Multi-Generational Time

You know, there is considerable intrinsic value in spending time with relatives of generations other than yours. The varying perspectives you hear, the memories they share from times before yours, the collective remembering of shared histories; it was a good week.

One of my uncles has never stopped learning and I think he's about 87 or 88 now. In 1995 he was received the National Amateur Paleontologist Award, he amassed countless flora and fauna fossils in a museum he built. It was viewed by many of all generations as part of their learning and appreciation of all that went before. Now he is traveling as his health permits and has begun to paint. He went to Guadalajara, Mexico on an elder hostel tour where he did some painting and is going back to a slightly different area again over the Christmas holiday. I want to be just like him when I grow up.

One of the highlights of this brief trip was two of those generations taking the Rogue River jet boat from downtown Grants Pass upriver to Hellgate Canyon and back. We had people from places as far away as Hawaii, Dallas/Texas, Miami/Florida and L.A. It was great fun and I hope to get back down there for a repeat performance again soon.

There have been a number of movies filmed on the Rogue such as Rooster Cogburn with John Wayne and the River Wild with Meryl Streep and Kevin Bacon. It's beautiful and full of jet boats, rubber rafts, kayaks and fisherpeople, not to mention wildlife galore. In 1968 it was one of eight rivers in the country designated by the federal government as "wild and scenic" meaning its beauty will be protected forever. Plus we saw people panning for gold who said they had found some. According to Google, over $70 million in gold has been taken from the Rogue over the years.

All in all, a great week with valuable time spent with family who seem to grow older so quickly, making each hour spent with them precious.