In the Mountains

Dad, roasting in the sun.

Piper is inbetween hat sizes.

View of the mountains in Greer.

A quilt shop I'm sure Granny would appreciate.

Our first full day in the mountains (yes, there is more than a desert in Arizona) was Saturday, June 7th. After Piper's morning nap we thought lunch sounded nice. There were several weekend happenings taking place in the area, so we decided we would check out "Greer Days." Our family has a little history with Greer. My parents spent their honeymoon there in 1975 and when Jessie and I were little we went camping nearby--a trip which resulted in the bear story I'm sure I've told many people about.

We drove through town, which didn't take long, and saw that the entertainment wasn't as exciting as we'd hoped, so we went to a little restaurant. We sat out on the patio, got Piper a high chair, and enjoyed the sun for a while. After about half an hour I got to thinking my skin was starting to sting a bit. Had there not been huge gusts of wind I would have put the umbrella up on the table and saved myself the sunburn that I knew was coming. I decided to move Piper so she was in the small column of shade provided by the folded umbrella. After about an hour we finally got our food and I continued to reposition her in the shade to avoid a sunburn. Usually I'm the type of person telling everyone else to use sunscreen and apply it liberally myself if I know I'm going to be in the sun. I felt so trapped under that sun without protection. I was trying to enjoy the beautiful day and in Kansas I might have been alright, but being about 7,000 feet closer to the sun really does make a difference.

So, the food was really good and we might have walked around a bit, but after an hour and a half in the sun we were, well, cooked.