Hi everybody. This is my last post about my trip to Hawaii. Today, I want to talk about some of the fun activities that we did.  It was a good mix of things. The first fun thing was my favorite one, and that was just to spend most of a day at the beach. I really enjoyed swimming in the ocean, and it was fun doing it with Ben and Becky. I’ve talked about this before, but the rhythm of the ocean waves is soothing to me. I feel more comfortable in the water than I used to, so I really enjoyed just being out there.  We swam some over…

Aloha everyone. This is my third post about my trip to Hawaii last month. In this post, I want to talk about just what I thought about the island that we visited, Oahu.  I live in the mountainous state of Colorado. I love the cool, dry air and all the fun things there are to do in the mountains, but if I had a second choice, it would be on a beach. It was kind of rainy when we were in Hawaii, so it wasn’t exactly a lot of “fun in the sun,” but I still loved the 70-degree weather and the mild humidity. Being outside is my favorite thing,…

Hello everyone. I am back home from my trip to Hawaii and have been thinking about how I can describe my great experience.   I have decided that I will divide it up into themes: the people, the place, and the activities. Today’s post will be about the people that made my trip wonderful.   First, a shout out to my own family. Of course, I have to thank my mom and dad for making it happen and for giving us the chance to go together. It was fun to spend a week with my brother, Ben, and his wife, Becky. It was really the first chance to hang out with them…

Aloha everyone, Today I am feeling lucky because I’m writing this from Hawaii.  I have wanted to come here for a while, and we were able to make it happen this spring. So many cool things to write about, but today’s topic is about the Hawaiian word “aloha.” It has multiple meanings including “hello,” “goodbye,” and “I love you.” “I love you” as a greeting and a send-off is super cool. I wish that we mainlanders would adopt a similar culture. From what I have seen and experienced here so far, it isn’t just something to put on a tee shirt but is truly how the wonderful people here live.…

Originally published June 14, 2017, on Jepsonfiles.com This past week, my mom and dad treated me to an awesome adventure. It was a gift for graduating from high school. I wanted to go somewhere in a foreign country and somewhere by the ocean so we decided on Costa Rica. My dad had heard that it was a cool place and not as touristy as some places like Mexico. So, we got our passports updated and made our plans. The plane rides were kind of painful because we had long layovers getting down there and the seats were uncomfortable. But, we made it without any issues. As we got there, we…

Originally published July 18, 2016, on Jepsonfiles.com A long time ago, my ancestors on the Jepson side moved to a place that was out in the desert of Southern Utah.  I am not sure how they survived the heat and the lack of water but somehow, they turned an arid place into a town that they called Hurricane.  I guess that it was windy there and it felt like they were going to blow away.  My great, great, great grandpa James was instrumental in digging a canal that brought water from the Virgin River to the town of Hurricane.  It took several years to complete and most of the people…

Originally published July 18, 2016, on Jepsonfiles.com My family and I went on a trip to Southern Utah last week.  On the way back, we went to Mesa Verde in southern Colorado.  It was amazing.  It has an incredible collection of the ruins of the Pueblo and Anasazi Indians from about 600 A.D. to 1200 A.D.  There were various stages of development of houses in the same areas, sometimes built right in the crevices of a cliff.  Can you imagine going out for food and water and having to carry it all back up the cliff?  I was really impressed with their ingenuity and resourcefulness.  The Native Americans have a…

Originally published June 22, 2016 A rough start and a bucket of pinecones. This week, my dad took me on my very first real backpacking trip. We started out after driving to the trailhead on Monday afternoon. My dad was getting the stuff ready in the packs, and I decided that I needed to go gather pinecones in a big bucket that I brought from home. My dad didn’t know where I had gone. He was worried and angry that I had disappeared. He went looking all over down by the river which was raging very hard from the winter snowmelt. He was gone for just a few minutes. My…