My, What Fun!!!

Exploring Cave Creek in the Pecos Wilderness, 1979.  Part of the creek gushes down into a deep cave network to become ground water.  I was a budding hydrogeologist then, right out of college, who was still learning about the bigger picture of environmental hydrology, and geochemistry.  My red hair is not as long as it was then, but Cave Creek remains a very special place to me.

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Rocks and Water:  Boy Magnets.  Shooting "Government Rapids" on the San Juan River in an inflatable kayak.  It was soo much fun I carried the kayak back upstream among the rocks, and did it twice.  Climbing up the columnar joints of a basaltic lava flow at Giant's Causeway, in Northern Ireland just above the ocean near Dunluce Castle.

Now I am a father.  During a recent trip to the Santa Fe mountains, my daughter, Shannon, told me, "Dada, Aiden is climbing on rocks!"  My sweet little girl was concerned about the safety of her big brother.   All I could do was smile and tell her that Daddy was a rock climber too, but a safe one at that.   During our next outing, along Sandia Crest in Albuquerque, Aiden was attracted to the limestone ledges.  This time, Shannon said, "Aiden! We don't climb on rocks!!!."  Much to her dismay, I showed Aiden how to find hand and footholds to climb up a cliff.   We had a nice day nontheless, looking at Paleozoic fossils:  Crinoids, Brachiopods, Bryozoans, ancient ocean creatures whose remains now lie two miles above sea level.

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Mountian Biking and Sail Boarding.
 

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