Meyer family picture

Vacation pics 5: more South Dakota and Michigan

You can't drive through South Dakota and not stop at the world's only corn palace!


After going through Minnesota and Wisconsin we drove north through Michigan's upper peninsula so we could spend a day at Mackinac Island. My aunt Jane's family goes there for vacation just about every year and I always used to make fun of her for being unoriginal, but... it really is a beautiful place! This is the porch of the Grand Hotel on the island.


Cars aren't allowed on the island, so we rented a tandem and rode around looking at the Victorian houses and gardens.


Leaving Mackinac. We continued on the next day down through Michigan, stopped and spent about an hour and $100 at the Eerdmanns book publisher bookstore in Grand Rapids, and then arrived at the beach in southwestern Michigan where we spent a few days with my family. We're in Wheaton visiting my dad and sister and her husband and son this week, and will move on to Dayton next week.

Vacation pics 4: more Wyoming and South Dakota

One of several bison-induced traffic jams we endured.

Devil's Tower National Monument in eastern Wyoming.


Crazy Horse monument in South Dakota. Quite a bit of progress was made on this since I last visited on family vacation about twenty years ago. We also saw Mt. Rushmore, but it was packed (we arrived the same time as about 50,000 Harley-riders who were there for the annual Sturgis bike rally), so we just did a drive-by.


Wall Drug. They make a mean buffalo burger, and you can't beat their price on ice water. And I got a free donut for being a veteran :-)


We also did a drive-by at Badlands National Park. And isn't my wife cute?!?

Vacation pics 3: more Wyoming

We had lunch one day by a nice little creek near Grand Teton.


One of the coolest parts of the trip - we went on a hike at Grand Teton that circled three little ponds and saw this huge moose (not so huge unless you click on the picture and see a bigger view! (and it looked bigger in person!)).


Old Faithful.


One of the many crystal-clear hot springs at Yellowstone.

A Yellowstone geyser.

Vacation pics 2: more Utah, Idaho & Wyoming

After spending an afternoon touring (and be proselytized to) at Temple Square in Salt Lake City, we drove out to Promontory Point, just north of the Salt Lake, where the last spike in the federally-funded transcontinental railroad was laid. Then we followed a dirt trail a few miles to the edge of the lake and this "spiral jetty," which we later learned is a work of art.


Bear Lake in Idaho.


A nice cold stream in western Wyoming.


An old settlers' homestead at Grand Teton National Park.


Grand Teton.

Vacation pics 1: Maryland through Utah

Vashti and I left Maryland at the end of June and will have driven over 7,000 miles and collected about 25 refrigerator magnets by the time we arrive in Ohio next week. After a week with her family in Birmingham and then three in Albuquerque for a class, we took off on our first "family vacation." Here are some pics.


Petrified Forest National Park - this is a petrified tree that spans a ravine. (Tip: if you take a trip like this, we highly advise buying a National Park pass for $80... each park charges up to $25 apiece for entrance these days, so our pass saved us about $100.)


Grand Canyon National Park.


Camping outside of Grand Canyon National Park. I didn't force this on my 6-month-pregnant wife - she wanted to camp! We camped about half the time and found hotels the rest.


Zion National Park.


Bryce Canyon National Park.

Finally blogging... and making a name for ourselves

So... we've finally given in to the pressure and started a Meyer family blog. With a vacation just completed and a baby on the way we have to have a way of at least posting pictures.

The first challenge was coming up with a name. "From Meyery Depths" won out over "Admeyering Each Other" (I stole that from my dad, whose name is Ed - while he and my mom were dating he signed a letter to her "your EdMeyerer"). A little more difficult was choosing the requisite theme verse - there are just so many good possibilities. Ultimately we chose Psalm 69:14:

"Rescue me from the Meyer, do not let me sink; deliver me from those who hate me, from the deep waters."

There was some tough competition from a few others, though. For
example:

"Let burning coals fall upon them! Let them be cast into fire, into Meyery pits, no more to rise!" Psalm 140:10

"Against a godless nation I send him, and against the people of my wrath I command him, to take spoil and seize plunder, and to tread them down like the Meyer of the streets." Isaiah 10:6

And while we realize that paragraph headings from modern translations aren't inspired, we couldn't help considering Song of Solomon 4:1:

"[Solomon Admeyers His Bride’s Beauty] Behold, you are beautiful, my love, behold, you are beautiful! Your eyes are doves behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats leaping down the slopes of Gilead."

Most of the biblical Meyers are in the Old Testament, and even though we believe in covenant theology and thus affirm that the Gospel is found in all of Scripture, it's still nice to be able to claim a New Testament reference:

"What the true proverb says has happened to them: 'The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the Meyer.'" 2 Peter 2:22

But our favorite, that we didn't quite feel comfortable using, is:

"His underparts are like sharp potsherds; he spreads himself like a threshing sledge on the Meyer." Job 41:30

So there it is. Enjoy.