A tight squeeze

I think this is the tightest squeeze yet, parking in Granny's drive in Walnut Creek. Inch by inch, avoiding the light pole, the guy wires, the fences, the overhanging eave of the house in the back. It felt very much like the Long Long Trailer scene were Ricky backs the 41 foot trailer into his new inlaw's arbor and house.

Just a quick update on the RV. As Larry put it when he was helping Carl do it, we have tricked out our ride. We have wide angle mirrors, a runner to step up into the cab, new shocks in the rear (oh my what a difference) and, ta da! instead of a cutting board covering the sink but mostly always in the way, I have a pop up addition to the counter space.

Life is fine!

Finally got time today to work on the landscape I started last weekend. Lori said to be sure to anchor my trees with a shadow, but it kind of looks like the shadow is going to swallow them. Maybe too much of a good thing?

same old view

Hiway 1 from Big Sur to Morrow Bay is a many times repeat for us. But who on earth could fault the scenery? I could drive it 100 times a season. There's no campgrounds on the ocean except one little National Forest Service site which is reserved into the next century. So we kept driving south to Morrow Bay State Park. Just a few miles down the coast, Michael Jackson died today. We are so close, we could make it to Neverland in a couple of hours. Maybe save the trip for the funeral?

Here's some photos along the way.

Out of control bears and people

Sister in law Mary, Daisy and I hiked to Mirror Lake on a beautiful Yosemite Day. Halfway up the hill to Mirror Lake, we began to meet people who said there's a bear up there.

Gradually the story of a young bear with no fear of people approaching the crowd at the lake unfolded, told by one hiker after another. The bear came down to the lake filled with swimmers and made off with a backpack.

We approached with caution, having been told he left with his booty and wanting our own view of Mirror Lake that day. As we reached our destination, he hit the backpacks again, making off with one.

Children and adults alike ran after him. Children, for heavens sake, who would make a tidy little snack. I do not understand the phenomena. What were their parent's thinking? In this photo, the bear is just a blur right over the fence where children are standing. And note the people in the photos running to, not away from, the bear.

We had a lovely three days in Merced and Yosemite with Mary, relaxing in her home, taking a day trip to Yosemite, much more crowded than last week. Carl says if we exit another way, we will have taken all four approaches to the park. Another life list, I guess.
Mary found us a groomer for Daisy, who needs it a lot, and a masseur for Carl. Before Carl experienced the magic of the masseur, I had a foot detox from him. Don't ask me why, but in 30 minutes, the foot bath with an ionizer in it had turned three colors of brown, green and black. All that coming from my feet! I think I will try to find such a thing for a weekly detox when I get home.

After we left Mary's we went 20 minutes away to Attwater to see Misty and Tom Armstrong; she's Carl's niece. Misty is an absolute sweetie. They own a pet store, which Daisy browsed and ate. She tells all about it in her blog. Tom and Misty picked us up in her mini cooper for dinner, and then we spent the night at Castel Museum RV park, little more than a parking lot with an electric plug. It's on old air force base property and overlooks an air force plane museum. Let me tell you, this valley is one hot puppy. The San Joaquin valley, America's fruit basket, reached 100 today. Could be worse. Elsewhere, Houston Texas has an air quality alert, the worst in history.

under the sierra sun

Okay everybody, I am the owner of Lori Hanson's "Wedding Tree", the graphite on paper drawing of the tree where Larry and Lori got married last year. After Stanley's You Too Can Draw class, I appreciate the number of days it took to produce such a drawing. And I am now a student of Lori Hanson as well. On Friday we took too long to start our plein air lesson, so we stayed indoors and did a still life. She taught me a few techniques, like lining up the axis of the apples and bananas, not outlining the edges, and following form.

Saturday we took off for a landscape painting adventure. I took Daisy, a big mistake, as she knocked over the table a few times trying to capture the resident cows. A neighbor dog Sunny kept coming by drinking my cobalt blue mixture and turning over the paint tackle box. Both dogs were banished for arts sake.

The first big lesson was a paint bomb. It's all about adding enough water to saturated colors that the tension on the water creates an explosion as the brush touches canvas. Then, there's more following the form.

Eventually hunger and the arrival of dinner company caused us to call the lesson done. I am going to Berkeley to an art store with a shopping list for things I must have before I hit Ghost Ranch.

We recreated the Italian cooking school meatball recipe for dinner that night, with giant meatballs more like mini meatloaves, and a tomato onion balsamic reduction that knocks the socks off ragu. Lori's mom brought home made sauces for the spaghetti that were also taste explosions.

There's been a plethora of great food this weekend. Lori is an organic and unprocessed eater, but that does not mean cardboard. Oh so yummy. My contributions were wild salmon one night and buffalo meatballs a la Italian the next. Lori has a recipe for Jewish baked chicken baked with rock salt that I am dying to try.

So, life in Tuscany, I mean, the Sierra Foothills, is fine indeed. Here's some family shots.

in AWE

Today I am in awe of Lori Hanson Lincoln's one woman art exhibit, which we visited in South Lake Tahoe. You will see a link to her website on the right. The website has some good photos, but in person, the collection is amazing. How can one person produce so much work in six months? A testiment to her determination, seriousness, and her talent. Take a look and enjoy. I am hoping to own one of these at the end of the visit.

The audio interviews that accompanied each painting were alone worth the visit to the gallery. I cannot wait to get my muse awakened by her, which will happen tomorrow!

I am in awe also of the drop dead blue of Lake Tahoe, which I have seen many times but never tire of. Daisy had a great day at the city bark park, we ate lunch at Inspiration Point, and we are camped in the city park by the Lake. About to take a nice long walk, or a bike ride. Either will be perfect. There's yoga on the beach tomorrow? Shall I indulge?

Situations improving

We found a new resonator for the turbo charger in Carson City today. It's an aftermarket model that is made of aluminum, not that plastic thing that keeps breaking. As soon as we find a smooth surface again, Carl is going to put it in...hopefully for the last time. I am very excited.

We also found a hot springs in Grover State Park near Markleeville, a funky little town in the Eastern Sierras with a kick butt deli and a guy next door very protective of his private property. Hot springs, even when they are pools with fences around them, are a bit of heaven. The alpine meadows in this state park are divine.


Tonight we entered the casino next door to our RV park. What a weird slice of life...sitting in front of a machine that makes noises and hitting buttons in one of the few realms that still allows smoking. Casinos and bowling alleys. I put in five dollars, played black jack for about 1/2 an hour, and then took my $5 home. Carl came out 35 cents ahead and blew his earnings on a newspaper.

An old favorite

It was 4:06 pm on a sunny Sunday afternoon when the bear wandered through Upper Pines Campground in the Yosemite Valley. Daisy and I spotted it about 100 yards ahead and turned on a dime to get Daisy back to safety. I sounded the warning, "Bear!" but no one else seemed to share my concern for safety. 5 minutes later when the bear ducked behind our RV headed back to the woods across the stream, he looked like the pied piper. Children on bikes, adults with cameras both big and small, poodles and weiner dogs were in hot pursuit.

Yosemite bears are quite bold and insistent on being fed their fair share of human food. Every campsite has a food storage locker. Daisy fits in it just fine. I figured in case of an all out attack of the bears, she and I could both get in it and hunker down.

I don't think the bears in Yosemite are as big an issue as the humans. We have overrun this place of beauty, and we are clueless. There's a bike path down the valley, and bikes to rent. Carl and I decided it was a good way to spend the three hours waiting for the campsite draw at 3 pm. So did a million other people, with no clue about biking rules. I faced down one lady headed straight at me in my lane till I cried uncle. Was she thinking English driving rules? Then there was the huge family gathering in the bike path. I said "Bike Passing" about 10 times as I approached, and they looked at me in amazement. I finally figured out they probably did not speak english, but still, would you not want to move aside rather than have your two year old be run over? Not this group. Then a family of about a dozen people was out in a convoy of bikes and baby carriers behind their bikes. We got to the turnoff to Yosemite falls that had three warning signs saying no bikes on the path. They barreled through with a chorus of yoo hoo's. I am sure the walkers on the path loved them.

I too was among the stupid people. I hadn't had a shower for several days, so I went to the Curry Village Central Showers, paid my money, and got with it. About half way through my shower, I notice that I kept hearing male voices. I began to suspect I might have made a big mistake. So, I dressed fully behind the curtain, then walked straight out, making no eye contact, and certainly no below the waist contact, like I belonged there and knew exactly what I was doing.

Still, despite the stupidity of humans, there's no place like Yosemite. Those granite faces sheared off by glaciers, the falls running strong this time of year, old Half Dome, the bears, the deers, the meadows, the reflections in the Merced, the wildflowers, the sounds of water everywhere. It's a temple. As we started dinner preparations I heard the sound of a stringed instrument. A lady with a harp was tuning up next door. I went to talk to her, and she said she is a nurse who only gets time to play on vacation, so she bought a travel harp. Later in the evening, we traded chocolate for music.

We finished off our Valley Visit the next morning biking to Mirror Lake. It was uphill all the way, 4000 feet above sea level, and I actually made it almost all the way. I must be growing high altitude lungs! While there we had our photo taken by a professional photographer who writes stories for RV magazines.

When we left the valley, we took the Tioga Pass Road across the Sierras, magnificent road that it is, and Carl remembered the summer he worked a survey crew laying it out. We had another bear sighting, and this guy was just munching down in a meadow, stopping so much traffic the rangers had put out traffic cones and were directing people where to park. Such a wonderful place, Yosemite. There was still snow in the upper valley and Tuolomne Meadows campground is not open yet. But the view is ready for company.

Providence

There's always a God out there taking care of us. Or maybe St. Christoper? or perhaps St. Francis. Daisy's got an eye infection, but as luck would have it, we are so close to brother Nate Lincoln that we got an appointment with his vet. She's got pinkeye. Drops twice a day, which is harder to do than bathing a cat, but she'll be fine soon.

Then as we pulled the last hill before turning off the highway toward Nate's house, the RV ran out of power. Again. We knew what it was. This happened on our first road trip, and the mechanic had given us a spare part. It's a resonator for the turbo booster. Nate said there would be a park and ride 1/4 mile ahead, which afforded a smooth surface for Carl to become a shade tree mechanic. The part where God stepped in is that I was not alone or with a girlfriend who was not a mechanic. Once Carl got started after finding the right tools, he was done in about 30 minutes.

We followed Nate under full power to his home in the sierra foothills, a lovely spot with trees and hills and two goats named Smokey and Bandit and a horse named Frisco and a dog named Sierra who doesn't like other dogs. Daisy is familiar with dogs named Sierra that are Alpha, and she knows to lay low.

We took a driving tour of the area, Bass Lake, before being treated by Nate and Candy to a fine Italian dinner in Oakhurst. Back home, we introduced them to Farkel, and I lost badly.

Nate is so much like his dad that I felt I was in Fred's presence. I do miss that man, Fred, Carl's dad, who became my adopted father and was a real soul mate. Fred went out of his way to have a relationship with each person in his life separate and different from any other. He never required that people be all alike, he just came to you on your terms. I felt like Fred was there with us, approving that we were together, accepting each other as we were.

Sequoia Blitz

I cannot believe the number of giant trees I have seen in two days. We left the hot springs and took a stroll on Mountain Road 50 north, darting in and out of the High Sierras and the foothills all day. Top tree sighting of the day was on the Trail of 100 giants, just a teaser for what was to follow as we went deeper into the Sequoia National Forest.

The road that first day deteriorated into mountain remote roads, barely paved, quite narrow and bumpy. Eventually we emerged in the foothills to spend a night on one of the three rivers that merge at Three Rivers,a lovely spot with a family swimming hole on the river.

Next morning we hit the real Sequoia National Park, where the ranger didn't care how long our vehicle was after all. Never mind the warnings about 22 feet or less. Just take it slow and use the pullouts he said. I am not believing we went from one end to the other in a day, but of course we are just hitting the RV accessible highlights.

They included climbing up Moro Rock into the clouds,seeing General Sherman, the biggest living thing in the world, General Grant, second biggest, the Kings Canyon, deeper than the Grand Canyon, but hey, it's got a road down into it, a wild and roaring and totally non-navigable Kings River racing downhill over jumbles of huge boulders, mile after mile, an incredible waterfall called Grizzly, and spending the night with NO ONE in a campground at Cedar Grove. I cannot recall such total quiet in my life. It's Yosemite without the crowds.

Did I mention the bear?

Most of the day we were fogged in, which made the giants even more mysterious and unworldly. So, what were you doing 3000 years ago when that little seedling took root? Was he the baby of another 3000 year old giant? What would the tree say if it could talk?

Not on my life list

Death Valley, that is. Twenty mule teams dragging wagons of borax across a desert strewn with cow skulls in heaps. People dying of thirst as they drag their covered wagons west. Those are my images of Death Valley. But it is on Carl's life list, so we found a route through from Beatty to California.

Beatty (spelled just like Warren) is a wide spot in the road in Nevada with an RV park right next to an army surplus yard. The surplus guy is a permanent RV park resident, and I am guessing his is the burnt orange job on jacks with the pen and dog house next to it. Two doors down is Death Valley Nuts, Candy and Ice Cream, and there's a bike path that joins the the army surplus to the ice cream. Two blocks. Wonder who trains on that path? Not the lady working the check-in at the RV park/market. She grooms dogs on her days off, but tomorrow she's going to Vegas at 3 am, so Daisy escaped grooming again. (Daisy is very tan now, no longer white.)

We decided on a 6 am departure for Death Valley. I still can't get that cow skull image out of my head, and I didn't want Daisy to die out there in the heat of the day.

Death Valley unfolded at dawn, a moonscape of weird geology. 278 feet below sea level in places, salt left behind in the wide valley. Overlooks like Zabriski Point offer views of strangely molded rock and earth.

And let's not forget the borax. There is a mine overview and mounds of borax tailings along the roadway. I asked a park worker cleaning bathrooms about going through 20 mule team canyon and he said the RV was too wide. So much for that.

Driving down the valley, I heard CNN news announce that Yoakum, Texas had suffered a hail storm. How strange is that?

Leaving Death Valley was a two hour commitment. We climbed from below the sea to 5,000 feet a couple of times and twisted and wound. In summary, the scenery is tortuous. But I like it tortuous.

After Death Valley, we crossed into the back side of the Sierras and traversed along the Kern River, up, down, around. What a jumble of rocks and white foam. At one point it plunges down a waterfall that takes you by surprise as you round the corner. Finally we entered Sequoia National Forest, headed for California Hot Springs. The Garmin kept predicting we would be there in 30 minutes. This went on for two hours. Eventually we found the "resort", in time for a soak an hour before closing time. Floating in a warm pool is one of my favorite recreational activities.

We settled in to the RV Park connected to the Hot Springs, and we are the only tenant. Don't think we need curtains tonight. No wifi, no cell services, but, to my amazement, cable. Guess we will catch up on the news of the world. But not before I photograph the spring bloom here in the Sierra foothills.

Comment from Erica Cox: funny you mentioned borax in your blog. i actually bought some today! allison has several cookbooks and one of the recipes was for goopy goo--elmer's glue, water, borax and food coloring. don't know if you've heard of "flarp", but what we made ended up about the same as that. makes a funny noise when pushed inside of a cup as the air escapes...

just thought i'd share!

Taking the day off

Nevada is mind numbing. I am sorry to say I consider it a state to just get through.

So, here for your enjoyment in lieu of a traveloge is commentary from my friend Linda about the people we meet on the road.

"Do y'all exchange email addresses or blogs? When I was a little girl, my family camped out on vacation. One year we found ourselves in White Sands New Mexico. It was quite hot - duh!! But we were prepared with ice tea. We had an old metal ice chest that kept a block of ice cold for a day or two. The folks next to us were amateurs. Big family, not enough to drink. They were looking over at us like they were stranded in the desert - with ice envy in their parched eyes. So, of course we invited them for ice tea - it's the neighborly Texas thing to do. Had a great evening of conversation and kids running around - sand flying. We exchanged Christmas cards for years - both families always signed simply "The Tea Drinkers". "

Take me to the land of Zion

Zion means a place a peace and repose. This is my second visit here, and it still fills me with awe. The eastern entrace is a fairyland of checkerboard mountains and red arches. The 1920's tunnel requires RV's to go down the middle of the road in order not to hit the sides of the tunnel, and it also requires us to pay a fee to do it. Teregram is marginal whether she needs a permit, but I said I was more comfortable in the middle of the road, so we bought one.


Once we had Daisy settled in our camping spot with A/C running, we took a bus ride to the top and back, stopping at the Museum for the movie and a nap. As a matter of fact, we took long naps this afternoon, waiting for the heat to subside before venturing out again. This time we took the bikes out for our second trip up the canyon to the Temple of Sinewava. Carl bicycled to the top of the canyon, while I put my bike on the front of a bus rack and rode the bus up. Then we both rode down. Oh My Gosh, there is only one uphill grade the entire 8 miles down. Haliakala, eat your heart out. You've got nothing on this absolutely free thrill. I kept braking to keep my speed below 20 mph. Couldn't do it. What a blast!

When we got back, our new friends from Vancouver stopped by the RV with their dogs, and Daisy and Franklin the Golden played till it was too dark to stay out anymore. Our new friends became acquainted with us when we admired their custom storage box on the back of their Class B, which is an oversized van. The unit is made to fit around the spare tire, is about 6 by 6 by 2, swings around so that you can grill and cook while standing under the van awning. They needed storage for the necessities of life, like three or four cooking surfaces including a grill with two propane tanks, a fire pit, lounge chairs, a margarita machine already plugged in and ready to go, two sets of golf clubs, a spare tent that sleeps 8, 8x 10 ground rug, and food for the dogs. Bikes go behind it, just like ours. Got to travel in style!

The next morning we took the hike to Emerald Pools. While there, we came upon a German couple that we had scared off the bike path the night before. Susan and Robert, we learned today, he in his wheel chair the last 23 years from a motorcycle accident, him wheeling with large arm muscles, she pushing with love. It was not wheel chair accessible, but it did not stop them. They both work in Hamburg, and when they have saved enough money, they travel. They spent 3 months in an RV in Alaska on one trip. They were a great inspiration to take life as it comes and life it to the fullest.

On the edge

Just when you think the scenery can't get better, it does.

Today we hit the north rim of the Grand Canyon. Bright Angel Point is windy and cold and drop dead scary gorgeous. I shuffled along holding on to the guardrail, while teens in flipflops crawled out on the ledge to snap Titanic pose photos.

I was huffing and puffing my way back to the lodge when my cell phone rang. I could not believe there was cell service out there in nowhere Arizona. But there was, and it was my buddy Mary telling me all about meditation for the week. What serendipity. I don't even know why I had the phone in my pocket. Hearing from home keeps me grounded, reminds me how incredibly lucky I am.

The lodge is one of those grand national park lodges, with windows framing views of the canyon, soft suck you up leather sofas, and a grand dining room with timber beams and more windows.

Daisy got a walk on the bridle trail, where she chased her share of small rodents. Then we took a drive up to Point Imperial, where the wind was wilder and the view more breathtaking. That put us at a full day, so we returned to our little Kaneb home, parking on the white rocks between two islands of red rocks. I backed Teregram in on a dime, just perfectly, not moving a single pebble into the wrong color.

Growing in Virtue

This morning I read a chapter on Patience out of the book "Pay Attention for Goodness Sake", which was given to me by my lovely neighbor Christine.

In the book, a safety driving instructor recalled being stuck north of San Francisco in traffic which was making him late for a meeting. He became more and more anxious. Then he realized he was looking at Mt. Tamalpais out his window, a sight people paid money to come and see. He relaxed and enjoyed the view. The meeting would happen when it would happen.

I was struck by how much living in an RV tries the patience. It seems I am always waiting. Waiting for Carl to get off the computer. Waiting for Carl to get out of the kitchen. Waiting for this, waiting for that. I feel impatient. I suspect Carl feels it too, because he is always saying to me, "I'm just waiting for you to finish .....so that I can ....." It's a one butt in motion at a time environment.

But there I am, in a scenic place. I should be looking at the view while I wait, no?

Well, let's talk about the view. Sometimes it is a trailer park.

But the point the book's author made was that no matter where we are, there is something to observe and appreciate while being patient, even on a noisy polluted freeway. In fact, some of my most humorous observations on life on the road happen in the RV Parks along the way while I am waiting for something to happen.

Take Tuesday night in Torrey Utah. You know the little early Winnebago? Slightly larger than a van? Burnt orange paint job, squared off stepped slope profile? There was one in the campground with about 6 hippie people jammed into it. No shaved faces in the group. They were out grilling when we arrived and looking like world peace. Later, I heard a scimitar being played in the little van. This I heard while I was on my way to the bathroom, which had two toilets, side by side, no partition. I was thinking that I don't know a single person that I would feel comfortable sitting side by side while using the toilet. Maybe because I don't have a child? I thought of more lessons in patience waiting for a child to be toilet trained.

The next morning the burnt orange Winnebago left about the same time we did, but not under its own power. There was a guy at the wheel, but he was just steering. A pickup was pulling them by a tow rope. All six people were in the van, just tooling down the road behind the tow, probably singing peace songs. I think they had patience down to an art.

Helluva place to lose a cow

I'm not going to take any pictures this time, I said. Just wake me up early and let's catch sunrise at Rainbow Point, I said.

He did. 5:30, on the road at 6 am. Up at the point at 6:30, a chilly, windy day in Bryce.

But who could resist a few photos? The sun never got bright, just a glow and overcast, and OH the colors of Bryce. Since it didn't heat up, I hiked from Inspiration to Sunset to Sunrise, walking along the rim, close up and personal with the HooDoo's. I narrowed it down to 49 more pictures of Bryce.

Could not believe I was hiking over 8,000 feet. Only got dizzy once. Maybe my gills are growing alpine?

We stopped at EVERY overlook, finishing about lunch thirty, starved and making short work of a BLT and Fries.

It was our plan the rest of the day to ride the bike trail through Red Canyon, which is a loverly drive on 89 south with a 5 mile bike path. But instead of calming, the winds got worse. Teregram was swaying and rocking down the road. We decided to head south to the North Rim, where it is always windy anyway.

With all the rocking and rolling, we stopped short in Kaneb, and were ecstatic at the town. Kaneb is Kute Kute Kute. Red rocks everywhere. Attractive storefronts. A very spruced up RV park run by Netherlanders. Such attention to detail. Red gravel fastidiously separated from White gravel, vegetation everywhere, sitting spots, a pristine pool, great bathrooms, a dog run. We decided to come back after the North Rim the next night.

Grin and Burr It

"When you get to Boulder, turn left on the Burr Trail. Go till the pavement ends, which puts you back in Capitol Reef. You'll like the views."

That's what buddy Steve Babbitt said to do on our drive through Grand Staircase Escalante. The Grand Staircase, by the way, looks like its name, winding up and down ridges for about 150 miles between Capitol Reed and Bryce.

So we took a side trip down the Burr Trail. His photographer friend Todd had told me where a large cottonwood tree marked an entrance to a small canyon, maybe 100 yards deep, a little wonder of nature. Whispers echo in the canyon.

Carl took the camera for a minute, and there are now 10 photos of me and Daisy in the Canyon on my June 4th photo album (link on the right).


The road is about 30 miles till dirt, when we turned Teregram around. Steve said his group of photographer buddies took 3 hours to travel the stretch, because they had to stop and photograph at every bend. What is so amazing about this road is the many changes in topography, geology, vegetation and elevation.

That took the whole morning, which meant lunch in Boulder. I think the population of Boulder might be 50, and all of them work in the three restaurants in the settlement. We picked one of the restaurants, another BLT and fries. Yum.

By the time we reached Bryce, scenery overload had happened again. Too bleary to take a run out to Sunset Point at Sunset. It will have to wait till morning.

Capitol Reef Social Scene

I've been to Capitol Reef before and loved it, so I said to myself, just relax and enjoy it. Don't go photo crazy. And what a day we had there.

The dirt road through Capitol Gorge is a bit tight for an RV, although I did make it last year. So I asked Carl if he'd like to bicycle it instead. Oh yea, good plan. hmmmm...... It was downhill going in, and the road was really too bumpy for our tires, so we concentrated on braking and avoiding the rocks. If there were no rocks, that was because sand drifts across the road covered them, and our tires sank in so that we had to get off and walk. I kept my eye on my tires all the way in, never looking up at the great canyon walls.

On the way out, not only was it bumpy, it was uphill and the canyon winds were blowing. It would have been easier to just walk in and out. At least I would not have been pushing my bike and I would have looked up. I got really dizzy at one point from the altitude and had to have a little rest.

Back at the campground, I felt fine and happy again. We met a couple, Bob and Kay, who had a twin Navion. They invited us to wine at 5 pm, and we compared notes on where things got stored (me and Kay) and improvements made to the RV (Bob and Carl). As a result we have ordered a step into the cab and more mirrors. Maybe new suspension when we get home. They are going to order swivels for the seats.

Daisy got kidnapped by a family from Lehi who were missing their now gone Sammy. She has a report to make about that on her blog.

Then, serendipity, we had company. Good friend from South Dakota Steve Babbitt (see link to his photos on the right) was in Capitol Reef this week. We had him, his son and two photographer buddies over for dinner. Lots of brats and beer and corn and great relaxed conversation. We had full intentions of going to the ranger talk, since she asked us so nicely, but the company was too good to part with.

Combine all this social life with the great little farm house selling fresh bread, pies and cherries, and it was a perfect spot.

Dig this

Early rising today to catch sunrise at Grandview Point in Canyonlands. Carl is a good driver at 5:30 am or this would never happen.

The rest of the day is one big Utah blur. We went from Canyonlands to Capitol Reef via the scenic route south to Blanding and then twisting and turning north skirting Lake Powell. From 5:30 am till 7 pm we were hoofing it. Too much scenery makes for a blur. Here's a few highlights, pictorially. First, Newspaper Rock.

How about Lake Powell, Glen Canyon??
And finish it off with a typical road shot.