Day Twelve: Antelope Canyon to Monument Valley

Lower Antelope Canyon

Horseshoe Bend.

Navajo National Monument sweat lodge.

Monument Valley.

Day Eleven: Grand Canyon Morning

Day Ten: Grand Canyon Afternoon and Evening

Day Nine: Las Vegas

Banana, strawberry, and passionfruit.

Day Eight: Santa Monica

Day Seven: Getty and Homemade Ice Cream

After an afternoon at the Getty Museum and dinner at P. F. Chang's, Emilio had homemade M&M and pina colada ice cream at Scoops in Eagle Rock.

Day Six: The LACMA

This exhibit is called: "In the Fields of Empty Days: The Intersection of Past and Present in Iranian Art."

Day Five: Disneyland

Disneyland Day was the highlight of our vacation for Emilio, and the highlight of Disneyland day for him was the roller coasters he and I rode with Sam and Morgan while Jennifer, Mari, Nina and Pablo were in Disney's California Adventure Park watching a live musical production of "Frozen." Matterhorn Bobsleds.


The Finding Nemo Submarine Ride was somewhat too tame for Emi's tastes.
Space Mountain was his #1 favorite. Thanks, Morgan for riding with us and for buying this pic!

Day Four: The Beach

The water was cold.

But not too cold for Emilio.

Day Three: Saguaro National Park

Day Two: Carlsbad Caverns and Guadalupe Peak

In Carlsbad Caverns, 1000 feet below the ground. That's 92 stories.

At 8,750 feet, Guadalupe Peak, in the background, is the highest peak in Texas. That's 808 stories.

Day One: Texas Roots

On the first day of our summer vacation, we visited Anson, Texas, where Emilio's great grandmother Ida Gustella Ferrell was born on September 15, 1905. His great, great-grandfather, N. G. Ferrell was sheriff there from January 1, 1909 to July 12, 1910.

Behind Emilio in the photo above is the Jones County Courthouse, which was built in 1910, when N. G. Ferrell was sheriff of Anson.

We didn't see anybody in downtown Anson. It was hot.

The abandoned Anson Opera House, built in 1909, held 650 people.

After we left Anson, we headed to Odessa, where I lived in 1982 and 1983.

My junior year, I played cornerback and special teams on a 12-2 Permian varsity in 1983. Both of those losses were to Midland Lee, which went on to play in the state championship--which it lost by 4 points to Converse Judson, 21-25. Twenty-thousand people attended our last game that season. The previous season, when I was a sophomore. I started at cornerback on an undefeated junior varsity team and was called up to the varsity for the playoffs.  For our last game of the year that year, we flew in charter planes to Dallas, where we played at Texas Stadium. I was slated to start at cornerback on the 1984 team that went undefeated and won the state championship, and the coaches listed me as "player to watch" in Dave Campbell's Texas Football.