BCNHA Field Seminar 2008

On Thursday morning, we left Ruby's Inn and headed for Cortez, CO, by way of Kayenta, AZ. It was a long, but pleasant, drive over. There are 28 in this year's field seminar group, including Duane and Sandy Nielsen. Duane is former CEO of Energy Solutions, and current chair of the SUU Board of Trustees. On Friday morning, we drove to meet our guide at the Ute Tribal Visitor's Center. He took us on a trail into the past and what follows are images of us not only seeking shade from the direct sun (as Bubby is doing in this photo), but enjoying this beautiful primitive area.

This is one of buttes in the Mancos Valley along which we started. You can see the cars in our caravan parked on the road. Besides our group, their were folks from California and Illinois and we all got along famously. We ended up giving the fellow from Illinois a ride back to the Visitor's Center.

Our guide was once again Marshall Running Deer. He is young and enthusiastic, but seems to have a hard time tracking. It may be cultural, but everyone felt he jumped around a lot. We tried not to interrupt him but occasionally our archeologist just couldn't be restrained.

We are standing atop a collapsed pit house in this photo. This is the first stop, so the group is very attentive. They are wonderful folks to travel with, and it has been a very pleasant weekend.

I took this photo to show the sheer volume of broken pottery at these sites. We were having to walk carefully to avoid stepping on it everywhere we went. The Ute's are not too tuned into preserving it, but did ask us not to take any with us. Of course the reasoning is not sound or scientific, but we respected their wishes.

As I get older, and my desire to run to the top of every hill abates, I am very grateful for a camera with a long lens. You can stand on the road and take photos of the petroglyphs 200 yards away.

We are headed home today and it will be a milk run. We have to drop people off in every community in Garfield county on our way. I hope we get home before dark, but I am not holding my breath.

Buboppy

Overdue Blog

I have had these images in my camera since June 5th. I am finally taking the time to post them. I slipped over to Newcastle on the Thursday before Bubby came home, and had a great time.

I caught three respectable smallmouths, two of which are here for you to see. It isn't as fun to take pictures of these fish without Jakie to hold them up. I caught a lot of fish that day, and I ran down to Sand Hollow the next day and fished the morning bite. It was fun, but I was having trouble with the batteries in my boat. I need a long term solution to that problem, and I am working on it.

On Monday, Bubby and I drove to the cabin in the afternoon. Jon Lee was there with his scouts doing their summer camp. I took them through the geology merit badge, and we had fun visiting with Jon. He pulled out all of the stops and fed us Dutch oven potatoes and a steak. We had a lovely drive home in the long shadows and even stopped in Orderville for a soft ice cream cone.

Buboppy