Letters to grandchildren

I visited the school here in Supai this morning.  How would you like to have recess with a view like this?  This is their playground with the equipment for climbing easily seen, but past that is a play court with basketball hoops.  School starts here at 7:45 and goes to 4:00 Monday through Thursday and then half day on Friday.  They get about 40 minutes a day for recess.  they serve breakfast and lunch at school.  

There are 8 grades plus kindergarten, about 80 students in all.  There are only 4 classrooms with shared grades 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 and 7-8. There are 6 students in the 8th grade.   You have to go outside the valley to go to High School.  

Oh, boy!  I get to see you on Saturday.  I am leaving the canyon tomorrow by helicopter, which is a great ride, but it would be fun to ride out on a horse.

This is what I see in the mornings outside my house: a group of pack horses ready to go up the 8 mile trail to the top of the Grand Canyon and bring supplies down to the town here in Supai.  Every day the mail also comes down by horses since a mailman in a vehicle could not come down the path.

Here is the air ambulance helicopter ready to take someone to the hospital.  It takes an hour and a half for them to come after I call for them and about 45 minutes to get to the hospital.  What do you think of our ambulance?  That is the 6 wheeler by the dog that transports patients.  The nurse I work with is driving it.  In this case the patient was able to ride in the seat, but if you look closely you can see a space in the back where a person could lie down if they needed;  not very comfortable, but it works.