30,000 FEET ABOVE SEA-LEVEL.......................

A funny thing happened at the airport .................... We boarded, then went to the end of the runway at LAS VEGAS, then turned around and went back to the terminal and sat in the aircraft for a couple of hours...........Then the pilot advised us that they couldn't close the door, but (don't worry) engineers are on their way.................Much later AA decided they would off-load us (but not the baggage) and pressurize the aircraft first........ This is best done at ground-level and not at 30,000 feet, I guess.............Or is this another type of VEGAS gambling?........... NOW THIS IS THE POINT AT WHICH ONE GENERALLY CHANGES PLANES........We changed ours for a whole bunch of vouchers and another day in VEGAS with the family..........Now that's thinking outside the box (plane, whatever)................24 hours later, and on another aircraft whose doors close beautifully, we fly over HOOVER DAM and the GRAND CANYON this time at 30,000 feet................WOW........




You can double click on these 'Grand' photos..............With clear skies, the view is awesome............ The forces of nature at work......... And as we fly over this 'awesomeness', we contemplate what lies ahead for us............... The report of a first tropical depression is in, as it hovers in the southern Caribbean............... Time to come up with a good hurricane plan..............



Radical, but sensible when the winds gets to 125 mph plus.



Putting a yacht into the mangroves is "A good hurricane plan"....... Although you are expected to take it out again, and not leave it there for another year, like this powerboat.............After landing at SAN JUAN in Puerto Rico, we rent a car and drive to SALINAS and PONCE on the southern side of PR, we talk to people and inspect the mangrove sites, something we have already done by using 'Google Earth'................. The 'Enterprise' car-rental people give us a brand-new 2010 Ford Explorer with only 255 km on the clock, and charge us $45.00 for the day....................This is totally in line with our budget, for contrary to some of the adventures, which give the impression that we are "loaded"................. Truth is, whenever we walked through the casinos, our eyes were downcast ...................... Perhaps someone had dropped a thousand dollar chip on the carpet...................Best we did was a quarter, and that one was pocketed, not force-fed .............. Then again, blessings come in so many other forms, so we really are 'loaded'...........

But first, we have to sail out of the Dominican Republic and onto Puerto Rico, then further east to the Virgin Islands for two weeks, and then back to PUERTO RICO for the three or four months of hurricane season.....................................So much to do, so little time.......

..............WE REALLY NEED A HOLIDAY.........

Oh, before we forget...........Last night when we flew back into the Dominican Republic we had to line up in a queue at Immigration, 250 of us, to pay $US 10.00 for a shiny credit card-size 'tourist card'........... Then line up again, all 250 of us, in another queue, at the end of which was an official who took your shiny card and put it in a shredder and wished you a "WELCOME TO THE DR"............... This morning we are still trying to make sense of that......................At least in LAS VEGAS you stood a chance....................

7000 FEET ABOVE SEA-LEVEL........................

We drove from SANTE FE, New Mexico to FLAGSTAFF, Arizona, and ended up 7000 ft above sea-level and longing for the BAHAMAS.......... I mean who wouldn't............ Just enlarge the photo to the right and you will see the snow on the mountainsides................ Then again you might want to enlarge the photo on the left instead..........And in the morning, we drove to the edge of the Grand Canyon, one of the great 'Wonders of the World'............... and compliments of my son we flew over it in a helicopter which equally made it another wonder of the World..... the helicopter ride, I mean................... Unbelievably beautiful..........



Back into the car after the helicopter ride, we drove to another magnificent structure, the HOOVER Dam and all that water behind it........ LAKE MEAD........ We even saw several sailboats in the the distance............... Crossing the dam wall in convoys at 5 mph, gave us views from all angles..............Then onto "LAS VEGAS"......... With its zillion one-armed bandits, powered by the hydro-electricity from the HOOVER Dam..........To end up face-to-face with 'Squarepants Spungebob' in our hotel................ Some things are worth doing.....................Like walking 'The strip' with grandchildren and their parents, till 1 AM in the morning...............


There is not a lot to add about " LAS VEGAS "................ Best described as "OVER-STIMULATED" ............. And over-intoxicated, but this one guy took the prize............... Guitar-hero and booze container with built-in straw at the same time..........Way to go............

LAS VEGAS is like a large cruise ship with no water around it...................like a very large cruise ship that doesn't actually go anywhere...................The similarity is obvious,..... Thousands of people, shows, gambling, lights, photographers and clearly some women that God did not make................




There was no shortage of 'replicas'............. There were even replicas of replicas ................ I recall something about 'Send me your tired, bring me your hungry.....' but I don't recall anything about 'Make me out of candy and eat me till you choke'.......'



And tomorrow we fly back to DR again after a most wonderful time with my family...........................

Remy and Jane have done a wonderful job of parenting and it shows in the beautiful caring nature of their children.....................A truly enriching week.....

OFF THE RESERVATION.....................................

Time to leave the reservation................Time to round up the ponies and head on out.................The 'Kids' have been to the Childrens' Museum to discover the wonders of magnetism, face paint, blowing giant puddles (I think that should be bubbles) and organic gardening..........And if you head north of SANTE FE for thirty miles you will be almost as far away from the Atlantic Ocean as you can get from the Pacific Ocean, but you will see this 'Mesa'.................. Then hang a left for another twenty miles, through ravines and valleys and you will come to Bandelier National Park, where after entering, you get the kids invovlved in doing a 10 page 'Thesis' that covers environmental study, ecological disaster prevention, animal recognition, flood mitigation, Indian cultural heritage and if successful they will be awarded with a Junior Ranger badge.......War paint not withstanding................Candidates pass with flying colours even though they have never seen a squirrel before........No squirrels down-under...................

The basaltic formations topped of with tuff deposits from the spewing of past volcanoes creates spectacular layers in the hillsides. We pass the 'Los Alamos" radio telescope and their research laboratories before getting to the park.........................



And just at the base of the cliffs we find the former homes of the 'HOPI' Indians..........You need to double click on some of these pics............... the views were spectacular and so was the pine-perfumed rarified air at 6060 ft above sea-level...............



There is something magical about 'ANTHROPOLOGY'............ to put yourself back there in this ancient valley and picture the 'KIVA' the ceremonial circular gathering place for young and old to establish the way of life and the traditions...........and now only the foundations remain alongside the gentle-flowing "Rio Grande".......................



The 'Swiss-cheese' rock formation is a tuff, a hardened volcanic ash that spread for hundreds of miles during different eruptions............. The Indians would carve out the accessible base for rooms then smoke the ceilings to prevent the roof particles from constantly falling and add some more rooms to the front of the cave by placing roof beams into the walls.........



Then carved into the walls are a myriad of 'petroglyphs' with designs of mystical proportions and then some like this 'macaw' which clearly indicated that trade existed with other tribes from the tropics............ Antiquity at its best......... The real thing........... A living time capsule...................



And it is not just Indians who made their homes in these walls, for the vertical cavity houses millions of bats in the summer.....................



And the structures have not changed all that much for here is a sneak-peek of the 2010 version of the 'Buffalo Thunder' casino hotel .............



And just before leaving the reservation we popped into the BUFFALO THUNDER Casino for a quick bite to eat....................... talk about living large............. This is a 6lb hamburger with fries and coleslaw.............. That's 2.7 kg for those down under.............. By the time you took a good look at it you were full without actually eating it....................

A LITTLE MORE PERSONAL......................

MY son, Dr. Remy Dehaan was scheduled to attend a conference in SANTE FE, New Mexico, dealing with environmental issues and ground water and so we flew there, to be with him and his family, a mere twelve hours after arriving back in Boca Chica, DR.............. We were emailed the photo on the right, taken from a helicopter, covering the 'Tall Ships' event..........Double click on it and you will see Lauren and 'Poppie Rob' sitting on the back-porch of "ARITA", while the auto-pilot does its thing............. Don't know where we would be without "OTTO" the auto-pilot............. Now son Rem, is in fact a Doctor of Geology, who specialises in "Remote Sensing" and for those like myself, who have great difficulty in understanding the concepts, it works something like this............... The Sun radiates lots of energy of different wavelengths, only some of which is visible and thus gives colour to things............ Now a sensor instrument can be flown over the Earth and can measure the reflective energy in all wavelenghts, including visible, infra red and many other bands, and by interpretation, is able to distinguish plant types, soil chemicals, moisture content and do such magical things as identify densities of arsenic particles, for example, in the soil........... Which indirectly are closely associated with the possible presence of gold.............How am I doing so far?...............Those wonderful Earth images we get from time to time, in brilliant fancy colours, are part of that work........... Now apart from that, he has also managed to assist in the production of three beautiful grandchildren.............. Rebekah (10), Zac (5) and Ella (3).............

So we flew from Santo Domingo to Dallas and on to Albuquerque and drove to SANTE FE, then hit the freeways and completely freaked out by being in the thick of things once again..........Except that SANTE FE is completely different from anything either of us had ever seen before......................A PUEBLO CITY, with PUEBLO HOUSING and just plain awesome.........And high up on the mountains on the slopes there was "S N O W ".........



And that very first night we went out to eat Mexican................. The family feast of great food and the joy of togetherness.................. We even drove past the oldest house in America...............Dated 1646, although someone has put a new door and window in the place................Then again anyone can put up a sign,... right?



Ella with her new best friend.. a pink poodle and Rebekah with her monkey up a palm tree..............



We only have a week with them before we fly back to the Dominican Republic so the program is hectic.................. Eating, sleeping, talking and doing, while Prof Rem ducks off to attend the conference............. The kids had a full supply of baloon animals made for them in the park...................... Even the Queen of Florida got into the act....................Sailors turned grandparents........ Who knew?.............And the Captain is in a crisis..........Somewhere between a stud and a geezer..................

And Zac has just used his baloon headset microphone to call for a Pizza delivery to the hotel room........................