January 3, 2004

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and our best to all of you for a happy, healthy, joyous New Year.

In October Ken and I and son Scott visited the Havasupai Indian Reservation in the Grand Canyon. This is a long drive so we stopped in Bluff, Utah for a night. We had a couple of hours before dinner and decided to hike into a nearby canyon to see some petroglyphs we had heard about. The trail was indistinct, lonely and a bit challenging but the petroglyphs were really worth it. The ancient Indians left their drawings in many Southwestern canyons.

We picked up Scott at Grand Canyon National Park (he’s a ranger there) and traveled to the Havasupai Reservation trailhead for an adventure into the canyon to see Havasu and Mooney Falls. After studying the road map Ken decided to take 44 miles of dirt roads to the Havasupai Trailhead instead of the 110 miles of highway. The adventure began on that road.

It was a bright sunny day and the dirt road started out quite drivable. We did not see another person all along this road. An hour down the single lane road we had to travel into an Indian farmer’s yard, drive around the house and barn, and out again. The road was now just a couple of wheel ruts in the desert. Several times, when the trail forked, Ken got out of the car and used a compass to choose the best trail. He took a wrong turn at one point but thankfully we realized our error and only lost fifteen minutes.

I kept looking at my watch as we needed to have our luggage at the trailhead before noon. We had arranged to have mules carry our luggage down the 8 mile hiking trail. The time was now a few minutes before 11:00 a.m. and we were still on the dirt road. When we saw traffic far ahead on a paved road, it was our first indication we were on the right trail. We arrived at the hiking trailhead amidst much chaos. I couldn’t find anyone at the caretaker’s trailer so we left our luggage on the ground in the hopes that somehow it would magically be picked up by the Indians and their mule train for the trip into the canyon.

We hiked eight miles down into the canyon (you can take a helicopter but that is really cheating). The helicopter is obnoxious as it is terribly loud and travels in and out on the hour. The temperature in the Canyon in October was in the 80’s during the day and as soon as the sun set temperatures lowered into the low 50’s.

There are 600 Havasupai Indians living in their Canyon village. Visitors must purchase a pass for $20 per person and wear this pink pass at all times. The facilities are very basic! We arrived at the lodge and found several visitors waiting to be admitted. They had been there approximately one hour and the woman behind the counter told them the maid did not have the rooms ready and would be back in an hour. After a while the Indian lady came back to tell us that the rooms were not ready, the maid was slow, and to come back later. Ken and I decided to go to the café and have a cold drink. Scott was tired and lay down on the cool floor of the lodge amidst all the luggage of hopeful tourists. Hopeful, that is, of getting into their room before nightfall. Our room was ready when we returned. The lodge is very basic and you consequently don’t spend much time there other than to sleep. No telephone, no TV, no closet but we did have a dresser shell with the drawers ripped out.

Let me explain about the café. It is like something out of the 50’s or earlier with orange, aqua and yellow booths and tables. Hours are 7:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. After that no food is to be found except for the minimally stocked grocery store with little beyond chips, nuts, candy and soda pop. The menu at the café was fatty and boring with French fries and French fries with cheese, Navajo fried bread, fried bread pizza style, hamburgers, salad with hamburger, lots of fats in the diet. The Indians are quite round and we saw several round children. I don’t know what their life expectancy is, but it cannot be very high.

However, the real purpose of our visit is to see the falls in the small river that flows through the village. Let me tell you - the falls are awesome! Sub-surface water emerges from the canyon wall above the village and flows at a constant rate year-round creating an oasis. I imagine that if you visit in the summer months you’ll spend most of your time in the water as the air temperature in the canyon is over 100 degrees.

Walking downstream from the village we soon came to Havasu Falls. Here the river plunges over a 100 foot cliff into a perfect, round, blue-green pool. Lush vegetation encircles the pool and high walls of naked orange rock surround everything. The turquoise pool is decorated with flat rock benches water-carved from the volcanic lava.

A little further down the trail it gets even better. We stepped to the edge of a cliff and looked down on incredible Mooney Falls. The river pours over the center of a horseshoe shaped cliff and free-falls 200 feet into a magnificent pool. To reach the pool you must climb down the cliff. This looked almost impossible.

We began by climbing down vertical lava tubes. Really heavy people would not fit through these. Then we descended the vertical wall aided by ropes, chains and a few rounded footholds. It is straight down 200 ft. Scott went first. He and Ken have some technical rock climbing experience. From below me Scott gave instructions on where I should put my feet while Ken stayed near me and above. I did it! It was truly an adventure and I was elated. The prior year an Indian had either fallen or committed suicide on this climb and Mooney Falls was closed to visitors for some time.

The village has the only U.S. Post Office where mail is brought in and out by mule train. Indians on horseback drive the mules. If you are hiking in the canyon and hear approaching thunder, step off to the side or you will be run over by galloping mules and horses.

There was a 5 MPH speed limit sign for horse riders at the edge of the village. Most slowed to obey the traffic law. However, we saw one young Indian gallop through the narrow village lanes at life-threatening speed. The Wild West must have been thrilling!

Soon after our return home Ken Traveled to Moab, Utah, with the Boulder bicycle club he rides with. They spent three days on Moab’s world famous trails. Ken managed to crash once and bruised his ribs. That’s pretty normal. He recovered in a few weeks.

In early November Ken visited his daughters Melanie and Jennifer in Connecticut. It is always wonderful to watch the families flourishing and the grandchildren growing. The seven grandchildren now range in age from 3 to 18 years.

Our dear friends Nancy and Chuck Hevenor came to Colorado for Thanksgiving and stayed with us. It was great to see them and we had several get-togethers with Nancy, Chuck, Adam and Pete. And, of course, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving feast.

While Nancy and Chuck were here, Nancy created a web site for me and my paintings. It is great; the address is http://diane_wood.home.att.net. I have many new paintings and when Ken has a chance he will add these to the site. Please take a look and see the great job Nancy has done.

December was busy with all the preparation for the holidays. We had a party for friends and neighbors (a sit down dinner for 16). We had another party for friends/artists with about 40 people. I cooked full dinners for both events. It’s really great having our friends visit.

One of our guests gave us tickets to the Ryssby church Christmas pageant. This is a very old Swedish church on a rural hilltop. They have a wonderful choir and have a bell carillon that is lovely to see and hear.

December 14^th we celebrated our 30^th anniversary. Yes, 30 years! It doesn’t seem that long. We celebrated in Denver where we attended the Denver Symphony Christmas Show, then dinner at the Broker restaurant located inside a former bank vault. The restaurant was very lovely with private booths seating four. A large bowl of large shrimp is brought to your table as a complimentary appetizer and a glass of champagne to celebrate our anniversary. A carriage pulled by a handsome Clydesdale horse was waiting for us on the city sidewalk when we left the restaurant. We toured the city enjoying the Christmas lights. The night temperatures were perfect for a carriage ride.

I have taken on the Chair of the Outreach Committee for Longmont Studio Tours. This is really a very worthwhile committee where artists become involved with the community in demonstrations and workshops; it even includes working with the Boy Scouts in their merit badge program.

During the months of November and December I had a show at the Heritage Bank in Louisville with at least 30 paintings there. It was great as I furnished the entire bank with paintings.

I also have 5 paintings at the 1^st National Bank of Colorado. This is a local bank that Ken has an account with. I will also be showing at several venues in January, February, etc.

January 16 I will give a program at the Longmont Senior Center. The first part is a lecture “Discovering the Roots of the Longmont Art Community” and the second portion is “Discovering Your Hidden Talents – An Introduction to Pastels.”

By mid-January I must have another program ready for approval by the Longmont Library board. This program is scheduled for March. Ken is helping me with a PowerPoint presentation. I’ve collected quite a bit of information on art and artists in Longmont for this one hour program.

Ken has started another winter upgrade to his Suzuki Samurai rock crawler car. This time it will be more horsepower with the addition of a nitrous oxide injection system. It never ends!

As you can tell we manage to keep ourselves busy and happy.

Have a wonderful New Year. Till next time.

Love, Diane and Ken