Day 6 -- Respers Farm Trail (or something like that)
Saturday, Feb 3, 2018. Last hiking day. The usual up early, eat early, but we headed out a bit later because we weren't going as far. This hike was an in and out so our leaders decided they would take us to a 2 mile point and then let us loose to do what we wanted.
We took the road up and had a view of Apache Lake. We walked and had too much talking as usual by tall Mike. He is interesting but sometimes I got sore feet from standing still so long. Short Mike gave an informative mini-talk about the agave (I think I'm wrong about the plant) plant and how to make rope etc. We stopped at a high point of volcanic interest where there were the rock formations that I thought were especially lovely. I had seen similar a previous day but they were made of volcanic ash. These were volcanic granites with granules of feldspar and quartz, called plutons. I thought he said they were called futons. Anyway, the fast hikers Rick, Mary, Jill, Paul, and Robby went to the end point and Mike, Theresa, Michael the woman, and Sue went a bit farther, while Troward, Andi, me, and Mary R., stayed at the campsite. I did two watercolors, one of the landscape and one of the plutons, and then started a pencil and ink sketch of the plutons for an acrylic painting for later. By the time I was done the others (except the fast hikers) had headed down and I made my way to the vans as well.
We arrived back to our "resort" early and had a couple of hours before our evening fireside chat time. I started packing up and organizing mentally but mostly worked on a painting of the plutons. This time I worked on the assignment of one color per brush stroke. Of course I couldn't make a tan color so the colors are a mixture of experiment and cleaning the palette. I didn't finish this and had to turn the board after I started because I made a bit of a mess of it. It's so hard to make browns. I can do olive and grey quite well but so far not dark browns. However, I'm sort of happy with this version as it looks like what I saw except for color, detail, and exact shape.
At 5:30 we met at the firepit where the Mikes had a fire. Big Mike read some history, poetry, and journal bits to us. A favorite was a quote from Teddy Roosevelt about the Superstitions. Maybe it's unreadable in that photo, but maybe not.
Dinner at 6:30 of spaghetti and meatballs and sharing photos and contact info via AirDrop, which was kind of fun with all the iPhone people. Mike the doc was so patient and helpful to us all with getting our technology synced up. The girl end of the table was pretty chatty and had plenty of $4.00 wine and later Mike said he felt like an interloper and probably should have left. We had a great time and lots of laughs. Andi mellowed over the week and even said she had fun. Troward was kind of out of the loop all the time but he sat in the middle of table and could at least hear. I think he was more of a watcher and listener than a participant. Later he thanked me for being so kind to him (?????). He was a swell old guy. He never did say his age, but maybe 80. Tall and skinny and living in Raleigh NC, retired from the insurance business but looked like an emeritus of botany.
All of us individuals came together as a group (or maybe 2 groups) and enjoyed each others company and stories. I had so much fun and laughter with Michael the woman, Mary R., Mother Theresa and Mike, the other Mary, Andi, and Sue. I didn't talk to Robby very often and liked her but she was a fast walker and kind of quiet. Same as Troward but he was a slow walker and wasn't with us all the time. Rick, Paul and Jill, and Patricia and Michel, I interacted with a bit but not much. Jill and Paul were neighbors of the Kahler's before they (the Kahler's) moved to MN and Eastcliff.
Fitbit: 18,432 steps, 105 floors, 115 active minutes.
We arrived back to our "resort" early and had a couple of hours before our evening fireside chat time. I started packing up and organizing mentally but mostly worked on a painting of the plutons. This time I worked on the assignment of one color per brush stroke. Of course I couldn't make a tan color so the colors are a mixture of experiment and cleaning the palette. I didn't finish this and had to turn the board after I started because I made a bit of a mess of it. It's so hard to make browns. I can do olive and grey quite well but so far not dark browns. However, I'm sort of happy with this version as it looks like what I saw except for color, detail, and exact shape.
Dinner at 6:30 of spaghetti and meatballs and sharing photos and contact info via AirDrop, which was kind of fun with all the iPhone people. Mike the doc was so patient and helpful to us all with getting our technology synced up. The girl end of the table was pretty chatty and had plenty of $4.00 wine and later Mike said he felt like an interloper and probably should have left. We had a great time and lots of laughs. Andi mellowed over the week and even said she had fun. Troward was kind of out of the loop all the time but he sat in the middle of table and could at least hear. I think he was more of a watcher and listener than a participant. Later he thanked me for being so kind to him (?????). He was a swell old guy. He never did say his age, but maybe 80. Tall and skinny and living in Raleigh NC, retired from the insurance business but looked like an emeritus of botany.
All of us individuals came together as a group (or maybe 2 groups) and enjoyed each others company and stories. I had so much fun and laughter with Michael the woman, Mary R., Mother Theresa and Mike, the other Mary, Andi, and Sue. I didn't talk to Robby very often and liked her but she was a fast walker and kind of quiet. Same as Troward but he was a slow walker and wasn't with us all the time. Rick, Paul and Jill, and Patricia and Michel, I interacted with a bit but not much. Jill and Paul were neighbors of the Kahler's before they (the Kahler's) moved to MN and Eastcliff.
Fitbit: 18,432 steps, 105 floors, 115 active minutes.
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