Back to the Corners

With Holly finishing up her first year of school, we headed up to the Hopi reservation for her to present some information to Hopi resource managers.  She was presenting on tree ring reconstruction of drought for the Four Corners region.  I caught a little 24 hour bug on the way up, culminating in my curling up in the fetal position on the Hopi Cultural Center hotel room's bathroom floor.  Feeling better the next day I was able to fulfill my duties as babysitter for a few of Holly's coworkers.  While taking young Nate for a walk Holly and I received a friendly acknowlegement from a local Hopi kid from a bus window, "Hi white people!" 

That was about the last smile I made for the next 24 hrs as the flu took over.  It was all vomit and fever from there...

Paco the Hopi Love Dog. 

Happy hour!

 We continued on to Flagstaff after Holly's work was finished.  We got in a solid day of sport climbing at "The Pit" followed by a nice trail run.  We then made our way to Flagstaff Brewing Company.  A fine IPA and some bluegrass was the perfect end to a beautiful day.  Holly also overtook me in a serious game of cribbage.  The next day we headed to Priest's Draw, where we were finally able to get some pictures taken.  We camped the whole time up near the area know as Marshall Lake on Forest Service land.  Very pretty!

Baked Beans!

Holly swore off eggs after this meal.  That lasted a whole day.

The happy cook.

Marshall Lake, now more of a dried up lake bed due to the arid climate of the Four Corners region.  It is now more of a wetland.  Lots of birds!

I wanted to believe these were leaf springs from a covered wagon.  Probably some small old car, as there were four, ruling out boat trailer.

As we were on Forest Service land, this cool old farm at the edge of the lake bed was probably grandfathered in.  Right around 7200 feet.

My word she's strong!

It was windy, okay!

Very fun boulder at Priest's Draw, Flagstaff

I hate you boulder! 

Too hard.

There were two really cool joining arroyos at Priest's Draw.  This one looked a little older than the other, with some pines growing in its course.

And another.

As well as their intersection.

Desert Flowers

Well, I know this is a little late, but the succulent flowers are popping out down here like a gearshift on a Volkswagen.  These are pictures from Saguaro National Park as well as Sabino Canyon (Coronado National Forest Wilderness Area).  Enjoy the pictures courtesy of the prettiest little thing I saw out there, Holly(not the plant). 

Jumping cholla, Cylindropuntia fulgida

more of the same...

Ocotillo, Fouquieria splendens

Prickly pear, opuntia

more ocotillo

Saguaro, Carnegeia gigantea

cholla

tip of the tillo

girlfiriend

gluten free pizza for the girlfirend

boyfriend in Wilderness

Seven Falls, Sabino Canyon

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Azuki from Japan!

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I thought I would post some pictures of the new whip- the Azuki.  Named after the red bean first domesticated in the Himalayas and using a chrysanthemum for its logo and symbol of quality, I found the little sweetheart on Craigslist for $25.  This line of bicycles was distributed by a company called West Coast Cycle.  This company was also in charge of other brands such as Nishiki and Centurion, owned by Leo Sr. and RosaBelle Cohen...  

 When Leo Sr. passed away in 1963, his son Howie Cohen took over the company.  He traveled to Japan looking for new sources of bicycles.  After traveling to 60 different factories, he decided on a manufacturing company named Kawamura Cycles. 

 Selling the same high quality Japanese bike under several different names allowed Howie to cover a whole territory without having their dealers interfere with each other selling the same product at a lower price(Nishiki, Centurion, Azuki, American Eagle, CyclePro etc.).  Sneaky. 

 In the 1980s international currency fluctuations caused the high quality Japanese made bikes to become too high priced and uncompetitive with the bikes from Taiwan.  At this point West Coast Cycle moved their line to Giant of Taiwan, where the quality of these fine steel bikes would never be the same.  And that was the end of fine Japanese steel in the bicycle industry.  The End.

Look at that nicely stamped alloy!

Howie Cohen traveled to Japan 8-10 times per year to maintain working relationships with Japanese parts companies such as Araya,

Suntour!

and Shimano!

Quality.

A Matcha muffin with sweetened azuki beans.  Yum!