New Painting

18" x 24"

Untitled

Acrylic on Canvas

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I've just spent the last couple of days painting in a painting whirlwind. Realizing that it was less than a week until our 6-month condo lease was up, I thought I had better paint something on the last blank canvas!

This painting came together much easier compared to the last two since I have been playing with the design for awhile. I like the bright colors. Can you tell from the photo that I was working on blending colors in each section? Still experimenting with acrylics, though. You have to work pretty fast since they dry so quickly. This design was originally used in my CorelDraw program on my computer. I am hoping to eventually design a bike jersey based on my artwork, so I was playing with the "blending" tool! Too fun! :-)

TGIF

I found this photo in my archives and thought I would share it with everyone. Reminds me of lingering winter, which is what the weather is doing today up at 7000' in Colorado. Still 38F! Brr!

Spring is anxious. Little green blades of grass are pushing up through the straw-colored lawn, but winter just won't let go! Tree buds are starting to appear on branches, not yet willing to expose themselves as full-blown leaves. We still have a few days of skiing to appreciate, though many people have already dusted off their bikes (my bike is still quite dusty). Hopefully you are experiencing some beautiful spring days already! :-)

TGIF and have a great weekend!

Grand Canyon Hike

As you can see from the pictures in the posts below, we are back from the Grand Canyon. Wow. Great hike! Our group was composed of super nice, strong hikers, and most importantly, good sports.

Hiking the Grand Canyon is often on people's "life list". It's a big undertaking. I love to see the sense of awe and wonder on someone's face as they gaze into the canyon for the first time. It's amazing to see the accomplishment that one feels when topping out after two hard days of hiking down to the bottom and back out. Ok, it's hard work, for sure -- exhausting to say the least, but awesome! Good work, everyone! :-)

The weather on this trip was the best I've ever seen at the canyon, with warm but not hot days in the lower elevations. Freezing but not brutally cold mornings in the higher elevations. Thus, we were able to take our time hiking down the S. Kaibab Trail and really enjoy the vistas along the descent. Phantom Ranch didn't have showers or flush toilets the night we spent there (like I said, everyone was a good sport) so what was the hurry? Upon arrival, Ranger Pam presented one of her "Jeopardy" Grand Canyon games. Always fun and informative. She also presented a nice tribute to the CCC, the Civilian Conservation Corps, whose 75th anniversary coincided with our visit.

Steve & I both sported lovely head colds all week (ugh!). Fortunately, my coughing fit was early enough in the evening I didn't deprive the gals of too much beauty rest in the women's dorm. (Hate it when that happens.) After the 6:30 a.m. "late" breakfast on Tuesday, we were headed up the Bright Angel Trail. No doubt about it, the hike from Phantom up to the South Rim is a tough one. You have a couple of miles of "warm up" along the Colorado River before going into one of the side canyons, making your way up the Devil's Corkscrew switchbacks and up to a full fledge rest break at Indian Gardens. You get a bit of a respite while making your way across and up from the Tonto Plateau, but then the switchbacks kick back in at Jacob's Ladder and on up to the rim. Yikes! Everyone accomplished the feat flawlessly. We had some sore muscles and were tired but happy at our celebration dinner at El Tovar.

The next morning we shuttled over to Hualapai Hilltop to hike down into Supai Village for a few days. Our gang remained good sports when we found out on our hike down that the cafe was closed that day! Valarie, a local Havasupai woman, cooked some lasagna for several of the hungry tourists that evening, so that is what we had for dinner. You never know what you're going to get, and this time proved no different.

The following morning we were able to load up our bellies at the cafe before hiking down to the wonderful waterfalls along Havasu Creek. (See photos below) I got a nice photo of Kathleen and her son, John, at Havasu Falls. Kathleen's trip was a birthday gift from John! Everyone who went down to the base of Mooney Falls had quite the adventure. There's sort of a ladder / tunnel / scrambling bit (ok, that's an understatement) that leads you down to the base. I call it the Indiana Jones part of the hike. Maria told me it was her Supai highlight. I beg to differ. After dinner, we all indulged in several games of "Pass The Pigs" and spent most of the evening laughing. If you've never seen PTP, you can try it online here. It's even better in real life!

On the trail at 6 a.m. the next morning, we were able to enjoy a comfortable, unrushed hike out of Havasu Canyon. :-)

South Kaibab Trail

From left: Cedar Ridge, S. Kaibab Trail; Russell admiring Inner Canyon; View of Colorado River & Silver Bridge.

Laurie admiring Inner Canyon; S. Kaibab Trail snaking its way to the river. Below: A dramatic day on the S. Rim; Mule train ascending S. Kaibab; Edgy trail near Skeleton Point.

Right: Black Suspension bridge over the Colorado River; looking down to the river from S. Kaibab Trail;

Bright Angel: Day 3

I didn't take many photos on the way out of the canyon on Tuesday. We were too busy hiking uphill!! I got a photo of Kathleen & John starting out in the morning, the redbuds blooming near Indian Gardens, and some of the gang at the Bright Angel Trailhead just after we came out of the canyon. They look really good, don't they?! Still managed to smile for the camera despite all those sore muscles. Great work, gang!

Waterfall Day!

From top: Havasu Falls; Laurie at Havasu Falls; John & Kathleen at Havasu; Group admiring the falls; At the base of Mooney Falls; John exits tunnel on Mooney ascent; Russell, Maria, Steve halfway up the ascent from Mooney; Russell begins ascent; Waterfall yoga; Steve practicing "tree pose".

Grand Canyon Bound!

I hope everyone had a Happy Easter or First Day of Spring! :-) I did! We had Timberline staff training last weekend and it snowed (as usual!). Doesn't matter what time of the year it is, it always snows on training weekend. Such is spring in Colorado...!

The bottom photo above was taken in November 2006 during a backpack trip that Steve & I took to the Grand Canyon. We hiked down the Hermit Trail, then across on the Tonto, down to the bottom / Bright Angel CG, and out South Kaibab. This location is near the top of S. Kaibab. If you look closely, you can see the trail descending from Cedar Ridge in the middle ground on the right.

We're headed there this weekend for the Grand Canyon/Havasupai trip, yay! The top photo is Havasu Falls, located below Supai Village on the Havasupai Reservation just west of Grand Canyon's South Rim. "Just west" is kind of a simple explanation. The location of the village quite remote and takes the better part of the morning to shuttle over to the trailhead from the South Rim. Access to the village is by foot, mule/horse, or helicopter as there are no driveable roads! As you can see from the photo, though, it is worth the 8-mile walk to the village. A day exploring the waterfalls of Supai is our reward for completing the 2-day hike (one day down, overnight at Phantom, next day hike out) into the Canyon. No matter how many times you visit, it's still a magical place!

Before I forget, those of you who asked for my summer schedule... Realize that this is subject to change, but here it is as I know it:

May: California Dreamin: Central Coast California bike tour, Kentucky Bluegrass bike tour
June: Blue Ridge NC bike tour, Yosemite hiking tour
July: Oregon Coast Classic bike tour, Rogue River Rambler bike tour
August: Columbia River Classic bike tour

Yes, looks like a lot of bike tours! I've already started cruising around on my bikes in preparation. :-)

You may ask, what's after August? Well, I'm going to have to keep you in suspense for now. I'm probably going to be away from touring this fall... but Steve will still be out there. I'll let you know as soon as I know for sure!