Still Life

So, for what ever reason, I haven't painted for....months. Yesterday I decided - enough! Time to paint again. Stacy and Sharon have encouraged me that Still Lifes are some of my best so I set up a photo shoot.

And Colleen, since you are about the only one who reads this, these are especially for you!

And yes, I started painting this one!

HOME!

It was a wonderful trip, but there is no place like home. And look at the clouds in our home town sky! Not quite as amazing as CO and AZ, but not shabby!

Gordon was busy while I was away! Yep this is the master bathroom. That used to be our shower and bathtub. It's going to be wonderful when it's done!


In the mean time - we're sharing Chris' bathroom!

Easter Sunday and the end of the road trip

We optimistically set our alarm for 5am intent on getting up to watch Easter Sunrise over the Grand Canyon. Our luck held, the sky cleared and God blessed us with a BEAUTIFUL Easter sunrise over the rim of the Canyon!


We shared it with a couple hundred other people, crazy enough to get up and brave the near freezing weather of the early morning hours.

There was a non-denominational sun rise service held on Mather Point.
Yes, that's snow!
I put on every layer of clothing I packed and stayed relatively warm - OK, so I am freezing here! But it was SO worth it!

After an amazing morning and several hundred photos, we hit the road and arrived home about 7pm. Tired, after covering 2250 miles, with a lot of wonderful memories about three thousand photos between the 3 of us! Thank goodness for digital photography!

Monument Valley to Grand Canyon

Today was a day of weather and amazing scenery!
We woke up to poring rain in Cortez. It eased off as we hit the road and we drove out of the storm for the most part but sky remained spectacular.


We routed our trip through Monument Valley. With the wide open spaces we could track the storms as they moved across the country side. At times there was sun shining on areas with rain pouring down behind. Made for wonderful photographs!


We arrived at the east entrance to the Grand Canyon National Park to find is fogged in. Zero visibility at the entrance! But after creeping along at a very slow pace to the first look out the fog and clouds lifted a little but the canyon was still soaked in.

But in about a minute the clouds lifted and....More beautiful vistas!

We drove on along the canyon rim and started noticing cars coming toward us with snow on them - lots of snow and we were trying to figure out where the snow came from. 5 miles from the south rim lodge we drove into the snow storm! We decided to forgo the stop at the lodge and drive straight to our hotel which is 2 miles outside the park entrance.

We're hoping by morning it will have cleared. Ever the optimists, we are still hoping to see Easter sunrise over the canyon!

Anasazi Country

We had a very long but great day! We got up out in time to watch the Silverton narrow gauge train departing.


I nearly got a priceless photo of these toddler lined up looking at the train but some mean guy from the railroad came up and scared them off!


Teddy made a new friend out in front of the Rocky Mountain Chocolate factory


We walked around the town, did a little shopping then drove the 40 some miles to Mesa Verde, to see the amazing ruins of the Anasazi. Half of the park is still closed for the winter but we were able to take the tour through Cliff Palace.

Cliff Palace

This is up inside the tall tower like building in Cliff Palace.

The staircase leading up out of the Cliff Palace (and Stacy's backside.)
Today was a serious challenge to all three of us who have a fairly significant fear of heights!

Durango

Today was another long driving day. After we crossed into Colorado the road seemed to go on forever.

Yes we are driving down the middle of the road!

We pass a wide variety of dwellings. From these TeePees...

To this "mobile Home" with an awesome watch dog...

To these "Earthships"...

Made of discarded tires and designed to be completely self sufficient.

The terrain went from flat wide open desert to snow covered mountains. We spent the night it the charming little town of Durango. Ate at a wonderful restaurant called Season.

Santa Fe

We are so overdosed on art! Santa Fe has hundreds of art galleries! We saw most of them! We actually got up early and hit Starbucks by 8:30 - at which point we realized that nothing else opened until 10! So we walked around and enjoyed the outdoor sculptures and architecture. This is a city of amazing amazing doors and windows. Most of them brightly colored and often constructed of unique materials.

If you look carefully you can see me taking the picture in the window.

The ever present chili's. Can't find anyone to tell us the significance of hanging them by the doorway.

This Chair Rocks!

Sharon enjoying the sun in a sculpture garden.

They have really big lizards here!

Rock Paper Scissors anyone?!?

The Highlight of our day!
We walked into the Wyeth Hurd Gallery and met artist Peter de La Fuente the great grandson of N.C. Wyeth. He could not have been more gracious! What an interesting life he has had!

Teddy made a new friends!

We dropped by the Cafe' Paris, where we had dinner last night, for an afternoon pastry snack and to see out new friend and owner, Rahera.

We probably walked 10 miles today! We're going to sleep well!

New Mexico

I decided to get up early and go for a run since there was a running trail across the street from our hotel in Gallup. Unfortunately, I didn't figure the time change into to the plan and we lost an hour driving east so didn't drag myself out of bed until after 8. On the way out the door I noticed the sign on the breakfast room saying breakfast from 6:30-9! The run didn't go so well either and as I headed back I noticed the sign stating that Gallup is over 6000 ft. so I'm blaming my poor performance on the altitude. I got back in time to meet Stacy who had just finished her work out in the gym and Sharon - who Stacy had dragged out of the shower when she saw the breakfast schedule - for a quick waffle. We got on the road by 10! Thankfully we didn't have a long drive today to get to Santa Fe.

This photo is for Gordon. We decided not to go see how Brandy's aged!

Our first stop was Albuquerque. The old time is so colorful and charming. Chiles hanging everywhere!


Everywhere!

We even made a new friend, Tasos, a gallery owner.

We collected some bugs along the way!

This house along the Turquoise Road had fence of bottles. They made a lovely tinkling sound in the wind.

After a busy day of sightseeing and a wonderful french dinner we are ready to crash! Teddy beat us!

First Full Day on the Road

Today was the first full day of our adventure. We spent last night in Kingman AZ. We got up and on the road early. We spent most of our day on Historic Route 66. What a nostalgic journey! Oddly, most of the people we came across seemed to be from Europe - Germany and Switzerland. One of our first stops was a shop with a yard full of 40s-60s era memorabilia.

Remember these gas pumps!

Teddy (look closely on my knee for the trip mascot) and I made a couple of new friends! Well, sort of! The women wouldn't speak to me and Max wouldn't wake up!


Isn't this a classic! A rock shop with dinosaurs in front!

We were sorry we couldn't stop for the night in Holbrook for the night and stay at this Route 66 treasure!

For lunch we stopped at an adorable dinner called Twister in Williams.

Yes, we're Standin' on the corner in Winslow Arizona and we're such a fine sight to see!

Our last sightseeing was in the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest. Truly amazing landscapes!
We made it to Gallup, New Mexico. Long day with lots to see! And much more tomorrow!