November 10th

I went with my good friend Sergio, his little brother and another bio-engineering friend Adama (who is now in medical school) with his girlfriend to Vultee Arch in the Red Rock country of Sedona. I had wanted to visit this natural bridge for quite some time, so when I saw it in last month’s edition of Arizona Highways I decided that weekend was the perfect time to go. I had a great time.

The hike was pretty demanding. I’ll take the blame for that one. Between the trailhead and the destination was a “pass” through the mountains. But we had to climb at least 1,000 vertical feet to get through the pass. So, we had to do that ascent/descent twice both to and from the natural bridge.

Sergio is tough. He struggled at first (actually throwing up along the trail) and then decided to just keep hiking through the pain. He felt better after snacking on some peanuts. I’m glad he decided to keep on going because to me, the whole trip was definitely worth it.

Scott

Here are some pictures:

We went to Vultee Arch, by way of Sterling Pass


Sergio's bro and Adama sword fighting at the trailhead.

Sergio's bro, Adama and his girl friend

Yes, if you look closely, thats me on top of the arch

The trail went through these cool trees

Sergio and his brother

Us three friends

Spiderman (above) and karate kid (below)

This sure was a fun trip.

November 16th and 17

I returned to Sedona with my scout troop. We splurged and got reservations to a very nice campsite along Oak Creek. The reservations weren’t cheap, but I think they were worth every penny. After cooking dinner, the boys started doing a version of the classic slight of hand cups and ball magic trick. Instead of using cups and a ball they used marked pudding containers. Their fast hands fooled me several times as I couldn’t always locate the marked pudding container correctly.

One funny thing that happened is while they were drinking tang (we always have tang on our campout’s). One of the boys said (in his best TV commercial voice) “Tang, the official beverage of Boy Scouts”. We all got a kick out of that and it started a new trend. The boys applied this commercial line to other things throughout the campout. My other favorite was “Burning Stuff, the official past time of Boy Scouts”.

Friday night I was very tired and went to bed early, so I missed a skunk sighting. Maybe that is a good thing, because I might have thought twice about sleeping on a tarp without a tent after seeing a skunk.

Saturday morning we were going to go on a hike, but because the campsite was so beautiful and relaxing we just decided to explore the creek where we were. There were plenty of places for the boys to explore, so it worked out very nicely for me. This was, by far, the most relaxing scout outing I’ve been on as a leader.

Scott

The other leaders that make our troop possible

Boy Scout Ninja Strikes Again

Shovel Pogo Stick

My view of the fire pit. Ooops, it looks like we need to add another log on the fire.

Oak Creek

Foot bridge across Oak Creek

November 22nd and 23rd

November 22nd was Thanksgiving and my dad’s birthday so I called that morning to wish him well. He and mom were driving back home after living in Washington State for the past year. They went there to assist a small LDS congregation in Long Beach Washington. They were assigned to do everything from teaching Sunday School to visiting less active members of the congregation to teaching curious visitors about the church. They also helped out the local leaders deal with the unique challenges that the small congregation encountered.

I was in Tucson for Thanksgiving visiting Lynette’s family. When we weren’t eating, we kept ourselves busy by playing games or teasing Lynette. I think she got annoyed at that. Sorry Lynette. We spent most of our time playing Scrabble, or variations of Scrabble. We also played Boggle too. Lynette found time to list 100 things she is grateful for on her blog, although I am not sure about item 86.

Friday morning we went on a drive through Saguaro National Park and tried to take some pictures for a family Christmas card. I’m not sure how they will turn out, so I guess I’ll have to wait and see.

Scott

Here are some pictures of our Tucson trip.

When we weren't eating, Lynette was on the computer or we were playing Scrabble.

Saguaro National Park

What I'm thankful for:

November 24

An engineer, a lawyer and an accountant all went into the desert…. Sounds like a joke, but it wasn’t.

I went hiking with my nephew who is visiting from law school in DC and one of his friends (graduated in accounting). We went to Cave Creek, north of Phoenix (the actual creek, not the town).

The first 4 miles of the hike was a pleasant walk along the creek and the last 5 miles was more exercise than hike. The hikes second half views were “ok” and the trail was fairly rugged, leaving me quite exhausted at the end of the 9 mile loop (although according to my GPS the hike was closer to 10.5 miles).

Along the trail was a fairly large crested Saguaro, which was rather interesting to see close up. I’ve heard that is caused by a disease, but I don’t know for sure.

Scott

Here are some pictures of the hike.

The only picture with all 3 of us

What makes a hero?

This Veteran’s Day, we have a chance to reflect on the heroes of this country. This is a day of celebration for those who fought/fight valiantly for our nation’s freedom and well being.

But, the celebration leads to the question: What makes a hero? Is it the guy who charges enemy lines in attempt to rescue a fallen comrade? Is it the cook or nurse who never sees the battlefield but still gives aid to the soldiers who are in combat? Is the soldier who was drafted more heroic than a volunteer? Are members of the armed forces the only true heroes? Or can a consistent mother be as much of a hero as the well decorated veteran?

I could go on with this line of questioning, but I think it is obvious that all of these types of people could be considered heroes. Anyone can be a hero. Everyone has their own unique challenges and has to overcome those challenges by showing strength and self discipline. It is how one reacts to their challenges that make someone truly heroic. The attitude they keep, their willingness to help others and how they do their duty are better indicators of heroism than is a single event or surge of action.

Yesterday, I had a discussion on courage with a group of young men. To them courage meant bravery and wisdom. The word courage brought to mind captains of ships in the midst of battle and various other images no doubt derived from one of the many Hollywood adventure movies. Of course, in their mind, the courageous always make it through their adventure alive and full of glory. But this isn’t always the case.

When I brought up the idea of moral courage they quickly understood that showing courage does not always result in fanfare and acclaim. The boy who says no to drugs shows courage but is probably not going to be accepted among his so-called friends. The student who refuses to cheat on an exam is courageous but may not ace the test and the man who refuses to entertain himself with dirty jokes, inappropriate images and bad language can sleep in good conscience but may feel isolated from his peers.

So, to me, a hero is defined by much more than a single life changing event. The soldier who charges enemy lines in attempt to rescue a fallen comrade is a hero because of his keen sense of duty, loyalty and love. Without those feelings he would not have risked his life for another, and would never have been considered a hero. The feelings in the heart of the drafted soldier can make him just as heroic as the patriotic volunteer. The teenager who listens to his conscience despite heavy peer pressure is heroic because he stood by his convictions. The mother who raises her children in love is also heroic even though she may never be recognized as such because heroism is rarely judged by its best metric: what is in the heart.

Scott

ps. this post was inspired by the MSNBC article found by following the link:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21725468/