Friday, just before Christmas. We are still waiting for her suitcase to arrive, we're about to start cooking for the holiday, and tomorrow we'll head up to Vermont to be with the family for the holidays.

We hope your year has been busy and fun, and that next year is wonderful!

--Veronica and Martin

Read this blog from the bottom up.

2005-08-27T00:02:00.000-04:00

This photo blog tells the story of our trip to California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado during 10 days in August, 2005. We flew to San Diego, rented a car, drove to Boulder, and flew home from Denver. We had a great time - but we'll let the pictures tell the story.

The blog appears on screen in reverse chronological order. Read from the bottom up to experience the trip as we did.

Enjoy!

and back again

2005-08-26T23:56:00.000-04:00

The next morning we were up at 4, to the airport a little after 5, and on our airplane to Chicago by 7. Once again we were booked on separate flights, but Vero was put on my flights from standby both times. We sat together on the way to Chicago, but couldn't swing neighboring seats for the last leg. Vero slept, I played cards with the family I was seated next to, and we arrived in Hartford together.

When we got home we ran into our landlady in the driveway. Helen very nicely offered us to use their tickets to see the Pilot Pen tennis tournament that evening, so we walked to the tennis center and watched a couple of matches from box seats on center court.

We walked home in the night, an autumn chill creeping into the air.

And the next morning, we headed back to the office.

2005-08-26T23:55:00.000-04:00

For our first anniversary dinner we bought some trout and other goodies at the local Whole Foods market. Since it was a Sunday we couldn't buy a bottle of champagne to celebrate, but we still had a beer in our cooler from the six-pack we'd bought on our way out of Nevada, so we had something to toast with. Last year, the big wedding in Bucharest. This year, we found a spot along Boulder Creek and cooked up a feast. Next year?

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T23:54:00.000-04:00

This would be a perfect ski slope except that it is a double-diamond's hill of rocks.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T23:53:00.000-04:00

On a clear day you can see Kansas.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T23:52:00.000-04:00

At the top of the trail we had a great view of Flatiron 2. We watched some hawks circling close by, but we forgot to get out the camera to click their portraits.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T23:51:00.000-04:00

This tree was growing at a rather incredible angle, roots still dug into the rock.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T23:50:00.000-04:00

The next morning we reconvened at the Boulderado for a great brunch. Sarah's mom bought out the entire local supply of the Sunday New York Times, which had the wedding announcement in the Style section. From the brunch we headed to a park just outside of town for a little hike up the trail between Flatiron 1 and 2.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T23:48:00.000-04:00

We sprinted back to the hotel and changed for the after party. Unfortunately, there were so many returning students in Boulder that we couldn't find a nice place to hang, so a bunch of us youngsters hung out at a pizza place for a while before heading off to our respective lodgings.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T23:45:00.000-04:00

The last dance was at 11.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T23:44:00.000-04:00

Ben and Alex - when good kisses go bad.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T23:41:00.000-04:00

"A magician with your dress," Vero was told the next morning. How did she make her long gown short?

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T23:40:00.000-04:00

I love this picture.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T23:39:00.001-04:00

Dancing with the Bickmans.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T23:39:00.000-04:00

The Yale doctoral candidates - Alexa, Ben, Sarah, and Vero.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T23:37:00.000-04:00

Jed's top hat made the rounds. The height of fashion in 1862.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T23:36:00.000-04:00

Watching the older couples dance.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T23:34:00.000-04:00

Father-daughter dance.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T23:30:00.000-04:00

The first dance.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T23:28:00.000-04:00

After drinks and hors' dourves we found our way to a table with the other youngsters. Iva, the brunette next to Vero, is a Bulgarian physics grad student at Harvard, so she and Vero had a natural affinity. Table talk tended to politics.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T23:24:00.000-04:00

Dan and Sarah had spent much of the day having their pictures taken.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T23:23:00.000-04:00

The reception started right away, though we didn't see Sarah or Dan for a half an hour.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T23:22:00.000-04:00

A kiss was exchanged, and Sarah and Dan were wed.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T23:19:00.000-04:00

Vows were exchanged. Rings were exchanged. Sarah's brother Jed officiated.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T23:14:00.000-04:00

Her mother, Louise, unveiled her.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T23:13:00.001-04:00

Sarah came down the steps escorted by her father, Marty Bickman.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T23:13:00.000-04:00

Most wedding events were on the mezzanine of the old Boulderado Hotel. The actual marriage took place on the grand staircase below the mezzanine, with the guests looking on from above. Here Dan is catching his first glimpse of Sarah in her wedding dress.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T23:11:00.000-04:00

Here Vero is waiting for the wedding to start.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T23:10:00.000-04:00

This picture was taken at 3. At 4:30 we were back in Boulder, ironing our clothes and getting ready. We made it to the wedding at ten to 6.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T23:09:00.000-04:00

We took the shuttle bus up to Bear Lake. There were thousands of other tourists there, completely unlike our solitary hike in the woods near Chasm Falls. We only had time to snap our pictures and get back on the bus because the wedding was set to start at 6.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T23:07:00.001-04:00

A fish in a lake.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T23:07:00.000-04:00

Fun with close-ups.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T23:06:00.000-04:00

Changing photo discs in the car. Note the wedding clothes hanging from the hook by the rear door.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T23:05:00.000-04:00

Mule deer butt.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T23:04:00.000-04:00

Elk butt, with horns. On the way back to Boulder we stopped and bought some elk jerky, along with trout jerky.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T23:03:00.001-04:00

Elk butt.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T23:03:00.000-04:00

Colorado Rockies, so different from the desert-scapes we'd seen just the day before in Utah.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T23:02:00.000-04:00

Back to the creek we climbed along.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T23:01:00.000-04:00

We thought these were aspen leaves. A quick Google for "aspen leaves" shows we were right. What we still haven't figured out is why every aspen tree seems to have scuff marks about four feet from the ground, as though elks have been rubbing against them.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T22:59:00.000-04:00

Vero found a little butterfly that led us down the road.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T22:58:00.000-04:00

One of the cars that went passed stopped when they saw us looking at something in the woods. Two men jumped out armed with cameras. "Is there anything to see?" one of the men asked? "Yeah," I replied. "You have to look in the woods." We strolled away, and they sped up the mountain, mystified about why two lunatics would be out in the park on foot with no large mammals around to photograph.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T22:55:00.000-04:00

We ended up at a dirt road that is one way only, going up. It connects with the main road about 11 miles farther along, near the Continental Divide.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T22:54:00.000-04:00

We followed the wrong creek, so we saw our own little falls instead.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T22:53:00.000-04:00

We drove up to Rocky Mountain National Park. Here we got off the main trail on an unfulfilled quest to find Chasm Falls.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T22:52:00.000-04:00

You see some neat things when you consistently wake up at 7am.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T22:51:00.000-04:00

When I went out to the car in the morning to collect all the laundry we needed to wash, all these hot air balloons were floating through the sky.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

Across Colorado

2005-08-26T19:28:00.000-04:00

We followed the Colorado River around the south side of Arches National Park, and then kept following it as we drove east in Colorado from Grand Junction. Vero slept through some spectacular canyon scenery in Colorado, and I was driving as fast as I could to make time. We were on schedule to find a motel room, have a quick shower, and show up just in time for the rehearsal dinner. However, a truck ahead of us on the highway ignored the tippy-truck signs on the descent toward Denver. The fallen semi and the two-by-fours that it scattered across the highway closed the interstate for a while, and there was no way around the wreck. We finally got passed, only to find that the route we wanted to Golden was closed. We went over a very twisty Lookout Mountain road, with views to Denver that we would have loved if we weren't so late. We got to Boulder and couldn't find the restaurant, because 13th Street is divided into several different segments. As we drove, Vero fixed my wild hiker's hair with a bit of water.

Now half an hour late, we parked. Vero changed in the restroom at the restaurant, and I changed on the street - fortunately without getting arrested. We slid into the gathering, and enjoyed a great dinner. Then we borrowed Ben and Alex's shower at the Best Western before joining the group for dessert and toasts at the Bickman house. It turns out that Sarah's father was a colleague of my grandmother, so he shared his recollections of their meetings. After sorbet and champagne, we cruised around town looking for a place to stay. We made a booking at the Days Inn, but when we got there they were full up because it was Freshman dropoff day at the university, so they made us a booking at the Sandy Point Inne, a nice quiet place away from town. In the morning I had breakfast with a Kenyan distance runner named Luke while Vero caught up on sleep.

That's a long bit of text. The picture is of the Colorado River, with Arches to the north.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T19:23:00.001-04:00

Big Bunny!

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T19:23:00.000-04:00

The picture doesn't capture it well, but the sand slopes up at about 30 degrees.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T19:22:00.000-04:00

Vero just loves those pula pictures.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T19:21:00.002-04:00

How many days without a shower?

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T19:21:00.001-04:00

The Submarine.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T19:21:00.000-04:00

Our last picture together in Utah.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T19:20:00.000-04:00

Pine Tree was the last arch we had time to walk to.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T19:19:00.002-04:00

Pine Tree Arch.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T19:19:00.001-04:00

Just another arch in the wall.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T19:19:00.000-04:00

Delicate Zoom.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T19:18:00.001-04:00

Delicate Arch looks like a wishbone.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T19:18:00.000-04:00

Delicate Arch. We didn't have time to hike there because we needed to be in Boulder, CO by 5 pm. We hiked to a viewpoint on the top of a small hill instead.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T19:16:00.001-04:00

Looking for bunnies.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T19:16:00.000-04:00

The famed Donut Cactus.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T19:15:00.001-04:00

Pensive? Sleepy? Arched?

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T19:15:00.000-04:00

Vero in the North Arch, wider view.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T19:14:00.000-04:00

Vero in the North Arch.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T19:13:00.000-04:00

Wild bunny!

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T19:12:00.000-04:00

From where I'm standing (I'm the little dot to the right of the tree at the bottom), there was the most perfect echo around a curve of rock to where Vero was standing when she took this picture. We had a conversation in our softest possible speaking voice, and it sounded as though we were 3 feet away instead of 300.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T19:09:00.000-04:00

Already warm.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T19:08:00.000-04:00

Morning pula.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T19:06:00.000-04:00

There was only one other car near these arches so early in the morning.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T19:05:00.000-04:00

We woke up before sunrise and were in the park as the sun broke above the horizon. Unfortuately, we lost a spectacular picture of the sun striking a red wall, and it took the camera several minutes to correct its data error, so we missed a few good shots.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T19:03:00.000-04:00

After we finished our beer, we went into the town of Moab looking for a laundomat. The only laundromat in town was already closed, so we filled the tank and bought some food at the supermarket. Moab has zillions of motels, so we thought we'd sneak into a pool for a few minutes, but evey pool had a gate and a lock. So we went back to our campsite by the Colorado River and settled in for the night.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T18:59:00.000-04:00

Vero holding still for a long open shutter.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T18:58:00.002-04:00

Louis XIV. Really.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T18:58:00.001-04:00

We sat with Louis XIV.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T18:58:00.000-04:00

We were perched illegally off-trail, watching the moon rise and sharing a beer.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T18:56:00.000-04:00

A nice open shutter caught the full moon rising over the Arches.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T18:55:00.001-04:00

Even Arches has its hoo-doos.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T18:55:00.000-04:00

The daylight wouldn't wait for us to take our photos.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T18:54:00.001-04:00

We made it to Arches National Park just as the sun was setting.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T18:54:00.000-04:00

Definitely more petroglyphs. And some more modern graffiti.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T18:50:00.000-04:00

Vero claims there are petroglyphs in this picture. We had lunch in a picnic ground right near hear, and a nice Asian family gave us an apple they'd picked. Then Vero found the apple and pear trees and stocked up.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T18:43:00.000-04:00

1000 year old petroglyphs at Capitol Reef.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T18:42:00.001-04:00

Capitol Reef National Park.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T18:42:00.000-04:00

How many hours have I been driving?

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T18:41:00.000-04:00

Drink in the green, it will be hundreds of miles before we see it again.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T18:40:00.000-04:00

A mountain with actual green grass! This was our first time taking the car up to 9000 feet, but certainly not the last.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T18:38:00.000-04:00

In between Escalante and Boulder, Utah, is the most unexpected coffee house. The architecture is amazing, with tree trunks as pillars and huge sheets of glass or plexiglass forming the walls between the trunks. The view is spectacular, with a river and the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument as a backdrop. The espresso was great, too.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T18:17:00.000-04:00

A panoramic view of the canyon, as seen from Bryce Point. The pictures don't join up exactly, but pretty close. The view shows most of the area where we hiked.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T17:56:00.001-04:00

The Alligator, seen from Bryce Point.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T17:56:00.000-04:00

Wide view of the Wall of Windows.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T17:55:00.001-04:00

Wall of Windows.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T17:55:00.000-04:00

Candy striped snag. Lots of trees get struck by lightening in Bryce because of the high concentration of iron in the soil.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T17:50:00.000-04:00

Backs to the sun. Vero, please put on sunblock before you get crispy...

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

The bit about the keys.

2005-08-26T17:49:00.000-04:00

Oh yes. We'd been unable to find a grocery store on the drive from Zion, so we went out to eat in the nearby town of Tropic. When we got back to the campground in Bryce Canyon National Park, we stopped the car at the restrooms to wash up, since otherwise we would have had to trek through several people's camp sites in the dark. Vero went to the women's room, and I changed from my shorts to my sweatpants, then closed the trunk. 3 nanoseconds later, I realized that the keys were in my shorts pocket, and our Buick didn't have a trunk release.

We tried calling AAA, but during the moments we could pick up a cell phone signal we found that their 800 number didn't work in Utah. We woke up Betty in New Haven, who called AAA in CT, who called AAA in Utah, who called us, eventually. We were in the car about 45 minutes before we finally were talking with the Utah AAA agent. He was asking us for details about the car, so we got the rental agreement out of the glove box and told him the model number. He put us on hold for many minutes, and we put the agreement back in the glove box.

There we noticed a small round button. We pushed the button and heard the trunk latch POP.

Back at the tent, we laughed ourselves to sleep, then woke up early so we could get in our hike before the day got too warm.

2005-08-26T17:39:00.001-04:00

Yeah, we hiked hard.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T17:39:00.000-04:00

Pula.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T17:38:00.000-04:00

The Grotto, seen from below.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T17:37:00.000-04:00

Do you hoo-doo?

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu

2005-08-26T17:35:00.000-04:00

Classic hoo-doos. The harder stone is from a newer geological age is atop the softer stone below it. Over many years the soft stone gets eaten away, leaving a big boulder perched on top.

Photos Copyright Martin Benjamin and Veronica Savu