excited! that is my growing feeling as we approach the end of our time in skykomish. we have had a wonderful time with wonderfuland learned much teaching people galatians & hebrews. but are excited abt. getting back to our home in Pend. we willl be there 3/16-18 to take back a load of stuff and to sign tax forms. had a fellow from the Lutheran church do it this year. also to pickup my $10 gary fisher bike (found it at a community parking lot sale (~:] ) from the defunct bike shop. had the guy do an annual on it - grease all bearings; replace brake & gear wiring; and tune up shifting. i usually do stuff like that myself but wanted to get to riding asap. back to skykomish for wed. nite bible study. that will leave us 2 sundays and one more wed. nite. our last day is 3/29. suzy is buzy ordering seeds for the garden - exciting! looking fwd to a relaxing summer. plan to see all of you sometime this year. DAD

elders on track

hah! finally figured it out. but suzy has dinner on so will leave. also monarch of glen disk 3 to finish to send back to netflix. i'm so cheap i hurry to send back to get monies worth. love you lyons.
ps: will next attempt to send photos. 2"new snow today. elderelder

Think Spring!

Hello Lyons...let's get going on the blog! Where is everyone? We're not looking to hear about your exotic lifestyles--we want to know what you're up to! Here's what we've been up to:


The eagles are out all around the Yakima River canyon. We've tried to get out on weekends at least one day hiking and checking out the wildlife. 2 weeks ago we headed south to the sun and warmth along Hwy 12 to Oak Creek Wildlife Center where there is a elk feeding station. I'd never seen so many elk in one spot! Then we headed down the road and took an awesome hike up into the hills. It has been so dreary and grey around Ellensburg that we just had to get to sunshine...amazing what Vitamin D can do for the soul! Thank God for the sun...this is the time of year I am so appreciative of spring. We miss you guys!

Yunnan Continued: Shangri la and the Tiger Leaping Gorge

Having descended from the mountains in a somewhat more graceful manner than the original ascent, we found ourselves in the fabled Shangri la. 5 kilometers out of town is the largest monastery in the region. I think that they said that around 3,000 monks live here!

From Shangri la we took a bus (from this point forth you may assume that nearly all travel took some form of common transportation expect when we renting bikes for the day in Lijiang) to the beginning of the Leaping Tiger Gorge trek. I would encourage you to look it up. It is a two-day (for most people) hike that involves sleeping in a mountain hostel over night) I was a little spooked I must say. In the end no one died and the worst thing that happened was that I got a very nasty sunburn and the shakes from such an intense work out.

We then proceeded on to Lijiang and Dali.

China August 2008: Yunnan Provence

And I bet that you were expecting something that had to do with France...

I don't yet fully understand how to best create a montage of pictures but I'll give it a go. These are from my trip to China this last August. We traveled to a new place nearly every day for two weeks!

Counting down the days until the big trip with purple post-its on my bathroom wall.




Sign at the airport. I had to look up "halberd".

Enjoying bubble tea in touristy area of downtown Shanghai. That might be a lion.




More Shanghai...

From Shanghai we flew to the south of the country and the adventure really began. We too a series of flights to get as close to Tibet as possible (it was closed to foriegner during the Olymipc Games which is exactly when I arrived). Upon arrival in Shangri-la we took an 8 hour + bus ride over a 4,000 meter pass, once we actually found the bus that is. As for the bus ride, my oh my, that was an experience to be sure. Just try to imagine Tibetan kareoke, eating running food or peanuts out of a plastic bag with chopsticks, what seemed to be public spitting (accompanied but guteral hocking) contests with the horn blaring as we swung around perilous corners on a one-way dirt road to avoid head-on collision with the mining trucks. It was great. Oh, and the windows were all wide open dousing a poor little, ill prepared tourist that had just left a scorching Shanghai at 34 C. We did not whimper. It was summer in the mountains after all and one must think of the people who live there; they have the right to enjoy summer temperatures to the fullest (even if the high is only ever 9 C). It was a great ride! We did, however, find a taxi that was over joyed to take us back for only 40 euros and in half the time. We climbed a mountain and came down a hill (or so it seemed).

We met a guide in the small village of Fe lei si (sp), last frontier town, who took us too a traditional Tibetan home (three floors: basement for animals, ground floor for people, roof for storage; walls all hand-painted) where we partook in yak butter tea, dry whole wheat flour, small green apples and rice wine that wasn't too smooth going down.

Alabama or Bust!! Part I: Oregon and California

We're launching the blog with some photos from our 13 day odyssey from the Northwest to the deep South. Virtually the entire trip was new ground for us so every day was a surprise! Although this has turned out to be quite the lengthy post, these really are some selected highlights:

The amazing southern Oregon Coast...Wow!!

And then we were off to the Redwoods, where we just couldn't stop taking pictures of the trees! Are there trees like this anywhere else on this planet??

We camped in an amazing spot in Redwoods National Park where we could actually see the ocean from our campsite. This is a photo of the view as we're walking into the campsite:




And this is a view from the beach

We stayed for two nights at a small winery in Napa Valley called Milat Vineyards...this was the view from our apartment:






And then on to Yosemite for a few nights....David looking at El Capitan and Half Dome on another glorious day.












And then David looking at Half Dome from our lunch spot.










Next was the remarkable Joshua Tree National Park. We took ALOT of photos...the geology and cacti were fascinating...

Alabama or Bust!! Part II: the South (west and east)

California was a hard act to follow and the rest of the trip went much faster....some highlights:

Apache Junction, just outside of Phoenix Arizona. These are the Superstition Mountains which we would really like to come back and visit when we have more time. Notice the Saguaro cactus?? They're everywhere!!













And then the Salt River Canyon in Arizona, they call it the Mini Grand Canyon

















New Mexico....it looked just like Eastern Oregon to us....except it was at 7000 ft. elevation!
















These are remnants of a Spanish mission which was part of a 16th century pueblo called Abo in what is now central New Mexico.


































A bed and breakfast we stayed at in Wheeler, TX. The owner renovated the old drugstore/soda fountain on Main street. Very cool place and we had it all to ourselves! When I called to tell them we'd be in a little late, she said "We just left the key under the doormat, so just let yourself in and lock the door behind you...you'll be the only ones there". We were free to poke around and examine the antiques and old photos. :) The ceiling was tin!






And then driving through Oklahoma and Arkansas, we hit a fantastic, white-knuckles-on-steering-wheel ICE STORM!! It was very exciting...anyway, this is what our truck looked like in Margaret and Jerry's driveway in NW Arkansas. It was SO nice to seem them again, but, unfortunately, we never got a picture.








And finally....our Home for the next three months!!!!! We unpacked our truck into our hotel room which was a bit of a challenge but definitely doable. Our address is:

David/Wendi Lyons
Holiday Inn Express
Rm. 203
4090 Ross Clark Circle
Dothan, AL 36303

or P.O. Box 8832
Dothan, AL 36304