To the North: Arizona's Apache and Navajo Counties

When we lived in Scotland, my travels took me around the country, but now that we live in the U.S. again, and I work for a State agency, my travels take me mostly to different parts of Arizona.  Although it's not as glamorous-sounding as going to Edinburgh or London for work, going to Northern Arizona is definitely a different experience.

Last week I traveled to visit Apache and Navajo Counties - my route took me up through the White Mountains to see Whiteriver and Fort Apache on the White Mountain Apache tribal lands, then up to Holbrook, Chinle on the Navajo Nation, over to St. Johns and finally to Eagar/Springerville before heading back down south.

My route from Tucson up and around through Navajo and Apache counties

So what was I doing? Well, in Whiteriver I was just looking around, trying not to stick out like a sore thumb with my pale (ish...not so pale as it was in Scotland) skin and my University of Arizona car.  I stopped at the gateway to the White Mountain Apache tribal lands: Salt River Canyon- beautiful area, and the only rest area for miles.

My colleague and I stayed in Holbrook, whose claim to fame is proximity to the Petrified Forest National Park, and of course many places where you can buy petrified wood in all shapes and sizes:

Since petrified wood is from dinosaur times, there's a not-so-subliminal theme going on among the local shops:

Holbrook is also on Route 66, something it's hard to forget when the central square sports this sign painted on a rock.

Because of its proximity to the Navajo Nation, another unique feature of Holbrook is that it has a kids tribal dance group that performs for free each summer weeknight. The biggest dancers are probably in their early teens, with the youngest ones barely able to toddle around the arena. The boy pictured below was maybe 9 or 10 and performed the Hoop Dance; it was very impressive.

Here is one of the tiniest dancers, a little boy whose dad is heping him to do the Grass Dance:

From Holbrook we drove onto the Navajo Nation up to Chinle (2 hours away and 1 hour earlier, because the Navajo Nation observes Daylight Savings time, while the rest of Arizona does not). It's pretty up there - and sparsely populated.

In Chinle we found some items in the grocery store that showed us we were in a rural agricultural area - horse pellets and salt licks - and then we went on to the Summer Meals SNAP-Ed event, which was why we were there.

After Chinle it was back to Holbrook for meetings and visiting sites (mainly SNAP-Ed supported gardens), then over to Apache County (St. Johns and Springerville/Eagar) the next day to see more gardens and also more Summer Food activities.

When I woke up in Holbrook and went outside on my way to St. Johns, this was the scene, thanks to the Cedar Creek wildfire, burning near Show Low, 47 miles away. I could smell the wood smoke from the hotel parking lot:

I had the honor of seeing the best garden in St. Johns (the county seat of Apache county, population about 3,500) - lovingly planted and tended at the Apache County Cooperative Extension. Becuase it's colder in Northern Arizona the growing season starts later, but they made their own greenhouses and nurtured tomatoes and other plants so they were thriving in June instead of just getting started. They even had broccoli ready to pick! They told me people were pulling over to the side of the road to ask them how they grew such lovely plants.

On my way back to Tucson, I decided not to drive back toward the fire (which by this time had grown from 1,000 to 8,000 acres, had shut part of the highway, and had Show Low under a pre-evacuation threat) so I added some time and went through Alpine, AZ (complete with an Alpine lake) and down through New Mexico.  I didn't take any pictures, mainly because there was nowhere to stop and pull over...just winding mountain roads snaking through trees and more trees, with the occasional town flashing by.

Thanks for reading all the way to the end, and now you

1) Know a little bit about what a SNAP-Ed evaluator does in Arizona.

and

2) Have seen some of Arizona that's off the beaten path, that you might not see unless you are getting your kicks on Route 66.

Happy Trails!

Update: Six months in Scotland

The end of March marked our six-month anniversary here in Scotland.  There wasn't a lot of fanfare - the biggest thing that was happening the week of 24th March was that we were preparing for my parents  and sister's visit, which started on Sunday the 30th for us in Dundee. A bit more on that later. For now, the update, with some pictures below.

I am reminded of the interviews I conducted with young adults about their online life; they emphasized that what made it online from their lives was the fun, social, traveling-new-places part. Work (or school) was generally not photo-documented or posted about.  My life is the same. I spend most of my week working, yet I have no pictures of it, except for this one of Audrey sitting at my desk, with dad behind her. And I didn't even take the picture (thanks mom). I guess I have a few photos from quarterly meetings, where we travel to our partner universities, in Surrey and Nottingham - but again, I spent most of my time at work! I enjoy my work, I like my boss a lot, it's a fun project, and it keeps me busy.  In my "spare time" when I'm not working I'm taking care of the kids, doing what I did in Rhode Island - exploring the place - except without a car this time. We do have one, but my manual transmission skills are poor and enthusiasm for driving on the wrong side of the road practically nil...so no car, just walking, the bus, occasionally the train.  Good thing the UK has a good public transit system! I also joined a women's singing group almost as soon as we arrived - we were still staying in the bed and breakfast, we hadn't even found our rental house yet when I went to the first rehearsal.  That has been great - all singing by ear, no music, 40 or more ladies ranging in age from 28 to 88 - very opposite to every choir I've ever been in, but lots of fun.

Audrey at my desk in the Art College

Paul is settling in, though the transition has been harder for him. If we had arrived in July instead of practically October, things would have been a bit easier for him and for Audrey - we would have been here for the start of school instead of 8 weeks in, there might have been more people playing at the parks in the summer than there were in October - more people to meet.  But, Audrey did get into school (and catch up with the phonics she had missed in the 1st 8 weeks), Paul did find playgroups to keep him and Claire busy, and has even found a yoga class that morphs into a night out at the pub every Wednesday.  That group even took him skiing - when friends ask Paul what he's doing in Scotland and he says "Drinking and Skiing" they're a little shocked...but he's fitting into the culture :-)

Six months in, we have done a bit of touring around - we went to St. Andrews (castle, cathedral, the cafe where Kate met Will), to Edinburgh around Christmas to enjoy the "Edinburgh Christmas" fair, and to Stirling and London when my parents and Sarah visited. We're starting our hit list - the Scottish Highlands and Islands, Stonehenge or some other less well known stone circle, Dublin, Istanbul, maybe Spain (or somewhere with a warm beach).  And of course Naples for when Margaret and her family get there later this year. We'll see how many we can make happen!

We don't know for sure what will happen at the end of my 2-year contract.  My boss has already offered to write me into future grants this autumn, but we're not sure we want to stay beyond the 2 years.  Some things are great (see my previous post on three things Scotland does right) but it's far from family, and we're not sure we want to raise Scottish kids.  Both Audrey and Claire are already picking up British words (and spelling for Audrey).  Audrey's learned the British monetary system as she's learned to add and subtract, and Claire told her sister the other day that she couldn't come play because she was "on holiday."  So far the lobbying from Paul and Audrey seems to be pointing back to Rhode Island, but it's still early days yet. 

I've pasted pictures below with captions that move from our earliest days to the most recent - some you may have seen on Facebook, but probably not all...enjoy!

 

At the Parlour cafe our first week in Dundee	Starting school after a month of back and forth with the city council
Magdalen Green, near our house, and yes, traditional, still functional British phone booth	With A in Edinburgh, before ice-skating
Paul with girls by the sea in St. Andrews	Girls with Gingy in front of Edinburgh Castle
Beautify sunset, looking toward the Tay Rail bridge near our house	Visit from cousins Tim & Julia, passing through Scotland in January
Happy New Year photo	Funny "haggis" cookies at the local baker, for Burns Night in January
Playing on Magdalen Green on a warm(er) winter day	A with her Healthy Roundabout badge for Rainbows
Yes, the weather was that bad: family visits Scotland, and it rains (near Broughty Ferry beach)	Stirling Castle: more bad weather, but a cool location!
Orzechs on the beach, St. Andrews	C climbing the abbey walls in St. Andrews - literally.
Amusing Papa and Nana on the train to London	Sports in the park: race to the center of the flowers
The British Museum: drawing, of course.	Big Ben Selfie for C and Papa
Copycat Big Ben Selfie for A and Kay	Paul and half of Tower Bridge ( the other half looks just the same, anyway)
Singing "Let it Go" (the Elsa Song) in front of Kings Cross Station	A's photo of us before we got on the train to Dundee, leaving Papa and Nana on their own in London

UK work visa: a couple of answers

St. Andrews Cathedral, Scotland

As we settle in her and begin to explore, there are many things I'd like to blog about. However, I think I'm going to start with a brief post about the thing I searched for when I first found out we would be moving to the UK, which was...VISAS. Getting a visa from the UK government was not exactly a transparent process. It worked out fine at the end, but the things I wish I'd known are the following:

1. Yes, your visa might take up to 12 weeks to be issued and the "average" visa processing time might be 4 weeks. BUT it could happen much faster. Like approved for all four of us, 2 adults and 2 children, in 5 business days. 
2. Related to that, if you are going on a limited-time work visa, you are allowed to be the UK for 4 weeks around your start/end dates. On your visa application, you have to specify the date you will travel.  Of course, they tell you NOT to book your plane tickets until you have the visa, so it's really just a guess of how long it'll take to process the visa application. Given our experience of getting visas almost immediately, and then being unable to travel for 3 weeks until the visa was valid, I recommend assuming the best and asking for a travel date (aka visa start date) that you would like - like 2 weeks in advance of your work start date - even if it doesn't seem feasible that the visa will come through that fast. You may be surprised.
3. Also, after you put in your visa application, you have to make an appointment to have biometric data taken  - despite having to make appointments on two different days, the biometric folks were able to accommodate us and take our information all on the same day so we could submit our visa applications together. It never hurts to ask. 

Good luck!