Thoughts on RootsTech

Much has already been written about the RootsTech Conference, which was held last week in Salt Lake City. Randy Seaver has compiled a list of Geneablogger posts in his post RootsTech .. Geneabloggers Review. But I thought I'd add my two cents worth...



I managed to arrive on time for the keynote speakers on Thursday morning in spite of having to remove two inches of heavy, wet snow off of Van Dora and then driving in "rush hour" traffic through the valley. That drive stressed me out so much that I decided to forgo the keynote addresses on Friday and Saturday - knowing too that they were being recorded and would be available for viewing later.



I'm not going to give a run-down of the sessions that I attended but will just say that with 6700+ people in attendance, most rooms were crowded. There were several sessions I wanted to attend but couldn't because the room was already at capacity when I arrived 5-10 minutes before they were due to start!



This year I decided to attend sessions on topics that I knew very little about. For the most part, that strategy worked out well. However, I had a big issue with the descriptions of some of the sessions and the fact that very few were identified as Intermediate level. The bigger issue, however, is that several sessions identified as Intermediate were definitely not. And, the titles of some sessions were misleading.



One session, billed as "using technology to solve research problems," was very disappointing. In my opinion, it was a basic beginners level overview of how to do your genealogy - the only "technology" mentioned was the use of the internet and genealogy software. In fact, the speaker, after polling the audience to determine our research level, stated that she expected more beginners to attend.







Some of the highlights... learning about the Genographic Project, picking up some ideas from Denise Olson on using Powerpoint (or other presentation software) to tell short family stories with pictures (photo above), and learning that Thomas W. Jones utilizes online family trees in his research process.







On that latter point, the Thomas Jones session "Can a Complex Research Problem Be Solved Solely Online?" was worth being stuffed into the smallest room available. The session was unlike any other I attended - an interactive experience with the audience responding to questions regarding resources that might be used and then learning from 'the master' what was actually used. Can you imagine getting an email from Tom Jones inquiring about the sources for your online tree?



Will I attend RootsTech next year? Doubtful. But then, that's what I said last year! I think a better option for me is to watch the sessions that are live-streamed and archived for later viewing. Also, if they follow through on their plans to have 600+ locations holding sessions locally at the same time in conjunction with live-streaming - well, that would be awesome.








The downside of attending virtually, of
course, is that you miss out on the interaction with other attendees
and spending time with friends. But if RootsTech grows in attendance
next year like it did this year, the current venue would be
impossibly crowded...

Mt. Rainier, Ptarmigan Ridge

Tina drove Mark and I around to Mowich Lake and dropped us off. We would have to climb Ptarmigan Ridge and descend the easier Emmons Glacier to get to the other car waiting at the White River Campground. This picture shows the northwest side of Mt. Rainier. Ptarmigan Ridge is on the left.
Moss covered rocks by a small creek.
The "entrance" to Spray Park.
Kids playing on the snow at Spray Park.
Colorful rocks and Indian paintbrush on the lower slopes of Ptarmigan Ridge.
This is what we came to climb! A steep 2,000' face, the icy chute below the buttress and a short rock climb.
Our route is shown in red.
The snow was absolutely perfect. It was firm, but not too hard for crampons or ice axes.
The air was about 40 degrees and calm. There wasn't any rock or ice fall while we were climbing.
Mark swinging his ice tool near the top of the face.
The sun rising near the Stuart Range as seen from 12,000'.
After climbing the face, we had two options. One was to go left and cross below a large ice cliff and get right on the Liberty Cap Glacier. We chose to go right, break out the ice screws and climb the icy chute below the rock buttress.
The ice was also in great shape.
The views looking down on the glaciers and valleys were amazing.
The last obstacle was this exit gully. It was a bit of a challenge to climb rock wearing crampons and carrying a large pack.
Our shadows projected onto the rock as we head towards Liberty Cap.
Climbers moving over the sun and wind sculpted snow at about 13,500'.
Mark checking out a bergschrund near the summit.
Doug and Mark on Liberty Cap.
A black bear at Glacier Basin.
It was a nice change to approach a climb on Mt. Rainier from a new area. It was great to finally make it up Ptarmigan Ridge. This is one climb we will never forget!

Seminole Canyon State Park

After leaving Padre Island, I headed west on Texas Route 44 connecting to U.S 83 west of Encinal. From there it was north to Uvalde, which has a very nice public library with excellent wifi, where I was able to schedule those posts on Padre Island. The next morning it was west on U.S. 90 with Big Bend National Park as the next destination. I was tempted to stop at one of the camping areas in the Amistad National Recreation Area just west of Del Rio but the campgrounds I saw weren't all that appealing so I continued on a little ways to Seminole Canyon State Park near Comstock.

The campground was on the top of a very large hill. The sites were quite nice, with a covered picnic table, which provided some protection from the sun but none whatsoever from the wind!

Arriving at Seminole Canyon in the early evening of February 19th, it was too late in the day to hike the trail to the canyon, a six mile roundtrip, but it wasn't too late to catch a wonderful sunset!

New Years in Hawaii

Joined the Hanks family on Maui just after Christmas to bring in the new year of from a tropical warm paradise. Our adventures took us all over the island from Haleakala to whale watching, a drive through Hana and hanging out with family...don't worry we visited the beach often to wake board and even snorkel.





sunset the night i arrived

Lori and I-my first stop after arriving..the beach

Ariel...you put on a few pounds!

That's going to be fun to clean up

And she clears it with her 2" vertical...AMAZING!

Shaka!

last 4 pics are of Hana-we survived the winedy road w/o spewing

Whale watching

That's not a whale...that's a dolphin!



Can you believe what we just saw?

A Hawaiian tradition...an offering given to the river





husking my first coconut-harvested from Hana

did you know coconuts are the only fruit that does not have a machine to husk it? once (in Kanab) i went on a date with a man who called himself the "Coconut King" he was working on industrializing the husking of coconuts...that was way more work than i bargained for...where was the 'king' when i needed him most?







tried to climb a coconut tree







I must share with my experience on Haleakala and it's significance for me and my family:



As a young girl, in Sandy Utah living just off of 106th, Grandma and Grandpa Patterson came to visit after they returned home from their mission in Hawaii. I learned that grandpa served his first mission in Hawaii as a young man. How the island people must have been so dear to his heart all these years and then to be called there again and able to take is wife and share his love and experiences for/with the people there as well as create their own together. During their visit to our home Grandpa gathered all us kids around him and said, "Anyone who wants ice cream say Haleakala!" A tradition we all looked forward to with enthusiasm and excitement in the years to come. In unison we yelled at the top of our lungs, "Haleakala!" we were driven to Reams grocery store a few miles east of our house on state street. My favorite ice cream at the time was bubble gum and rainbow sherbet. Without exception no matter our age each time we saw Grandpa he would get that look in his eye, gather us around and we would know..."Haleakala!"



For years i believed this was a word Grandpa made up. I thought i was so cool. When i met Lori Hanks and we became close friends she was showing me pictures of her home in Maui Hawaii. one of the pictures was her and a few cousins by wood sign: Haleakala. i asked her about it. She smiled and told me it is a an inactive volcano on Maui. It means "House of the Sun". I shared my stories of Grandpa, Haleakala and ice cream with her. I told her one day I would to go to the mountain, take a carton of ice cream with me to the top and eat it with my Grandpa (who has passed on).



My desire had become reality, i had made it to Hawaii. Early on the second day after my arrival on the island Lori and i ran to the story and bought a half gallon of Roselani Mint ice cream and spoons. Caravaning with three other cars we made our way up the paved switch back road to the top of Haleakala National Park. We walked a short distance up a pathway to the peak of the volcano. I gathered everyone together including a few tourists who were near by and said "Who wants ice cream say Haleakala!" A chorused "Haleakala" was shouted. Spoonfuls of ice cream were shared with everyone. I know my Grandpa was sharing the smiles, laughs and joy we all felt as we ate ice cream together. One last time grandpa and i were able to join in sweet union of love and care and in memory of our relationship over a carton of ice cream.











Thanks for meeting me there Grandpa, it was great!