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Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008
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9:23 am - henna stories
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I just wanted to share my henna experience!
So, I've been coloring my hair for about 3 years with Naturcolor, a chemical haircolor, to a reddish brown color. This was to liven up my normally medium brown hair and also to cover gray hair (about 20 percent gray, but possibly more on the crown - just a guess). Naturcolor isn't as toxic as some other brands, but I wanted to use something totally natural as I was needing to color my hair more often because of more grays. I would see the gray roots popping up after only 3 weeks! I had tried henna before a few years back that I bought in a health food store called Light Mountain henna. But I had heard you couldn't use henna after chemical dye (or chemical dye over henna), that it could give you green hair or fry your hair. So I bought light mountain henna (chestnut brown) and did a test and it turned greenish, so I threw it away and thought I couldn't use henna over my chemically treated hair until I found this site recently: http://www.hennaforhair.com
Well, I learned that the hennas you see in stores are mostly compound hennas and have other ingredients in them - not just henna. Also, the different colors (other than red) have different stuff in them (like indigo, etc.), never just henna. Some may have metallic compounds added and those are what mostly give people trouble. Also, they apparently aren't as "fresh" as they could be, so the color may not be as vibrant. Well, that website provided a huge amount of information and they also sell pure fresh henna and other plants you can use to mix with henna. Henna gives a red color, but if you mix it with indigo you can get various shades of red-brown through black (for black you need to do a two-step process). But you prepare them separately and mix together right before you use them (unlike some of the pre-boxed hennas of various colors).
Well, I like the idea of dark auburn, so I went with just henna. After testing hairballs (from my shed hairs) with some sample henna, I bought 400g of BAQ3 Yemen henna from that website.
I mixed the 400 grams of henna with clove powder (adds a nice smell - henna smells like a combo of spinach and hay!), a tiny bit of ginger, hibiscus flower tea and black tea, and about a 1/2 tablespoon of lemon juice. I let it dye release for about 14 hours. I applied it first to my roots to make sure they were covered since my gray was showing, then I sectioned it into 8 parts and covered it from the back to the front. What a mess! But I finally got it all covered. It was like putting mud clay all over your hair! I think it took me an hour just to put it all on and I had only about 1 cup of henna mix left over, which I can freeze for later use. So I covered it with saran wrap and a towel, which got too heavy, so I switched to a fleece cap a bit later. I sat outside in the sun for about 45 min, then I went in and did some work on the computer until it was time to rinse it out. I left it on about 5-6 hours. I filled the bathtub and laid down to rinse it out, then I rinsed with conditioner about 3 times to get all the henna out. It was a beautiful deep rich auburn color (almost like "cherry brown") which oxidized to a more reddish brown look after a few days. My grays are totally covered and are a deep red color. It turned out perfectly. Next time I'll do my roots but after that I may do the whole thing again to get a darker auburn shade. I'll have to update my hair sun icon with my more auburn hair color.
I'm so happy to find an alternative to chemical color! It's more time consuming, but I actually find it fun to mix up this concoction! The cloves were wonderful! I love the smell of cloves. They lingered in my hair for a few days afterward.
So after this experience, I asked my boyfriend if I could try to color his hair with henna and indigo (to make dark brown). His natural color is dark brown/black but he has quite a bit of gray (more than than me) and he had been using a toxic smelly hair dye (smells like something you'd clean the floor with) for several years to cover his gray. After my henna success, I told him I'd find a way to do his hair with natural products but make it brown, not red. I was worried about matching his roots to the rest of his hair since he has quite a bit of gray. So I did a bit of reading on the forum of the henna site and did some tests and came up with this. I made a mix of 1 part henna, 1 part indigo and 1/4 amla (another plant which will move the color more to ash rather than red). I thawed out my previously used henna and mixed up an equal amount of indigo with hot water which I added salt to (this helps the indigo not to fade). I then mixed 1/4 of the amount that I used for henna and indigo of amla with hot water. I mixed the three together and applied it to his hair. We left that on for 2.5 hours (he sat in the sun about 1 hour). When that was washed out, his hair was a dark brown but his roots were a light golden brown color (which I was expecting). So I mixed up some more indigo with hot water and salt. Then I mixed a small amount of amla with hot water and added that to the indigo. I applied this mixture to just his roots and left it on 15 minutes. He washed that out and had perfect dark brown roots to match his dark brown hair! I'm so happy it worked as it was much more complicated than just henna. It looks so much better than that chemical dye he was using. It takes much longer than the chemical dye, but he's willing to sit there if I do the mixing and applying. I don't mind. I'll be the resident "hair wizard." :)
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| Friday, March 7th, 2008
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10:27 am - Frozen Dead Guy Days
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| Saturday, February 16th, 2008
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3:00 pm - Seasons Greetings
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Or is it, was it, Valentine's Day? Not something I care much about or celebrate. Every day should be Valentine's Day. Eat chocolate and show people you care about them. But anyway, I can't resist to send out my homemade Valentine's card!
Have a heart!
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| Tuesday, February 12th, 2008
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2:18 pm - Grab your spear...and dance!
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So, I've been experimenting with some exercise/dance classes at a local yoga/dance studio. The first week is free so I'm trying out as many classes as I can this week. So far I've done three of them: soul sweat, Kripalu YogaDance and NIA.
Soul sweat is basically fairly simple dance moves done to upbeat world music. This most resembled a regular dance class with an emphasis on a lot of movement to keep your hear rate up. It was fun and it makes you sweat (hence the name). The dance steps are pretty simple and easy to pick up, even for a first time participant like me (although since I have a dance background, it might be more difficult for those who don't when they first take a class). From the description, I thought we would have the opportunity to do some improv free form dance, but that didn't happen. I'd like it a little better with that included. Also, some of the music wasn't that exciting to me - there was some hip hop stuff. Although for the most part it was various types of world music like middle eastern, indian, african, brazilian, etc., which I like a lot. The dance moves were a little bit from modern, jazz, afro-brazilian, and belly dance. I want to try another class with a different instructor to see how that is. Of course the instructor really makes the class, so each will be a bit different. Some might play better music, or have some improv.....
Yesterday, I tried the dance yoga. I'd have to say it's more dance than yoga. In the beginning and end we warm up/down with yoga postures, some starting static and then moving. But most of it was dancing. This class was more free as the instructor would start a movement and then you could embellish as you wish. A big section in the middle was devoted to free form dance and we were encouraged to "let it all out" and dance around vigorously. In essence, to get our heat rate up. There was a slow warm down and corpse pose at the end. Well, I really liked this class although I would have preferred different music during the free form part. It was a little hip hoppy for my taste. She started out with an awesome Dead Can Dance song but this was during our warm up and I would have preferred this type of song during the free form improv section. I talked with her afterwards and she said she plays a wide variety of music, including some more tribal world music too (during the upbeat section) and said she might do a class which is more focused on slower flowing dance in the future (this is the first week this class was offered). I will take the class again tomorrow and see how her music approach is the second time around. Generally, I liked her music - just not the middle section. I liked her too. She was a beautiful dancer and really warm and engaging. So far, it's my preferred class. It has more variety than the soul sweat, and we also did movement from sitting, on the floor, etc. Not just standing the whole time like in the soul sweat class. Soul sweat was probably better for cardiovascular fitness, but I liked the variety of the yoga dance.
Today I tried a NIA class. This is a movement form which is based on martial arts, dance and yoga. As far as I could tell, there was no yoga in the class, so I'm not sure where that comes in. It was similar to the soul sweat, although the music was not world music (and I didn't much care for the music the instructor chose, to be honest). It was mostly jazz and modern type dance steps, pretty easy to follow (except for this one step in the beginning that eluded me). Once in a while you do martial arts punching or kicking or blocking. This is familiar as I have studied taekwondo before. But to me, it doesn't really make much sense. It doesn't seem to have a reason for being there, along with the dance steps. It's also based on tai chi, but I didn't see any similarity, having taken a few tai chi classes before. The instructor kept talking about different levels 1, 2, 3 and 4 which I didn't quite get, other than you go lower on the higher levels (in your stance). So I kind of ignored that part and just danced. There was some free form walking/strutting/dancing going on towards the end also but it was not as dance-oriented or as fun as the dance yoga class. The funniest part was when the instructor yelled out, "grab your spear!" while we did a thrusting movement with our arms above our heads. I'm not sure what purpose NIA has other than as a fitness/movement class but it seems to be touted as some sort of "way of being" or philosophical thing. It was fun but it was my least favorite class among the three I took. I just prefer to dance and don't need the levels and martial arts. If I want to do do martial arts, I'd rather do that in its pure form (or do capoeira if I want to mix it with dance). Incorporating martial arts type moves in dance is something I have done in the past, but I make it part of the dance and in this case it seems separate. It just doesn't "go" with the rest of it somehow - doesn't blend well. I will try one other NIA class in which the instructor was recommended by a friend. She said that she teaches it differently than most other instructors. So it's free this week, I'll take it and see, but I have a feeling I'll stick with YogaDance and Soul Sweat and not bother with NIA again.
I also am going to check out some modern dance classes. I think the type of exercise/dance classes I've outlined above are more fitness oriented and you will get that out of it, along with the joy of dancing, whereas a modern dance class would focus more on technique, not worrying about whether you get enough cardio out of it or not. But I think I'd like a real dance class too. I haven't taken a ground dance class in a while - just the aerial these past few years.....and taking these hybrid dance classes made me want a real dance class too.
On another note, there is a trance dance scheduled in two weeks at this same studio and I'm not sure it would be my thing, but I'm going to try it. Think of the whirling dervishes, people dancing into altered states of consciousness....dances of ecstasy. I saw a documentary called "Dances of Ecstacy" a few years ago, which was very interesting. I read a book about this subject afterward and then promptly forgot about it until now. Last month, I read a novel called "The Witch of Portobello" which deals a little with ecstatic dance and that sparked my interest again..
So during this trance dance, you dance wearing a blindfold (to assist you in an inner journey and avoid distractions). I bet this will look funny to someone watching - a bunch of blindfolded people in a room dancing and trying not to run into each other! Hopefully it's not too crowded. I know it sounds a little odd, but I want to try it. I have felt a state of ecstasy while dancing before while I wasn't blindfolded, so I think I could achieve this. Who knows, maybe it's better than eating mushrooms in a redwood forest. I will definitely report on this when I do it!
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| Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008
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12:05 pm - New Artist Website
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This is a new website of Dennis Diadezzio, a friend of mine: http://www.diaddezzio.com/
He also does geometric paintings that are not done by computer. Below is one that is called the Amon Trinity. It represents the sun, moon and earth. Kevin has a jacket with this embroidered on the back. He also has an embroidery shop and can put these images on a variety of clothing. Please contact him if you are interested in any prints, paintings or embroidery work.
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| Thursday, December 20th, 2007
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12:01 pm - trapeze duet performance from this summer
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well, since I'm on a roll, posting to livejournal twice in one day. I thought I'd add this one too. It's from a performance at the aerial dance festival this august - a trapeze duet. By the way, the audience is laughing at another act that was on the stage at the same time as us. While performing, I had forgotten about that and wondered if perhaps my pants had fallen off or something. I looked down and all clothing seemed intact and then I even asked my partner if he was doing something funny. Then I saw the others on stage as we spun around and I was like, "oh yeah, they're laughing at them!" I'm happy with the beginning half of this piece but don't like how the ending turned out. It was a bit of a struggle to get this routine done.
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10:00 am - Jester trapeze performance
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| Friday, November 16th, 2007
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11:45 am - Photography print sales
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I've set up a site to sell some of my photographs as prints: http://kpiljay.finerworks.com Not everything is up there, but if you see something on my main website that you'd like a print of, let me know and I can upload it there http://www.wanderlustphotos.com Also, if you'd like a different size you can request that. The way it is set up, you have to specify a size.
One thing that is cool about that site is that you can order prints stretched on a canvas like a painting.
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| Sunday, November 4th, 2007
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11:25 pm - Theatre of the Vampires
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| Tuesday, September 27th, 2005
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2:51 pm - dancing
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yeah! I danced today! Not as wildly as usual, of course. But nevertheless, I danced and it was fun! On the road to recovery!
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| Wednesday, August 17th, 2005
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10:33 pm - I love Boulder!
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Well, finally I'm posting something here. The last few weeks have been crazy, with the aerial dance festival, looking for a place, moving and all that. Well, I found a house to live in. I'm sharing it with one woman who I met off craigslist. I have a bedroom, office and my own bathroom, a big yard, garage.....it's very residential, with big trees in the yard and quiet. It's in north Boulder.
Wow, I think I found a place I belong and really feel at home. It's an outdoor activity mecca. It seems like heaven to me. I've never seen so many bicyclists too! I went for a ride on trails today. So nice for my mountain bike, it feels at home on the dirt. I've climbed a few times already and the climbing is good and the scenery gorgeous. It's nice to see those mountains every time I drive somewhere in Boulder. In fact, I can see them from my window too, although the tree blocks a bit of the view (which it won't in winter). But it's nice to look at a tree too!
The aerial dance festival was fun and I met a couple there who are also climbers. I took lots of pics! Over 400.
I'm climbing Mt. Elbert tomorrow, the highest mountain in CO, although certainly not the most difficult. Actually one trail is only 7.6 miles roundtrip. It's second highest in the lower 48, just 50 feet or so less than Whitney. But sounds like it's an easier hike than Whitney!
And then next week I'm climb Long's Peak, but not a hike, more like a rock scramble (class 3). This will be much more difficult. Maybe a 14er a week until I go to Peru? Well that might be a bit much.....but who knows.....
I'll be back in LA in mid-sept. to fly to Peru on 9/21.
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| Wednesday, July 6th, 2005
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3:21 pm - free books
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ok, I need to pare down my book collection. the books below are up for grabs. whatever is left, I'm donating to the library. seems that there aren't too many used book stores in LA (unlike San Francisco). I contacted one in Santa Monica but they are only interested in buying philosophy books.
So here's the list. Some are paperback and some are hardback. If you want any of them, let me know.
nonfiction
The Elegant Universe - Brian Greene
The Backbone of the World - Frank Clifford
Black Elk Speaks - John G. Neihardt
The Face of the Deep - Thomas Farber
Pilates - body in motion - Alycea Ungaro
Prozac Nation - Elizabeth Wurtzel
A Small Place in Italy - Eric Newby
A Woman's World - true stories on the road
Where White Men Fear to Tread - Russell Means
Michelangelo - Howard Hibbard
Travels in a Stone Canoe - Harvey Arden and Steve Wall
The Discoverers - Daniel J. Boorstein
The Stones of Venice - John Ruskin
Frida - bio of Frida Kahlo - Hayden Herrera
In the Ring of Fire - a pacific basin journey - James d. Houston
Connections - Gabrielle Roth
L'art du T'ai-chi chuan - this is in french
A thousand days in Venice - Marlena de Blasi
Sleep Demons - an insomniac's memoir - Bill Hayes
Paula - Isabel Allende
An Unexpected Light - travels in Afghanistan - Jason Elliot
Modern Pagans - V. Vale
fiction
Ecotopia - Ernest Callenbach
Cold Mountain - Charles Frazier
Chocolat - Joanne Harris
Thousand Pieces of Gold - Ruthanne Lum McCunn
Portrait in Sepia -Isabel Allende
Daughter of Fortune - Isabel Allende
Of Love and Shadows - Isabel Allende
Bridget Jones Diary - Helen Fielding
Resistence - Anita Shreve
The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver
Profane Friendship - Harold Brodkey
Passion - I.U. Tarchetti
L'Enfant des Neiges - Nicolas Vanier (in French)
Stardust - Neil Gaiman
Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman
Dark Masques (various authors - horror)
Island of the Sequined Love Nun - Christopher Moore
The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove - Christopher Moore
Graphic novels
Death - the high cost of living - Neil Gaiman
Death - the time of your life - Neil Gaiman
The Dream Hunters - Neil Gaiman
The Sandman- The Kindly Ones - Neil Gaiman
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| Monday, July 4th, 2005
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5:43 pm - Free Tent and other camping stuff
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Ok, who needs a tent? I bought a new tent, an REI quarter dome. I wanted some smaller and lighter, which it is. It's a tight fit for 2 people, but it's under 4 pounds and very compact.
My old tent is wounded but could be fixed. These are its wounds: broken zipper and a broken pole. The pole is splinted so it's not really an issue. I think the zipper can be fixed at rei for about $5 or $10. I think the tent was about $150 6 years ago. Other than that there's nothing wrong with the thing. It's a dome tent and very spacious for 2 people. Basically fits 2 people plus your gear inside. It weighs about 7 pounds. Comes with a tent fly of course.
let me know if any of you or any you know might want it. It's a shame to just throw it away, but since I'm moving I want to get rid of all extra things. I will later post things I am selling or giving away in case any of you might want something.
Oh for sure, I have a sleeping bag to give away too. It's a north face cat's meow rated to 20 degrees and it is in fact 11 years old, but I swear it looks and feels the same as it did then. But hey, it's free, so why not? It's a short (and a little too short for me) for someone 5'6" and under (I'm actually 5'6" and 3/4, so almost 5'7". It's blue and it's synthetic....not down. I bought a new down one that compresses more and rated a little colder. I'm going to be doing more backpacking type stuff and want more light and small things. But this one is great for car camping or a short backpacking trip anyway.
I also bought a new thermarest that is smaller and more compact. I have a larger, thicker one that I may sell. Not sure yet if I may keep it as backup. Hmmm, I guess there's not point. Never had a problem with my previous one and I've had it 6 years. I alway made sure to keep it away from anything that could possibly puncture it. Would anyone be interested in a thermarest for $25? I paid about $70 for it.
I will post the other stuff a bit later, after I figure out what I have, what I want to keep, etc. If you guys aren't interested, then I'll head over to craigslist.
I also will get rid of some books. Not sure if there are used book stores to sell things here. I could make a list or bring them to a hike???
they already rented my apt! that was fast. In order not to have to pay for the first week in august, I will have to move out July 25. That's 3 weeks! eek!
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| Monday, June 27th, 2005
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10:39 pm - geeks vs. nerds vs. dorks and the missing link
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Ok, I remember this being discussed on the hike before. Of course, dorks is a negative term to me, while the others are not. What is the difference? To me the geeks are people into technology and science, and rather different from 'mainstream.' But how do you guys define geeks? What about nerds and dorks? Is dorks negative to you? Nerd is more of a style or behavior thing to me.
I ask because I have a friend who seemed to be confusing nerds with geeks (he used the word geek) and then when I talked about the geekhike, he said maybe he'd been using the word incorrectly for many years. So now he's not sure if he's a geek, nerd or dork. And he said this: Maybe I'm like the missing link? The genetic mutant linking together all Geeks, Nerds and Dorks. You could stuff me and stick me in the Smithsonian." LMAO
I'm pretty sure he's not a dork, but he could be a hybrid geek/nerd. Not sure as I haven't met him. Our friendship thrives on chat. How can I tell what he is? I gave him the link to the Myers-Briggs test.
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| Thursday, June 9th, 2005
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10:24 am - for you new rock climbing animals
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yeah, you know who you are. I just wanted to alert you to this site, if you haven't checked it out already: http://www.rockclimbing.com
I'm on there as 'jestress' and you can post in forums, get info on places to climb, find climbing partners, talk about senseless crap....it's all there. I've been using it for getting info on the places I'm thinking of moving: Boulder, Flagstaff, Durango. Durango was winning but then some guy did a big push for Flagstaff. So confusing.
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| Wednesday, June 8th, 2005
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12:13 pm - roaming gypsy thoughts
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well, I may leave LA sooner than I thought, or at least temporarily.... If I can get out of my lease early, then I was thinking of leaving early August and go on another road trip, but this time stay a week or longer in various cities I think I'd like to live: Boulder, Durango, Flagstaff (and maybe add Taos into the mix) to see how I feel in each place. Then I'd come back to LA for a few weeks before going to Peru in Sept. This would mean giving up my apt. (and my rent) and lightling has offered a place for me to crash while in LA. So this is an idea brewing in my head...... I would need to decide by the end of this month to give a notice that I would leave August 1. Wow, now it seems so soon. But that way I could travel with no rent expenses for a while (and also while in Peru). A bit scary to ponder it - kind of like being homeless or something. Well, just for a bit.....
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| Monday, June 6th, 2005
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12:55 pm - I'm back
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I drove back yesterday and now it all seems like a dream. I'm back in my apartment and it almost feels like I never left. weird. Didn't go bouldering yesterday as I couldn't find the place, but climbed Mt. Elden instead. Quick jaunt of less than 3 hours but it made me tired on the way home. I loved driving the whole trip, except the trip back on 40/15/10. It was boring and long. I guess it's like when you climb a mountain and coming back down is always a drag.
So now I have to sort through all these photos!
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| Saturday, June 4th, 2005
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8:58 pm - finally went climbing!
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I met the guy off rockclimbing.com this morning (Todd) and we went to climb in a place called "The Pit." It was fun climbing and he was cool. Funny that I found out he was in Indian Creek the day I went there to climb/photograph and he said they left about an hour or so before I arrived there because they got rained out. Met a bunch of other people there from Phoenix and some the girls invited me to eat Thai food with them afterward in Flag. They are super nice and we exchanged emails. I'm going to go to a place to boulder tomorrow morning/afternoon then I'll head on home. Todd said he'd go the bouldering place too. The Phoenix people went home tonight.
I switched to a private room at the hostel. So nice.....no more dorm rooms for me, thank you. The pink cadillac guy now calls me Durango, so now I have a new nickname I guess.
So this trip is coming to an end, but sometime soon they'll be another!
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7:08 am - and the train toots all night long
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So....at first I thought "how cute there's a train that runs through town." I love trains and I love the sound of them. Makes me think of traveling long distances....My grandfather was a hobo for a bit in his late teens, during the depression. He road the box cars from PA to CA and back. When his short-term memory started to go, he still retained that memory and I remember him bringing it up frequently the last few times I saw him. Anyway, the hostel I'm staying is one block from the train tracks....and the trains run all night long, and each one screams loudly as they approach town and the intersection. Didn't get much sleep. Also, I'm sleeping in a dorm room. It was $41 for a private and $18 for dorm, so even though I often find it difficult to sleep in shared rooms, I opted for that. Hmmm, mistake...too many people going in and out last night. Would work fine if everyone went to sleep at the same time, but that just doesn't happen in reality. I may change to a private room for tonight. So much for saving some money....well, that is if there's even a private available. Great location though (except for the trains) as it's next door to my internet cafe.
I went to Sedona yesterday. I understand the reference to disney land now. Beautiful location, surrounded by red rock cliffs, but the main strip is like something made only for tourists. They even have 'pink jeep tours.' I took some photos of those for you, Lightling! Anyway, did a hike up to cathedral rock - very nice, but rather short hike.
Finally I found someone to rock climb with today and he shoud be here in about an hour or so.
Flagstaff is nice. Wouldn't mind living here either, I think. Although one of the guys working at the hostel thinks I belong in Durango. I told him where I'm from and where I might go and he said "no, you don't want to go to Boulder, that wouldn't work for you....but Durango, that's a possibility, I could see you there." He seems ammenable for me to be in Flagstaff too, but this morning when I saw him, he said "Durango, yes definitely Durango" instead of good morning. Then he got in his pink cadillac and drove off. hehehe.
okay, need to finish breakfast and do some work.
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| Friday, June 3rd, 2005
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10:32 am - There's nothing out there..well, except nature.
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That's why a guy I spoke with at the northern rim of the Grand Canyon said to me about the scenic drive to the canyon. I had to laugh about his comment about "nothing" being there, then a pause, and then he said, "well, except nature." I would have thought he was from NYC or something, but he was from Colorado Springs. It is a beautiful drive of curved roads through the pine forests. I loved it - one of my favorite drives, although, southern Utah was probably the best though. This was very curvy, but you could still go pretty fast.
So finally I made it to see the Grand Canyon and I was a bit underwhelmed to be honest. Well, it's BIG and it's pretty, but not as special as the canyons in the canyonlands of Utah. I went to the north rim, where only 10 percent of visitors go. It seemed fairly popular there, so I can't imagine what the south rim is like. I did a short day hike from the rim down into the canyon, just under 4 miles roundtrip. They have all these warnings about people dying in the canyon of heat stroke and running of water....etc., so I was conservative in deciding how far to hike in. I think the warnings are mostly for inexperienced hikers. Those people who never hike as a lot of tourists visiting the Grand Canyon are probably not hikers. The tricky thing is also that you descend first, which is easy, so I think a lot of people think "oh this isn't so hard I'll keep going," but they do have to go back UP, which is a lot more strenuous. On the way down, I saw many people on their way back up and most of them seem to be suffering in various degrees. So I was curious how much I would suffer on the way back up. It only took 30 minutes to hike down to the tunnel, where I ate a snack and went back up. Well, it took 50 minutes to go back up and although it was certainly more difficult than walking down, it wasn't that back at all really. Didn't seem that strenuous to me. I guess all those sunday hikes and bike rides have paid off!
That all happened yesterday and now I'm in Flagstaff trying to decide whether I stay another day or leave this afternoon. I would like to rock climb if I can find someone to climb with today or tomorrow. I'd also like to see Sedona. Seems like I should stay another day.
After my Durango visit, I got to thinking that I really liked Durango (during my short stay there) and would consider moving there rather than Boulder. One thing, it's closer to the southwest, which I like very much. Only a little more than two hours to my beloved canyonlands in Utah! I should have stay another day in Durango, but I thought of that more on my drive out of there and it seemed silly to turn back. Also, Flagstaff is nice too, wouldn't mind living here either. Hmmm, too many places to choose from. Although one thing is for certain that I decided on this trip is that I don't want to live in LA. I have to leave. Just can't decide where to go.....Boulder, Durango, Flagstaff....
So after Durango I went to Mesa Verde and did some tours of the palace cliff house and balcony house. This was very interesting and the balcony house was sort of fun as you had to climb ladders to get to the site and you also had to crawl through a tunnel to get out. They labeled this as an 'adventurous tour.' I guess this is adventure for "normal" people. The ranger showed us the way the people who used to live there entered and it was a rock climbing route up the cliff. then she said that of course we wouldn't enter that way but would go up ladders and said if it was necessary to climb the cliff that not many tourists would visit the site. I piped up "I would!" and she laughed and said, well yeah, they'd be different kind of tourist. She wouldn't let me climb the cliff to get up there. :( I've been deprived of climbing so I was excited even to climb ladders, but well, it's just not the same. Another interesting side note about Mesa Verde, they have a break out of the bubonic plague! Apparently dead animals have been found near the museum that have died from the plague and they warned us if we got a flea bite that becomes infected to go the doctor immediately, otherwise you'll be dead in 5 days! No humans have been infected with the plague so far.... geez! back to the black plague...
after that I headed to Monument Valley and just missed the sunset so I got up early and took some pics in the morning, then I drove to Page, Arizona and took some photographic tours of the antelope canyons - I got some AMAZING photos of these slot canyons! They are really incredibly beautiful. I met another photographer in Antelope and he said you have to get permits far in advance for Paria Canyon (even for a day hike), so I decided not to go there on this trip. next time....
So that's it so far and soon I'll be on my way back! It's been an interesting trip and I've met people here and there, trading stories and offering travel suggestions....etc. I need to do this again in the not so distant future. It suits me as a wandering gypsy type spirit. Next time I'll slow down though and not move every day!
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