Just Vote "NO"

This is an unpaid political announcement. There, you've been warned. Vouchers suck. Plain and simple, guys. If the proponents really wanted to do as they say and provide private education for poor families, they would do it in a different way. This is all about making the rich richer. Parents in schools like mine can't afford to send their children to a private school and most wouldn't know how to go about it even if they had the extra cash beyond what the vouchers fund. I don't want my tax dollars used to pay for that. And I've had a child in private school. I understand the sacrifices a parent has to make to send one there. I also understand that it is my responsibility as a member of society to provide for the education of all the citizens, not just for my own children. Sometimes that's not enjoyable, particularly when one sees people with eight or ten children, or children who constantly test the limits of the system, abusing the money spent in their behalf. But it is our civic responsibility to provide a "free, public education" and even when we have no children of our own, we must honor that responsibility. The price of ignorance is very high. Just vote NO on vouchers. They will not give parents more choice than they already have. They will likely raise your taxes and pay for schools you wouldn't want to see educate any child.

Whether you agree with me or not, please vote. Another civic responsibility...

Ridin' The Rails

Mike and I took a long weekend and rode the train to Denver. We had to get up at "0 dark 30" as Mike calls it. The train was scheduled to leave the station in Salt Lake at 4:45 am. Waaaaaay too early for me. I thought I would make it up by sleeping some of the time. But it was so beautiful I spent my time looking out the window in awe of the landscape. It helped that I had my camera along. I am my brother's sister in that respect. I love to take landscape photos. I'm not nearly as talented as Denny was, but I understand the draw. Some of them even came out pretty good.

The trip was glorious. Even with the dry summer the leaves were beautiful, the Colorado River was sufficiently wild, and our fellow passengers were interesting. We've been meaning to take this trip for several years now and the time never seemed right. Finally I decided I wasn't getting any younger and we'd better do it while we still could. We spent Saturday and most of Sunday in Denver. I hadn't really visited there before. We took the kids to the mint several years back, but didn't see any more of the city. And aunt Mary drove the family to Denver the year Denny was born. I was barely three. I do remember some of that trip. We went to a public garden (now an amusement park) where everyone else in our group commented on how lovely the flowers were. I couldn't see them because there were hedges around the beds about 2 feet high. Well, being three, I was about 2 feet high myself. We went to Santa Claus land and I watched my sister chase after the reindeer. We stayed in a little roadside motel where my sis and I walked into the wrong room. (Even then she wouldn't listen to me!) My favorite memory is of the little plastic chicken toy my aunt gave us. You pressed it down and it layed an egg! Cool.

I recommend train travel, even if you have to get up too gosh darned early. The pace is more relaxed, and you sure get better photos from the train windows than I ever got from a plane!