Sara has completed two summers as a seasonal interpretive park ranger at Mesa Verde National Park.  Thank you to all of you who visited during that time!

She worked mid-May to Labor Day in both 2006 and 2007.   Her days were spent leading tours of the cliff dwellings and on nature walks, and leading 1/2 day guided bus tours of the Mesa Top Loop to visitors from around the globe.  A special tour she lead was done in character as former Mesa Verde Chief Park Archaeologist Jean M. Pinkley.  Yes, that's Sara in costume and make-up above Spruce Tree House.

She's "Back Home Again in Indiana," but if you're looking for more  information on Mesa Verde go to www.nps.gov/meve

Hey, Ranger!

Here's Sara above Cliff Palace, her favorite site at MEVE.  It is also the largest cliff dwelling in the park.

If you visit Mesa Verde, here are some questions NOT to ask the rangers:
1)  Why did they build their homes so far from the road?
2) How many sites haven't you found yet?
3) Why did they build only ruins?

On June 29, 2006, Mesa Verde celebrated it's 100th birthday.  Special guests included Fran P. Mainella, Director of the National Park Service.  Shortly after attending the celebration, Ms. Mainella announced her resignation.  She has been replaced by Mary Bomar.

Kevin Trinkle gets the award for visiting Sara more times than anyone during her summers at MEVE.  He logged three visits to the park over two seasons.  Here are Kevin and Sara at the Far View Community.

Normally, Sara does not work outside the home.  There's plenty of work to be done inside the home!  She takes care of all lawn care, gardening, and home maintenance, which includes chopping down the occasional dead tree-without a chainsaw. 

When she's not getting poison ivy (had it in 2007 for the fourth year in a row) or working on her Honey-Do List, she can be found keeping bees, reading, knitting, gardening, playing the ukulele, cooking, and making jewelry and soaps.  She volunteers at Mississippi National River and Recreation Area in St. Paul, MN where she assists in the Visitor Center and often wears the costume of the Park's mascot, Freddie the Flathead Catfish.  She also supports Dan's work with the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA).

Sara has been keeping bees for five years.  If you'd like to see more photos, click on the Flying Bee Honey link above.

She welcomes all visitors to the apiary.  If you're interested, all you have to do is say so.  She'll happily take you out to the hive to visit the girls.  The best part?  You'll probably be rewarded with a taste of fresh honey!

In October 2007 Sara completed her term as a Director for the Indiana State Beekeepers Association (ISBA).  Click on the link to see their website.

She is also a member of the Indiana Beekeepers' Association (IBA).

Natalie came to visit in August of 2005 and Sara took her out to see the bees!

Natalie's favorite part of the inspection was holding frames of bees and seeing eggs, larvae, pupae and bees all over.

Beekeeping is fun for all ages!

When Dan & Sara were in Bangkok in January 2005, Sara and her friend Margie Ehrlichmann (now Rippey) took a Thai cooking class.  They had a wonderful time and learned how to make four dishes.  Sara is ready to go back any time and learn how to make more.  Thai food is the best in the world!

Sara and Margie attended the Baipai Thai Cooking School.  Here they are smashing hot peppers with a mortar and pestle for their soup: Tom Yum Goong.

We attended the Baipai Thai cooking school and really had a great time.  It was a half-day class.  Before the class we went to a local market (outdoor) and bought ingredients for the day's assignments.

Back at the school we made four dishes--an appetizer, a soup, an entree, and a dessert.

Another successful graduate of the class.  Sara had so much fun in the class.  With only eight students, there was plenty of personal attention.  Not hard to tell who was the teacher's pet, is it?

The staff were most impressed with Sara's hot pepper tolerance.  She had not three, not five, but seven hot peppers in her Tom Yum Goong soup...and it still could have been hotter!  Sara's Scandinavian heritage really flushes easily and the ladies all thought she was on fire!

As we prepared each dish we went to the picnic table to enjoy it.  All except for our entree, cashew chicken.  For that we took it upstairs where we sat together and enjoyed it with a cold beer.  Following our entree was dessert: sticky rice with mango!

Sara took up knitting in November 2003.  It is something she can easily do while on an airplane.  No, the TSA won't take your knitting needles away (unless you confess you're knitting an Afghan, I suppose). 

Since starting with simple scarves, Sara has now added hats, wine bottle covers, throws, and bags.

Here's Natalie modeling Sara's first attempt at a felted wool bag.  Natalie liked it so much it went home with her!  It's a great bag to carry all she needed for her flight.

Sara loves spending time outdoors and took Jeremy fishing at her mom and dad's lake home in July 2005. 

Together they caught more than 18 fish in 24 hours.  They participated in catch and release so no fish were killed in the making of this photograph.  Unfortunately that also means no fish were eaten after the photograph was taken!


Early to bed, early to rise, fish all day and make up lies.

Dan, Jeremy and Sara at Airliners International 2005 in Milwaukee, WI. 

Airliners is an annual convention for "airline geeks" as we're called.  AI2008 will be July 10-12, 2008, in Dallas.  Hope to see you there!

Going in costume is fun!  Here's Dan in his Delta Ramp Service shirt, Sara's wearing a United Customer Service Representative shirt, & Jeremy's showing off Dan's old 1986 United Ramp Service uniform.

In July 2008 we visited Page, Arizona for a few days of vacation.  We love the Southwest and all of the wonders that await.  One of the trip highlights was exploring Lower Antelope Canyon.  It's a Navajo Tribal Park located just outside Page.  Chances are you've already seen fantastic photos like this, but just weren't sure where they were taken.

On the Page trip we realized a dream:  hiking to The Wave!  It's located on BLM land and you must cross the barbed wire state line between Utah to Arizona to get there.  This is one of the most fascinating geologic features we have ever seen.  The hike is three miles each way on an unmarked trail.  Permits are required and limited to 20 per day.  If you can get a permit, it's really worth it--even in July!