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Handies Peak, a 14er in the San Juans of Colorado is the highest I have ever been.  But first you have to get to the trail head.  We stayed in Durango (Downtown Durango Innhttp://www.durangodowntowninn.com/  right on the Animas River, dog friendly and a one block walk to restaurants and shops). It is about a one hour drive to Silverton through beautiful mountian switchbacks.  This was Labor Day weekend and a few Aspens were already turning Colorado gold.  The temperature was a perfect not too hot, not too cold and the sky turned blue [...]

Cowboy Small by Lois Lenski.  A classic.I had my own Cowboy small living with me for ten days. Grandson Ethan!  Ride 'em  cowboy! Cowboy Small...I remember him from my childhood. One of my favorites!  First published in 1949. Share this post if you remember this book.  Or even if you don't 😉

Just do hours and hours of research for days and days.....Then you develop a passion...or maybe you already had a passion.  You become more passionate.You ignore other writing projects...that news article about the bats in school...hmmm that could be fun...who ever heard of a bat day off from school?  Two actually.   OK save that for the next project.You ignore your family....as much as possible.(photo by Suchitra Baker)You do more research and have some fun along the way.  Then you write ane write and write.....  The you rewrite and rewrite and rewrite....Then you [...]

I have never met friendlier people than the Navajo but making true freinds takes time.  As I prepared to come to the reservation in Chinle, I asked a Native American friend if he thought people would accept me here.  His advice was to just be myself.  Native Americans, he suggested, would judge me by my authentic nature.We have been here two years.  I have heard that the Navajo are so used to people coming and going that they are slow to make freinds with Anglos who they believe will be gone in the [...]

Jim Kristofic grew up in Ganado Arizona on the Navajo reservation after moving there with his mother and brother at the age of 7. Ganado is 30 miles from where I live in Chinle.   His book Navajo Wear Nikes, A Reservation Life is a compelling account of an Anglo growing up in an unfamiliar world which he eventually comes to love.    He is honest about the difficulties for a young child as he struggles to be accepted into a new culture and adept at writing about the changes that take place [...]

NOW, THEREFORE, I, RONALD REAGAN, President of the United States of America, do hereby designate August 14, 1982, as National Navaho Code Talkers Day, a day dedicated to all members of the Navaho Nation and to all Native Americans who gave of their special talents and their lives so that others might live. I ask the American people to join me in this tribute, and I call upon Federal, State and local officials to commemorate this day with appropriate activities. Ronald Regan 1982Yesterday, August 14, I traveled to Window Rock Arizona to be [...]