Canyonlands National Park

One of the 4 National Parks we visited on our travels was Canyonlands outside of Moab, Utah. I liked this park.I liked the vast rugged scenery.

Here's a few snapshots, all untouched yet.

Above is this arch and the view through it that we  took a short hike out to.

Arches are interesting rock formations, basically they form a big hole in the middle of a piece of rock called a fin.

At least that's how I got it from the placards describing it. 

Didn't want to get too close to edge of this one.

Can you see how it drops off? Eeks. I don't like heights. Stayed as far back as I could on this one.

My family thinks I am nuts, but I insist we take a photo at the entrance park sign. I am always glad to point out that plenty of other people stop and do the same thing.

Looking down in one of the canyons.

We were goofing around and the hubby wanted a photo to look like he fell over the side. Ha-Ha!

Love this big gorge in the ground. Once I touch up these photos with a little light and contrast adjustment they will probably be great.

And we did this hike out to a crater, but we missed the sign and hiked out to view#2, crater and canyons. Glad we did. Katie is celebrating our final arrival end the end of the trail.

This is the crater. The photo needs some darkening because what looks whitish-tan is actually greenish, but there is a lot of light which fades it out. 

Here's the hiking sign we missed. That's because Katie, my 21 year old, was leading us. She had a hard time staying on the trail, maybe because she is more a spa kind of gal than a hiking kind of gal.  But she was a good sport.

Here she is,  enjoying the view.

Hope you did too.

Moab on Dwellable

Travel Snapshots

Can you believe we are almost at the end of July?

Wow!

Summer-as usual-

is FLYING!!!!!
Makes me a little bit down-since I want summer to go on and on and on.
Mainly don't want to give up MY time...no schedules, no 5 day work weeks, no getting up at 4:45 and being so tired at night.
4 weeks to go!
I love my job and I do like working but on the other hand I really wish I could just stay home and pursue other avenues and options in life-like I do in the summer.
And later next week I leave for Costa Rica on a school related immersion trip.
And though I love the adventure that will await me when I go to Costa Rica on this trip, part of me just wants to hang home. Guess I am a little nervous- my first group trip with a set schedule, class time (I am traveling as part of a 3 credit graduate course), having a homestay with some people I have no clue about for 4 nights, not speaking Spanish...
But I am really up for an adventure
and really wanting to stay home and be slightly domestic.
Oh to be so torn-
HA-HA!
Anyhow-
Speaking of traveling-

Thought today I would show you some more photos from my travels with my family to Colorado.

(And Arizona and Utah and technically New Mexico too!)
Today I want to show you some buildings I spied along the side of the road.
In Colorado!

Don't you just love old buildings? Makes me feel like I am back in pioneer days.

This one had painted windows, rather interesting.  Not real curtains or things hanging, part of an old mining settlement at Red Mountain, Colorado.

That's all for today.

Thanks for visiting. Come back again soon.

Relaxing with some Happy Time

Yesterday started off as a bit humid but beautiful day and then clouded in- just like they said it would.(Unusual for our weather people.)

I decided I would spend part of my afternoon out on my screen porch working on my travel journal that I barely got to during my trip.

Here's a few pages.

My travel journals aren't really scrap books-though sometimes I put in photos- but more scrap collages. I like to tell the story of my journey with memories and bits and pieces I accumulate during my travels.

It is easy to collect lots of free bits and pieces during a trip. I do buy a few postcards too.

I also use my craft stash and make a few pages-some before I go, some when I get home to finish the journal.

I often include the brown bags the postcards come in as little store pockets in my book.

Recycling for a good cause I think.

More another day.

Still need to finish this little book.

Have a great Monday!

Let's Start the Week with Some Art and Reading

A few photos on some white paper. Some punched out  circles, some stitching...hard to see all this page but I like it a lot. You would too if you could see it better I guess.

You can see a little better here. I used 2 colors of paint and spray to make the background.

And this page had a bunch of spray ink and stencils and paper tape and some cool little words from October Afternoon.

Patterns again- how about using them for a background for a scrap-journal page?

So that's the art for today

Just a few little views.

I am hoping this week I can have some play time since I haven't done any arty things in  a week.

Hopefully today since I am

craving making something arty.

Oh yeah, and I've been reading a couple of books.

First of all-

a brainless fun fiction read

and second of all

a really interesting non-fiction read

all about the color red

What have you been reading?

Thanks for visiting.

10 Things Saturday-Road Trip Edition

10 more photos from my trip-

road trip fun edition!

1. Since we were in Colorado and John Denver sang Rocky Mountain High (in Colorado) we picked up this $5 CD at Target and played it over and over again.

Drove the 21 year old crazy.

2. Garmin, Tom Toms, all those GPS have their places, but I love a good map so I can geek out as navigator in the car.

3. And for 7 days of driving, you must stock up with road food. Some junky drinks, bread and peanut butter, crackers, oreos, paper towels and baby wipes to wash your hands.

4. We don't have this chain in New Hampshire. But we saw quite a few in Colorado. You can get mega sized drinks here, if you want to and you can fill your gas tanks too.

5. And even though we have Targets, I have never seen one so woodsy. Love the front of this one in Silverthorne, Colorado.

6. And you need to use a few of these along the way.

7. And sometimes you need to stop for gas and maybe a snack and a potty break.

8. And sometimes you stop to read placards or road signs.

9. And of course it is always fun to see what state you are entering.

10. And sometimes, after you've been driving  a bit, you need to wash the road and the bugs off your windshield.

I will show you some more trip photos next week.

Enjoy your day!

Wow!!!

I checked my blog and found out I was nominated for the Leibster Award by
Heather K at
http://heatherkross.blogspot.com/
I am totally thrilled!
Thank you Heather!!!!
What a way to start my day.
What a cool thing to find when you come home from your summer road trip vacation and are having those after the trip blues.
I checked out Heather's blog and I think it is great.
Heather, I love that you can't stand to be late, at all, ever.
That's me too! Drives my hubby crazy.
You should also!
SOOOOO......

 What is the Liebster Award?

In the blogging world it is an award for new bloggers who are just starting out. This award gets passed around by other bloggers who were nominated and they nominate other new bloggers. This helps getting the new blogs noticed. Pretty cool, huh? Basically, the purpose of the Liebster Award is to get blogs with less than 200 followers noticed.

What are the Rules?

1. Thank your Liebster Award presenter on your blog and link back to their blog.

2. Answer the 11 questions from the nominator, list 11 random facts about yourself and create 11 questions for your nominees.

3. Present the Liebster Blog Award to 11 blogs that has 200 followers or less whom you feel deserve to be noticed. Be sure to leave them a comment on their blog to let them know they have been chosen.

4. Copy and paste the blog award on to your blog. It is an award so show it off! Wink...Wink.

So here are my 11 questions to answer:

1.  Who would you say is your biggest fan?

Hmmm...The hubby and daughter but maybe even more than them is my cat Leo. We joke  at home that I am his possession. And my studio area is HIS space that he Graciously allows me to use. (Ha-Ha). Of course since he possesses me , he has to sit underfoot whenever I get creative in there. Think he's channeling creative juices.

2.  What inspires you?

Color and texture, especially those which are in nature or inspired from nature.

3.  What is your biggest dream? 

I'd like to be a designer of some kind of thing...maybe fabric, maybe paper. Have my own line of product. Or be able to travel the world. Or actually have the inside and outside of my house completely finished. Or have instant house cleaning by snapping my fingers. Guess I have a lot of dreams.

4.  Describe your perfect day.

Not having to get up to go to work, having a yummy breakfast, doing whatever I want to do for the rest of the day

5.  What is your most favorite quirk about yourself?
My favorite quirk, hmm, I am kind of silly and have a childlike view of the world

6.   If you could do anything right now, and money nor time were factors, what would you do?

I would take some time off from work and I would travel the world for awhile- and then I would come home and leisurely write a book about my travels-kind of a scrapbook/journal type of book, but not something just for me with memories but something I could really publish for the whole world to read.

7.  What is your favorite animal?  Why?

OK, maybe I am wishy-washy, but I like all animals except snakes. However, I am feeling a calling towards bald eagles.  I had a close encounter with one a couple of summers ago, as it came down and grabbed a fish out of the water, in fact you could hear the slap of the water as it grabbed the fish. Then I had several more encounters in the last few years- they are strong, proud, beautiful.

8.  What is your favorite childhood memory?

Hmmm-don't think I have one favorite. To many funny warm moments.  Probably hanging out at my aunts rustic cabin on the coast of Maine or fishing with my dad or raising a baby bird with my nana.

9.  What would you name your alter ego?  (You know, that person you secretly want to be but keep hidden from the rest of the world.) 
Very boring, but Ellen.

10.   How many states in the US have you visited?  What was your favorite?

37-favorite? I love the state I love in-New Hampshire- and I also love Maine-I have a lot of emotional attachments to make them my favorites- but I haven't been to a state I  dislike or like better than any other.

11.  What is your favorite thing to do in your free time? 

Take a nap, make art, go for a walk, hop on an airplane or take a road trip, and of course, read a book= wait a minute- that isn't one favorite thing, is it?

11 Random facts about myself

1. I am short- just 5 feet

2. I can't stand when the inside of my car gets super dirty but I hate to clean it.

3. Peanut M&M's are the best!

4-I am allergic to almonds.

5-On an average vacation I take at least 1200 photos. (Not that they are all very good).

6-I love sandals and sweaters!

7-I love to learn new things.

8-I love to sleep with lots of blankets.

9-I can't do straight lines if I tried.

10-I have a problem with books, I own too many. The pile next to bed is too high (ok, the piles) and my coffee table covered. I love books.

11 Questions for my nominees!

1-Are you a cat person or dog person?

2-What is one thing you would change if you could?

3-Favorite movie?

4-How many continents have you traveled to?

5-What is one thing you would like to learn to do?

6-Do you like chocolate?

7-What did you have for breakfast today?

8-How many languages do you speak?

9-Have you ever been to the top of the Eiffel Tower?

10-What is you favorite hobby?

And my 11 nominees are:

1-http://thekeytomyart.wordpress.com/
2-http://www.gingerblue.com/
3-http://roaring-camp.blogspot.com/
4-http://pennybennington.blogspot.com/
5-http://shabbygipsy.blogspot.com/
6-http://kookycreates.blogspot.com.au/
Will have the next 5  another day!

More Patterns

Having been away on vacation for the last week, I haven't done very much art.

I didn't even do all that much on travel journal while we were gone-

shocker for me!

But here's some more patterns I had made before we left.

Today I need to unpack and hopefully get some play time. Everyone has gone back to work-so it is really quiet here for me!

Have a great Friday.

Bio Geek Girl

I found this on Google search engine today!

It is Rosalind Franklin's 93rd birthday.

Rosalind Franklin was one of the 4 people who discovered the structure of DNA back in the 1950's. 

Some would say she was the woman who actually discovered the structure, because she took the photo (Photo 52-look at the last image in the Google word-that's her famous photo) that confirmed the helical shape of the molecule.

Another words

without her photo

they would have needed more info to determine that the DNA shape was a spiral staircase.

Not sure she even realized how much her photo played in a roll in Watson and Crick's model that took the biological world by storm.

However, she was robbed of her credit because she died in her 30's from cancer and back in the 1950's- science was such a man's world.

Even though her life was short, she had a glorious life and left a legacy for all woman who studied science to follow in her footsteps.

We're Going Home Today

Our fabulous summer road trip is winding down today. We have a long drive back to Denver from our condo in Moab, Utah to catch our flight back to New Hampshire. Did you know Utah has a holiday today?  I didn't- the 24th if Pioneer Day. Huh?  Who'd known?

I am ready to go home and see my kitties and my puppy.

But how about a few more snapshots from our major road trip.

It is like an oven here in northeast Utah!

Monday we hiked in this heat at Arches National Park.

I think I even had a bit of heat issues. 

Not good.

Luckily Arches is so close to Moab we could leave, go get lunch and come back in the evening for some more hiking.

Then yesterday we went to Canyonlands National Park.

Yesterday we hiked to this hilltop. It was also pretty hot-like 95 degrees. We wanted to go only to the first viewpoint but somehow missed the sign and went to the second viewpoint. It was a great hike, climbing up these rocks. What a finale to this road trip adventure.

Feels good to push yourself and do it.

We even had a nice picnic. I was a lot of fun eating out in one of the little covered picnic table areas.

And we saw so many cool views.

Have you ever been?

Lots of photos still to come in the future.

See you again soon.