INDIAN ART OR ANCIENT GRAFFITI

These days when a group of young men go out hunting, if things get boring they start shooting up road signs or tin cans or what ever else seems to be good sport.
Well in ancient times when the native Americans went out hunting they would gather in the shade of an over hanging cliff and practice their art. I have often wondered if they are really trying to tell story with their art or if it is just ancient graffiti by bored young men out for the hunt.
what ever it is, I find it fascinating and love to locate examples of this ancient art.
We found these great looking specimens in various locations within about a half mile of each other. They are located on a dirt road between the town of Thompson, Utah and the old ghost town of Sego, (see post "ghost towns" 4/23). The road is not to bad at all, we traveled it with our Hyundai Tucson while pulling our trailer.

GHOST TOWNS

While on a road trip to Moab, Utah we decided to check out a ghost town that I had read about. The town of Sego, Utah was founded in 1911. It began as a coal mining operation, but almost as soon as it began the water table dropped and things soon went from bad to worse. By 1947 the town was nearly deserted and the whole town was sold at auction in Moab.
The stone building was the company store. the wooden structure that is about to fall was the boarding house. There are also several other stone buildings scattered about the site that are in various stages of collapse.
To get to Sego you take the Thompson exit that is just east of Crescent junction, on I-70. Sego is about 4 miles North of Thompson. Thompson itself is all but a ghost town. there are still a few people living there but all the business have closed. there is a deserted cafe, hotel, motel and a once used train station which is probably responsible for the town being there in the first place.

GEOCACHING

For any of you that don't know, one of the things we do for fun is to go geocaching. It's a great way to get outside and get a little exercise and fresh air. And our grandchildren love it. Geocaching is an outdoor game that you play with a hand held gps. Other cacher's hide things then put the coordinates on a web site. Then you take the coordinates and go see if you can find where it is hidden.
Sarah was up visiting for the weekend so we decided to do some caching and even hide one of our own. We also placed our first "travel bug". A travel bug is a dog tag type piece that has a tracking number that can also be entered in the web site and then you can track the item as it moves around the country or even the world.
We attached our tag to a little white bear with a "I love Utah" sweater on, we are hoping that he will travel across the country to visit our son David and his wife in Tennessee.
If you want to see where "Utah" has been on his travels you can visit him at geocaching.com. his tracking number is 3BK8N3

IF YOU JUST SMILE!

It should be spring but it is snowing. The economy is in the tanks, the stock market is diving, gas prices rising, and I'm still too fat......etc. etc. etc......SO SMILE ANYWAY!

Zane, Tessa, Aaron, Quinton, Sarah, Maddison, Matthew, Drake

SMILE

Smile though your heart is aching

Smile even though its breaking
When there are clouds in the sky, youll get by
If you smile through your fear and sorrow
Smile and maybe tomorrow
Youll see the sun come shining through for you

Light up your face with gladness
Hide every trace of sadness
Although a tear may be ever so near
Thats the time you must keep on trying
Smile, whats the use of crying?
Youll find that life is still worthwhile
If you just smile

Charlie Chaplin