First Day Painting in Sedona

In case you are interested, I just posted an entry on my other blog, www.asdonvan.com about my first day out with Michael Johnson and his students. Check it out.

Arrival Safe and Sound - update

Well, another trip under out belts. We left Albuquerque by 7:30 and crossed the line from Gallup into Arizona a few hours later. I know I'm getting close when I can see the San Francisco Peaks, north of Flagstaff. Even on an overcast day with a bit of snow blowing around, I could see the peaks from 70 miles away.

We got to 141 Purtymun Lane around 1pm. We unloaded the Jeep and relaxed a bit. The place was left in great shape by the owners, Linda and Jen. They left some chocolate covered strawberries for a Valentine's Day treat for us in the fridge. We had a Valentine's Day dinner at Heart Line restaurant. We don't usually do that. Their signature dish is Pecan Encrusted Trout which Judy ordered. Lots of trout out here. Steelhead Trout is very popular. It looks and tastes like salmon, but it is a trout.

Anyway, gassed up, again, and took a ride down Dry Creek rd to make sure it was open so I could check out some painting locations. I will be taking Michael Johnson's class down there friday. The road was open but in fairly rough shape, so it should be a fun ride for the class. The weather was still overcast and there was some snow at the higher elevations but it is still breath-taking.

The creek was pretty dry but will start filling up again when we get some snow melt from the Flagstaff area. The weather should be improving for the next few days. It is sunny now and will be in the 50-60 range. Probably not much warmer than Walpole, but a different look and feel.

Below is what the creek looks like when the water is flowing.

Another day in the snow belt

We went to bed in Oklahoma City with a snow storm blowing outside. It had slowed down by the time we left in the morning and we were hoping for a smooth ride west on I-40. I wanted to stop at Washita Battlefield which is infamous in the history of Custer and his Indian Campaign in the late 1860's. There is debate over whether this was a legitimate battle with Cheyenne warriors or a massacre of innocent women and children.

Unfortunately, we hit sections of complete stoppages and saw many spin outs and multiple car/pickup accidents. Some of the vehicles were abandon, but many had the drives standing around indicating they had just happened. No injuries.

Here we are sitting for a half hour waiting for something to unclog.

We were behind by about 1 1/2 hrs getting to the Washita exit. So, although the snow and frigid temps didn't stop Custer from killing scores of Indian women and children and their chief, Black Kettle, it did stop me from making the 50 mile detour. Maybe on the way home.

But, eventually, the skies cleared and the driving became a little easier. Here we are somewhere west of Amarillo at one of our many fill-up pit stops.

Short day tomorrow to Sedona but the forecast is for a storm near the AZ/NM border, so we will try to get an early start.

Oklahoma City and the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum

We had our usual shakey night's sleep so we got a good start on the day for Oklahoma City. We decided we had enough time to make it to the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. This is a terrific museum on the outskirts of OKC. Upon entering you are greeted by a cowboy who explains the layout of the museum and some of the rules. There is a great art gallery with huge paintings of the iconic landscapes of the west as well as works showing the daily life of cowboys and Native Americans. Of course there is a room dedicated to Remington too. No photos allowed in the gallery.

But there are a number of rooms with a wide variety of exhibits showing different aspects of western life, such as the rodeo, driving cattle and the U.S. Army in the west. One room has tons of artifacts of cowboys in entertainment. That was a lot of fun. Here are Matt and Miss Kitty

In the main entry way is a huge sculpture called End of the Trail that depicts a tired warrior either exhausted from a day on trail or resigning himself to the end of the trail for his way of life.

Well worth getting up early and hitting the road to make it before closing. BTW, they do sort of shoo you out at 5pm when the museum closes.

Asheville to Memphis - never a dull moment

We just can't seem to catch a break on these drives our west. Once again we had snow and ice problems crossing over the Blue Ridge Mountains from NC into TN.

We saw one rolled over van with a couple standing next to the lone police car. We assumed they were the occupants of the van and they were OK. Then a big semi began fishtailing from side to side in front of us that caused a bit of concern. But we made it through the mountains OK and headed west towards Nashville.

We thought we would do a bit of tourism so we stopped at the Andrew Jackson homestead, The Hermitage. We had stopped here a couple of years ago but got there too late to tour the estate. This time we were there early enough to walk the grounds in the freezing cold and take the guided tour in the main house.

We were welcomed by a jolly, fat man in period costume who talked about the floors, furnishings, souvenirs, wallpaper, etc. He said that, "during the Great War of Northern Aggression, not much damage was done to the estate." He looked around for a reaction and then said, "what, no Yankees? Can I get away with saying that?" I just raised my hand and he smiled at me. "Save your Confederate money boys, ....."

Jackson was quite a character in our history, responsible for some noble and ignoble ideas and deeds. The American Lion is a pretty good book about his life.

One of the most interesting things was the wallpaper on the second floor hallway. It had been painted over at one time and during the restoration, an effort was made to find the original paper. The factory in Paris where it was made was destroyed by the Nazis during WWII along with all the plates to make new prints. So, they put out a call to museums to try to find replacements. The Louvre contacted The Hermitage to say they had found someone in France who had that exact paper on the walls of his summer home. The estate sent a team to France to carefully remove the paper from the wall and then apply it to the walls in the Hermitage. And, interestingly enough, it was 20 years older than the original wallpaper. It looks brand new.

From there it was only another 3 hours to Memphis. We have another long day tomorrow to Oklahoma City but I've got a few side trips in mind, so stayed tuned.

Asheville NC - Biltmore Estate and Transvestite Bingo

We planned on meeting my sister and brother-in-law, Terry and Curt Hathaway in Asheville. This was a quick 350 mile jaunt from Harrisonburg for us. Curt and Terry live outside of Charlotte so it was only a 2.5 hour drive for them. We planned on visiting the Biltmore Estate together. When we got to the hotel, I left a message that they should call us when they arrived. We finally got a call, but for some strange reason, they were calling us from the ticket booth of the Biltmore, not from their room in the hotel. How did we screw that up?

Anyway, we met at the Biltmore ticket office. We were too late to take the last shuttle from the parking lot to the mansion, so they let us drive right up next to the door in order to get in on time. Nice. It is quite an impressive mansion. George Vanderbilt, who built it, wanted it to look like an English castle. It has many of the same features as smaller chateaux along the Loire Valley in France. It was completed in 1895 and has rooms for its 30-40 help, the extended Vanderbilt family and numerous guests.

If you take some of the mansions along the shore in Newport and quadruple them then you have the Biltmore Estate. Among the many impressive things are a number of huge paintings of the Vanderbilt family, the estate architect, Richard Morris Hunt, and the landscape artist, Frederick Law Olmstead by John Singer Sargeant and a huge painting of the Mrs. Edith Vanderbilt by Giovanni Boldini. (There are a few smaller Boldini paintings of Paris street scenes in the Clark Museum in Williamstown.)

The grounds, designed by Olmstead, are equally impressive but should be seen when things are in bloom. Although, with this winter, the daffodils were already blooming. It is also lit up during Christmas time like Newport and the French chateaux.

When we got back to the hotel (Rennaisance by Marriott), we passed through the convention area. There were several bars set up and a number of tables that were selling things that looked like little bottles. It turned out that the little bottles were "stampers" for bingo. It was bingo night at the Rennaisance. In fact it was Transvestite Bingo Night at the Rennaissance. We found this out after passing a 6' 5" well built bingo player in a long tight black gown coming out of the elevator. Then we came upon the VIP Transvestite reception on our floor where they explained to us what was going on. Transvestite Bingo til 10pm, followed by a show.

After getting a recommendation for a restaurant, the 4 of us went to dinner after passing once again through the convention area. We thought of eating in the French Bistro recommended by the hotel "concierge" (re: bellhop )but decided on a Mexican restaurant called Salsa. It was great. We all enjoyed everything.... talipia and crab quessadilla, pork rellenos, steak fajitas. The staff and other guests were quite friendly.

On the way back to our room we had to make one more pass at the bingo session

to check out some of the talent

before capping off the night with a glass, ot two, of wine in our room. It was all for a good cause as the night raised money for animal shelters.

Although it was a quick hit and run, we found Asheville to be an eclectic little town. It had its charm and funkiness but it was not unlike a lot of artsy places that still seem to support a seedier side.

New entries of 2012

Well, we are on our way for our trip to Sedona again. We left E Walpole on wednesday the 8th and spent the night with our friend Sandy in East Longmeadow. Sandy and Judy were college roommates. I had to perform a few chores for Sandy to earn our dinner. The next morning we left around 8:30 with an anticipate arrival time in Harrisonburg, VA, our destination, around 5:15. Googlemaps had us going into PA and heading down 81 through Gettysburg, but our Garmin had other plans. Before I knew it, we were on 95 outside Baltimore and then circling DC at rush hour. Then we had to head west through Manasas (scene of the Bull Run battles) to pick up 81, then south to our hotel. We got there around 7pm. Long day, but we are on the road again.

Hope to have you all follow our travels and make your observations and comments.

Return Trip - Day 7 Walpole, MA

Sunday morning we got an early start. We left by 7am and passed the halfway mark sometime around 11am. The weekend radio shows on NPR were being recycled so we listened to some old podcasts on my iPod. The trip through the farm lands of VA, WVA, MD and PA was very pleasant. We stopped to gas up in NJ at the Service Center at Exit 17W on the NJ-TPK. (they still have people pump your gas in Jersey, no self-service). Then we were shocked back to reality trying to cut across traffic to use the EZ pass lane on the GW Bridge. I had to gas up in NJ because I didn't want to buy gas in CN. The first station in CN on 95 was charging $4.45 per gallon. (I wonder if one day I'll look back on this and think, "only $4.45 a gallon")
Our last stop was to drop in on the Nobles in East Greenwhich. Mike had received great news that his latest scan showed he was totally "clean" and we wanted celebrate a little with him. He seems like the old Mike but we need to fatten him up a bit (Pam too).
We stopped for some groceries, then arrived home to a nice "Welcome Home" sign on our garage door from the Kobeys, unpacked the Jeep and quickly settled into our old lifestye. AAAHHH!

Return Trip - Day 6 PM Monticello, VA

Stopping at Monticello was really a great idea. This was well worth the little detour. We really got a lot out of this visit.
The actual house is located on top of a small hill ( a Monti Cello, next to Monti Alta). There are shuttle buses that take you from the visitor center up the hill for the tours. We arrived about 3 pm in time to sign up for the 3:20 tour.


The house is very well furnished with much of Jefferson's actual propery. The house is the original house and even some of the windows are original. In the entry way there are many arifacts from the explorations of Lewis and Clark whose expedition of northwest was sponsored by Jefferson. The rooms have many of Jefferson's books, scientific equipment and artwork that he accumulated over time. He was very interested in education. He read most of his father's books at an early age and taught himself to read and speak a number of languages. (He read Don Quixote in Spanish on his trip to France where he would replace Ben Franklin as ambassador)

Although he died in debt and much of his possessions were sold off to pay the debt, the Society has been able to recover a lot of what was originally in the house.

Jefferson was a very interesting man. He was a farmer, inventor, architect and statesman. He was also a bit of a contradiction. As the drafter of the Declaration of Independence, he penned "all men are created equal", yet he owned over 600 slaves during his lifetime. He was convinced that all the work done by his generation to establish the country would be lost if the slaves were ever freed. At his death, he freed 5 slave who had learned some trades on his plantation (like making nails). He paid to allow these 5 to remain in Virginia. Otherwise, freed slaves had to leave the state within 1 year of being freed. Sally Hemmings, with whom he is supposed to have had a number of children, was not freed. She stayed with Jefferson's daughter who finally freed her.
The Jefferson's are buried in a plot not far from the manor house.


This was a very enjoyable and informative side trip. It is always fun to learn more about our history and see how intelligent and complicated our Founding Fathers were.

Return Trip - Day 6 AM Elon, NC

Despite our long days driving, we were not in the mood to have a 14 hour day behind the wheel. So, we had looked at a map to see what we could hit on the way home and break the trip into 2 days. We always enjoy visiting the Civil War Battlefields and there are still a number we have not yet experienced. But, we decided to stop at Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home.
The road to Monticello, in Charlottesville, VA went right through Greensboro, NC. Our friend, Hillary Noble, is graduating from Elon University, near Greensborro, so we texted to see if she was available for breakfast. We met Hillary at a local restaurant on campus where the owner seemed to know everyone in the place. We had our usual breakfast supplemented with grits, biscuit and gravy. We were short one biscuit, but Hillary promised to send me one.
Hill gave us the executive, 5 minute tour of campus. What a beautiful place. It is a small school of about 5000 students. The architecture of the campus is uniform with all the buildings constructed with red brick and white trim. The landscape is an actual arboritum, so there are beautiful trees everywhere.
This was a nice little detour and it was great seeing Hillary.

Return Trip - Day 5 Charlotte, NC

We got a fairly early start from the hotel in Bessemer, passed through Birmingham, headed out of Alabama, cut across Georgia, clipped a bit of South Carolina and arrived in Charlotte by the end of the day.
Although we had just a had a nice visit with Curt and Terry in Sedona, we free loaded off of them for another night at their home in Weddington, outside Charlotte. Curt had texted Judy to ask what we wanted when we got there. Judy replied, "belly dancers and a massage.", but all we got was a warm reception and a great meal.
We always enjoy Curt and Terry. We sat around the dinner table for a while, had a couple glasses of wine and Curt and I solved (or caused) all the world's problems.
We look forward to our next visit with them. Maybe they'll come back to Sedona for some more adventures next year.

Return Trip - Day 4 PM Bessemer, AL

We left New Orleans about 2pm and headed northeast towards Birmingham AL. We were stopping in Bessemer which is between Tuscaloosa and Birmingham. Tuscaloosa was an area most hit by the recent tornadoes. Although we did not see any major damage, the remnants of the tornadoes can be seen everywhere. There were large swaths of trees blown down along the highway. One could see a patch of torn up trees a few hundred yards long, then no damage as if the tornado touched down and then took off. There were many trees uprooted and limbs broken off and many of the highway signs were blown over. Ironically, the weather is gorgeous now.

We met a couple of scruffy characters in the elevator and they told us they had come up from Gulf Shores to help cook for and feed the emergency workers. On TV there is a constant scroll with tips about donating, volunteering, insurance problems, how to report gouging and more useful information. There are many utility trucks other heavy duty trucks, like cranes, in the area to help with the recovery.

If anyone is interested, they can send a donation to the Red Cross or to the United Way Tornado Disaster Fund, PO Box 320189, Birmingham, AL 35232. Or check out www.alabamas13.com for other ways to help out.

Return Trip - Day 4 AM New Orleans, LA

Today, we were spending a little time in New Orleans. On the way, one of the idiot lights on the dash came on. I could not get it to go off, so Judy suggested I call Mike B at his station. I got my Godson, Tim, on the phone. He had me go through a number of on/off sequences to try to get a diagnostic code, but nothing worked. He didn't think it was a major problem but reminded me that it was difficult to diagnose an electical problem over the phone from 1000 miles away. I agreed with him and started up the Jeep and headed out of the parking lot. Before I reached the highway I looked down and noticed the light was off. It was a miracle. Maybe Tim should be nominated for sainthood.

Our first stop was the WW II Museum. This museum was founded by the late, great historian Stephen Ambrose. He wrote a number of terrific books including many about WWII and specially D-Day. We wanted to visit this museum in preparation of our trip to France this June with Mike and Pam. Then, coincidentally, we had great news after we pulled into the museum parking lot. Pam texted us that Mike had passed his latest scan with flying colors, an A+ grade. What great news.
The museum was very interesting. It was loaded with equipment, paraphernalia and photos. Here's one of a cafe in Ste Mere Eglise, a focal point of a lot of the action and a town we will visit this summer.

One of the reasons for the success of the invasion was the amount of deception and mis-information put out by the allies to confuse the German command. The allies created fake camps, fake fleets and even fake parachutists to throw off the Germans.
Here's a photo of the smallest invader.

There is very good 4-D video of the whole war covering the Pacific and Europe. It was a 45 minute multi-media presentation that one could see, hear, feel and smell. Really well done.
Our next stop was the French Quarter. The only thing Judy wanted to do was have a coffee and beignet. The Cafe du Monde is one of the famous spots for beignets in New Orleans, so we hit it. It is right along the river across the street from Jackson Square.

We ordered cafe (I had hot chocolate) and beignets and enjoyed the sights. We walked through Jackson Square


Got up close and personal with "Old Hickory"


Then strolled through the neighborhood to take in the sights, sounds and smells





We both felt that we could spend more time in New Orleans and plan on coming back for a few days in the future.

Return Trip - Day 3 Baton Rouge, LA

Day 3 was a travel day for the team. We crossed Texas to Baton Rouge LA. We wanted to give ourselves a little time in San Antonio and then get within shouting distance of New Orleans, so Baton Rouge seemed like a good spot. After the tour of the Alamo we had about a 7 hr drive.

Texas is huge. We have now crossed the state on 3 different interstates, I-10, 20 and 40. It always reminds me of the story of the two Texans bragging about the size of their ranches. One says, "it took me all day to drive my pickup across my ranch." The other replies, "Yup, I know what you mean. I used to have a truck like that."

At one point I had to pay $4.10 for gas. I would have thought that gas in Texas would be cheaper but it has been the most expensive. Most places along the highway are about $3.90. Imagine looking for a low price of $3.90. We saw lots of ranches, a huge dairy farm, tons of tumbleweed and one dead armadillo. Other than that, it was a lot of audio books, ipod and satelite radio. Luckily, the Navy SEALS got OBL so that bumped the Royal Wedding stories off the radio.

Return Trip - Day 2 San Antonio, TX

We got a relavtively early start from El Paso as we headed for our next stop, San Antonio. It would be another long day of driving plus we would lose another hour to a time zone change. There are 2 time zones in Texas and we had to stop for gas 3 times to cross the state. I had been to San Antonio once before but wanted to bring Judy there to check out the Riverwalk and the Alamo. The Alamo is one of the places like Little Big Horn in that there were no survivors to tell the real story so we have to rely on legend. I prefer the legend. Travis really did draw a line in the sand with his sword. We arrived at our hotel in downtown San Antonio while there was still some light so we walked over the see the Alamo. They've done a good job maintaining the Alamo with only donations. It takes up about a whole city block and there are beautiful walkways meandering throughout the fortress.
Then we walked along the RiverWalk.


We stopped in a Crab Shack where I could watch the 2nd half of the C's loss to the Heat. Bummer. But the food was good (Red Snapper with Crab Stuffing) and the atmosphere was fun.
Here's an abbreviated video of the "shack"


We went back the next morning to tour the Alamo. There was a pretty good video along with a ton of artifacts from both the Texan and Mexican armies. There was a Bowie knife from that old "Knife Fighter" (imagine that) Jim Bowie along with Davy Crockett's musket that was given to Fess Parker who gave it to the Daughters of Texas for the Alamo display.


I loved it and I was surprised that Judy did too.

Return Trip - Day 1 El Paso, TX

We set out from Sedona about 9am. First, I had to stop at the UPS store to drop off a couple boxes that we are shipping home then go back and pick up Judy. We didn't have enough room in the Jeep for the boxes, all our stuff and Judy at the same time.

We were heading for El Paso, TX on the southern route and I planned on taking I-10 all the way via Phoenix, Tucson, Las Cruces, then El Paso. But, our GPS had us taking the backroads across the Southeast of AZ so we stuck with that route. This route took us through little towns like Strawberry and Pine along the edge of the Mogollon (pronounced Muggy-own) Rim. It was a very pleasant ride and we skipped the boredoom of the highway.

The route took us by Roosevelt Lake and we crossed the Roosevelt Lake Bridge.


Also, we passed through the Tonto National Forest which was more like a desert. The landscape in southern AZ is so much different than other parts of the state. We saw a sign for "cliff dwellings", so we took a slight detour to see them. Double click on the photo then click again to see the enlarged view. You can make out some people in the ruin to give you an idea of the size of the dwellings.


We didn't hike to see them up close as we still had a long way to go. But we did stop for a picnic of PB&J sandwiches and checked out the cactus plants that were in full bloom.



After getting on I-10 somewhere in southwest New Mexico, we only had about 150 miles left to get to El Paso where we would lose an hour due to the time zone change. It was a long day in the saddle.

Update to Swimming at Grasshopper Point

Last Wednesday we were at Grasshopper Point watching the kids cliff-dive. This happened the next day...

Sedona Fire District firefighters carry a 16-year-old boy from the swimming area at Grasshopper Point.


A 16-year-old Sedona Red Rock High School sophomore was flown to Flagstaff Medical Center after sustaining a head injury after falling at Grasshopper Point on Thursday, April 21.

The drop into the water at Grasshopper Point is estimated to be roughly 30 feet.

Emergency crews with the Sedona Fire District responded to the call at roughly 1:30 p.m. following an injury report at the popular hiking spot.

According to witnesses a number of students from Sedona Red Rock High School were cliff-jumping in the area when the boy fell.

The extent of the boy’s injuries is unknown at this time.

Tony's Note: He was later released from the hospital.