ACORN and human trafficking

I am so incredibly ticked off right now, and quite frankly disgusted with most of the media and the government. Everyone is making such a huge deal out of the fact that they were teaching a supposed prostitution ring how to cheat the IRS, and while that is bad, that act pales in comparison to the act of ACORN helping with human trafficking (a.k.a. sexual-slavery). The ACORN representative did not bat and eye and even gave suggestions on how to help this couple in bringing and using under-age El Salvadorians into their prostitution ring and how to make more money off of them. Most of the news reports (aside from FOX) either barely mention this aspect or don't acknowledge it at all (I have been reading quite a few articles and listing to the news feed on the radio). The focus that the government and media has chosen just shows that they are more worried about money than people. Now, I realize that that this scenario was fake, but human trafficking is very real and very alive. I have contacted my state representative about this, please, each of you do the same. If you have not seen the video here is one of the videos you can watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtTnizEnC1U .
Human trafficking is a much bigger problem than many people think. You can read a little more about it here http://www.ovc.gov/ncvrw/2005/pg5l.html   and many other sites. While it is very difficult to get accurate numbers due to the secretive nature of the problem here are some figures. It is estimated that between 14,00-18,000 men women and children are trafficked into the US each year alone, within the country it is estimated to around 200,000, and many US citizens are trafficked out of the US each year as well. World wide trafficking is estimated to be  between 600,000-800,000 per year. This is a horrific act. While not all human trafficking is sex related (with the next highest reason being for labor), a good majority of it is. Please speak out on this important issue.

Labor Day Weekend

We had a lot of fun when Kenny, Melissa, and the girls came for the weekend. We got to enjoy the Cottonwood Festival where the girls were a crack-up on the lttle kiddy rides. We had a fun game night, and went to White sands, though it was a bit hot! It was great to have them here!

Bryce Canyon NP

Our 3rd stop was Bryce Canyon.  It was nice and cool here, and the features of this NP were pretty incredible too! On our first night we went to a ranger program in which the ranger did a monologue from the point of view of a Bristle Cone Pine- which can live for over a thousand years! It was interesting, though you could definitely tell some of her religious and political views- but we learned some very interesting history of Bryce Canyon. We spent some time driving and doing a few short hikes. We were able to see a really neat thunderstorm come in at some of the view points. The current picture at the top of the blog is also from Bryce Canyon.
You can see all of the hoodoos or stacked rock formations in the background of many of the pictures. There is an old legend that about these formations... "An elderly Piute named Indian Dick describes how Bryce Canyon was formed: Before there were any Indians, the Legend People lived in this place. There were many kinds- birds, animals, lizards, and such things- but they had the power to make themselves look like people. For some reason the Legend People were bad, so Coyote turned them all into rocks. You can see them in that place now, all turned into rocks; some standing in rows, some sitting down, some holding onto others. You can see their faces with paint on them just as they were before they became rocks." (As seen on a display at BCNP).
The chipmunks, ravens, and other birds were abundant, and we were able to see Utah Prairie Dogs, Blue Grouse, and Pronghorns during our visit too. In one of the pictures above part of the rock formation looks as though there was a lizard on top- can you see it?  We saw hoodoos and arches (both in the rocks and in the clouds)  and many other formations. The colors were incredible! It was a fun stop- wish we could have been there a little longer and been able to do the hiking down in the amphitheater, but it was still a great visit.

Zion NP

We had so much fun at Zion National Park. This was our 2nd stop along the way. It was quite a bit warmer here than at the North Rim. The first day we didn't do much as we arrived in the early evening and ended up having to share a group site with 3 other out of place groups. They were all quite nice. On our second day we did the water walk in which you can see from the posted pictures we got quite wet- but it was a blast and felt great on a 100 degree plus day. We went up through the canyon a little way but did not, unfortunately go into the narrows- again the whole foot thing :(   Oh well, the icy cold water actually helped a great deal- but poor Matt just about froze his toes off.  We also went to Weeping Rock and then enjoyed a "nap" on the Lodge lawn which was shaded and very cool. We didn't actually sleep, but others certainly did!

We were able to go to a couple of ranger programs here as well. The first one we went to was about animals in the park. Did you know that a female tarantula hawk stings a tarantula spider and sort of anesthetizes him, drags him back to his hole, then lays her eggs in the spider's body-so that when they hatch they have a great food supply until they are able to go out on their own. Oh yeah, and just as a safegaurd, mom breaks all of the spiders leg so he can't move, just in case it wakes up. Now there's a mom for you! We also went to a "night sky" program. We learned about various constellations as well as how to protect our night sky from all the light pollution. http://www.darksky.org/ is the link the ranger gave to us for more details on things we can do to help have a more beautiful light sky. Oh and did you know that there is a Monopoly Night Sky edition? It looks pretty cool- it even has a star chart in the middle, and  there are rovers and telescopes as part of the playing pieces. The ranger progrmas are great- when you visit any National or State Park make a ranger program part of your visit- there are so many different topics to choose from!

As you can see from above we were able to see some pretty cool thing- like deer in our campsite every day, or the mountain sheep (which are not commonly seen- what luck!) as we were leaving the park. The flower is called a Moon lily (or Zion lily or Jimson weed). This is a beautiful but poisonous flower- so don't eat it! And there are pictures of various scenes around the park including the famous Cherckerboard Mesa. On our last day there were hiked to the 3 Emerald Pools. Thank goodness for the overcast sky! Afterwards we went and dipped our feet in the refreshing river- as with the walk in the river the previous day it helped keep the swelling and pain down and was quite relaxing. We also went to the natural history museum which had a few interesting displays as well as a short but enlightening film about Zion NP.

Grand Canyon, North Rim

As we made our way up to Education week at BYU we made several stops. Our first was to the beautiful Grand Canyon. We visited the South Rim on our honeymoon and were very excited to see 'the other side'. The North Rim is quite different from the South Rim.
We went to a couple of ranger programs. One was called 'I am the Grand Canyon', which told about its history from the Canyon's supposed pint of view, and was quite interesting as it covered all sorts of topics such as geology, animal and plant life, the river itself, it's many visitors throughout it's past, and current concerns regarding the area. We also attended a program about photography from the artist in resident. She showed us some of here works as well as taught us about various techniques.
We of course did some hiking, not so much as I am still having problems with my Achilles tendon, but we got to see the major sights as well as enjoy some beautiful drives. The views were amazing! At night we also saw some fires that were blazing that had been started several weeks earlier by lightning. Sunday night we enjoyed the spectacular sunset at the lodge- and a few times we almost got nailed by some of the bats that were flying around. Oh, and I forgot we saw quite a few of the rare North Rrim exclusive Kaibab squirrels. As we left we were surprised to see a herd of buffalo. We had no idea there were buffalo in the Grand Canyon! It is a great place to visit especially as the North rim is cool in the hot southwest summer!

Pictures of the North Rim

Who knew there were buffalo in the Grand Canyon... we didn't until our last day!

The Abert squirrel which has lived in isolation for generations only on the North Rim.

One of the many incredible views as seen from Cape Royal!

Matt and I at an over look along the Trancept Trail from our camp to the Lodge.

A view from a lookout by the Lodge taken at sunset.