A Good Family Trip

Ken Burns's documentary of Lewis and Clark's search for the Northwest Passage is showing on PBS, but it makes me so sad, I can't watch it. I've read Stephen Ambrose's book, Undaunted Courage, on the same subject, and just the words "Meriwether Lewis" sharply recall scenes from the book, which I can almost see. Lewis apparently inherited some of that clan's mental anomalies; otherwise, his personality and intellect should have enabled him to be a great statesman or explorer.

One fact I remember from Ambrose's book, was that of all Lewis and Clark's crew and the thousands of miles they travelled in unknown country, they lost only one man, someone who died early in the voyage of natural causes. Another "interesting" observation was that every man in the group received monetary rewards when they arrived home, except Clark's black slave York, who was a great help on the expedition but received nothing as a reward. At least he was freed later on, I think it was when Clark died, but I'm not sure.

Our weekend trip to Cullman, Ave Maria Grotto at St. Bernard's Abbey, was wonderful, if a bit exhausting for some of us. The path wound through the park, at first steeply downhill, and then on wandering paths, always on the rise. Ramey, India, Kylie, Reed, Jed and I all enjoyed it very much. This is my favorite photo of Jed on the trail:

Jed got some good shots of me, as well as the shrines and other buildings created by the monk Brother Joseph, but for some reason I can't print individual pictures from his collection. But here's a link to his photos: https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOnjqLkdFaqVIY1yP9Ba5KF98cFEpJTgTJO1yYk1-LWNaMESWqtT04IaFc9iglzrA?key=QlVLZmx0MEtlUGVTMkNKUlR0eHFZRHQ3QXZ0by1B

 

This was a beautiful blooming bush along the way. I thought it was some kind of hydrangea, but it may be a "snowball bush."

There's a most interesting series showing on the AMC TV channel, "The Night Manager." The fourth episode airs tomorrow night (Tuesday, May 10).

Well! I did figure out how to print a shot from Jed's Saturday pictures--very typical of me. I think I sat and rested on every bench along the way.