The weekend of September 11, 2009, Donna, Claire and I joined our friends at Upper Tonto Creek campground where we spent three really relaxing days far from technology and work. It was really nice. We hit the local hatchery, did some fishing, drove up the rim and relaxed.

I don’t mind traveling for work, and I enjoy flying around the country (for the most part), but being away from Claire is hard. When she was two months old she flew to PA while I took a trip down the east coast. This was a little hard because she was so new, but her mother was with her so that helped. In 2007 Donna and I flew to Europe without Claire. I’d been away from her for a few days before flying to Berlin that year, and by the time I hit Vienna I missed her so much. I can dig a day here or long weekend there, but once again she’ll be off to PA this summer to see her grandparents. I will literally be away from my daughter for 21 days: 3 weeks. Yes, I realize she will be around her grandparents and family and busy, and I will be super busy myself but it’s still hard. I hope to talk to her a few times, and I hope to Skype her. I will have to get my mother-in-law access to my ning to post photos of Claire so we can all enjoy them, too. Things’ll work out but it’s always a little disconcerting. In another decade she can just stay with us during this time and all will be fine.

Each time I have a chance to go to San Francisco, it never disappoints. This time it was the recent Conference on College Composition and Communication. A good friend of mine has recently co-published a research writing handbook, which was being pushed at this conference so a few of us decided to go to support her. We stayed just on the edge of The Tenderloin on the side of Nob Hill and had an awesome time. During the day, it was great session after great session but night time was all about site seeing, being wined and dined by the publishers and hitting some nightlife.

I was there for five days and was able to go to dinner at The House with family friends, we also hit the Empress of China restaurant in Chinatown after a cable car ride, and last night three of us spent most of the night in The Haight and in North Beach. Beautiful time and pictures coming to a Flickr near you (search ours for “cccc09″).

Donna and I visit the Payson/Pine/Strawberry area often (me more than her), and last summer I was excited to head up there and get out to see some nature. My friend, Coop, recommended Tonto Natural Bridge north of Payson off the Beeline, so after a wonderful weekend at Angelika’s cabin, we drove over there for an afternoon. For me, it was one of the coolest things we’d seen in Arizona, and I’ve talked about the state park to friends and students ever since. Many people have eagerly said they were going based on my recommendation alone, and I even blogged the experience here.

Tonight I was surfing through my gmail and checked today’s Flickr uploads. My friend and colleague Alan who lives near Tonto Natural Bridge posted a VERY disturbing photo on Flickr with an equally disturbing caption. I will post the entirety below, but here’s the link to the original.

“Short Sighted Government Stupidity in Action” posted to Flickr by Cogdog on March 3, 2009.

Hmmm, I’ve been waiting for a local cause and here it is. The far seeing Arizona state legislature has slashed $35 million from state parks, which are closing like falling dominoes across the state.

To me, the staggering stupidity of closing a park like this is much deeper then the grand canyon. Hopefully some of the dusty heads in Phoenix will get a clue.

This is ridiculous. Everything President Obama is fighting to fix nationally is still being screwed by local government. According to the official Tonto site, the park is closed because of maintenance which may be true but many of us question the validity of the timing. The site says it may be closed only six months so we’ll see. In the meantime the official press release states that it’s because the lodge roof leaks. I’ve been there, the lodge is NOWHERE near the bridge itself. According to Assistant Parks Director, Jay Ream, after the repairs are completed “after completion the Board will re-evaluate the budget situation for re-opening,” which means they’re being vague enough to screw the people who love this place in the end. I suggest all of you call Arizona State Parks at (602) 542-4174 (outside of the Phoenix metro area call toll-free 800-285-3703), ask for Jay Ream’s and tell him to keep our beloved parks open. While I am serious about the state government not following suit when it comes to turning around our current recession, I am not getting into what I’ve not properly researched, so I will only leave you with the beautiful video I have of the first (and what may be the last time) I am able to share such a wonderful natural wonder with my daughter.

Tonto Natural Bridge from Devon Adams on Vimeo.

In July 1994 I was dating Donna and her parent’s invited me to join them at Donna’s grandparent’s house in Warren, PA for the 4th of July. Donna and I’d been dating for a month at the time, and I’d be lying to say I was the most welcome boyfriend. I agreed to the trip, and Mom (as she is now and wasn’t then) drove Donna and I up to Warren. I remember sitting in the back with her singing Meatloaf songs. I love the house, which they built years and years ago when the huge oaks on their lot were saplings. I met the family that weekend, and we had a great time at the fireworks. Since then I’ve been back several times, and the most recent visit is now.

Donna and I haven’t brought Claire up here together since she was about 13 months old. That was the last time I was here, although Claire’s been here since when Donna and I were in Europe.

I adore coming here and eagerly agreed when Donna suggested we try to visit this Christmas. See, when I was younger I spent quite a bit of time camping, fishing, hunting and backpacking with my dad, cousins, and siblings in areas all around the small town, Warren, PA, where Donna’s grandparent’s live. We drive through and near areas like Franklin, Oil City, Tidoute, Tionesta, Kinzua, etc… Every time we drive up here, memories flood; this is probably why I always enjoy this trip.

This trip is a short one. Claire has a bad cough, so we headed to Urgent Care this morning to check her out. After getting a clear bill of health, Donna, her father, Claire and I drove north. We’ve spent the evening with her grand parent’s and Donna’s aunt and uncle.

Tomorrow we drive back to Pittsburgh, and those memories again flood my mind as head south.

In a world that is further and further more thrust into the panopticon, we now have a proliferation of speed cameras in and around Phoenix. I hate them. I drive fast. Look, if I am safe and go a little faster than the next guy, then who cares? I get the problems with zooming down the highway and flipping your truck because you’re an idiot, but when you’re driving out along the Mogollon Rim at 65 and come down into Prescott and the speed limit immediately shifts to 45 then it’s not fair. Forget it. This sucked, and it happened to me.

It wouldn’t have been that bad if 1) I didn’t have a ticket a few weeks earlier when Claire was sick and I was rushing to the doctor’s, and 2) if I didn’t already go to traffic school within the last two years. Damn.

Look, I am not unsafe, but if I always obeyed every traffic law then I would be more stressed out. I can’t help if I am running late sometimes because I have an unpredictable 3 year old. Sometimes she’s ready to run out of the house in the morning, and other times she’s like dragging a golem through the process of leaving for school.

I fear our world is going to be and more thrust into the public spotlight, and, of course, there are things that I do willingly to thrust myself there, but I still enjoy certain liberties that are slowly being stripped away.

Flew into Orlando last night. The coolest thing was the fact that we flew through New Orleans, and I immediately scanned the itinerary to see if our layover was long enough to book outta the airport and get to something cool before continuing on to Florida. Problem was our layover turned out to be only 25 minutes. Bummer. Three of us were going to the National Honor Society conference and were scheduled at Doubletree Universal right at Universal Studios. Checking the registration materials, we discovered we weren’t even scheduled to checkin until later on Friday, so we giddily headed down stairs this morning to find tickets to Universal Studios and Island Adventures. Because it’s November and a Friday, we got some sweet deals to both parks. The Universal guy said that since it was only a mile away it’d be quicker to walk, since the shuttle was headed to several other hotels before it would arrive there. Our goal was to be there when they opened and ride as many roller coasters as we could.

Our student secretary had never been on roller coasters, let alone an airplane or out of the southwest. She was freaking out about the roller coasters and we were ready to make her a convert. My friends had been here at Island Adventures just last week for Educause national conference, and they loved The Hulk so we headed there first. Of course there were problems and it wasn’t open. We ran to the next one since the park had just opened. Over the next couple of hours, we hit as many roller coasters as could. Spiderman, Jurassic Park, and several more. Liz was freaking out at first and really didn’t seem to know what she thought. At first she wouldn’t even open her eyes! We walked the park, and went through Dr Seuss land which was really cool. I met Thing 1 & Thing 2 and had my photo taken with The Grinch before we bought a bag or roasted almonds for a snack. By now The Hulk was open so we headed back there. By the time we hit the front of the line the almonds were done.

Liz was freaking out because this thing looked like it twisted and turned, so when we got into our seats I decided to scream on the whole ride Bad idea. Immediately after the ride I felt like I was going to be sick. Liz walked onto the ride freaking out and walked off with fire in her eyes, so excited. She was immediately hooked. Immediately she wanted to get back on, so we did. After the second time, I was in a bad place. There was one roller coaster left, but I had to sit down. Liz and Erica gave me about 37 nanoseconds to rest before dragging me to the Dueling Dragons, which wasn’t as extreme as The Hulk but it was pretty close. It was the last coaster of the park, and our goal was to do them all. Of course, I couldn’t back out. We transversed the line, and I didn’t feel too well. We got up there and the ride rocked! Of course I jumped off the ride and got sick all over the wall. Almonds. Yuck.

After that I felt better, but I realized it was now after 2pm and I hadn’t had a meal. I got a goal to eat at every Bubba Gump in the universe, and guess where one was? Across the park. Liz and Erica had never been there so that was pretty cool. After we ate, I felt better so we headed over to Universal Studios to ride a few more rides over there. I agreed to go even though I wasn’t feeling perfect.

Universal’s great and has a ton of movie things. The Terminator show was really cool, but by now I was totally worn out. We hit a couple other things and then rode The Mummy, which was really fun. By then the park was closing so we took off. Registration was almost closed so it was time to walk a mile back to the hotel.