Utah-New Mexico Vacation - Part 4

One of the destinations for this vacation was Albuquerque--specifically, the 40th Annual International Balloon Fiesta.  We had arranged to take a balloon ride on Friday, September 30--the day before the Fiesta started.

We met our pilot and fellow passengers on the Fiesta field before 7 am to organize for our ride.  Balloons only launch during the morning hours.  As the sun warms the earth during the day the warm air rises creating thermal columns of air which make it very unstable for flying during the day.  In the morning and the evening, the thermal activity is minimal and the winds are the calmest. 

After arriving at the launch site, the business of setting up the balloon started.

The envelope was removed from the bag and laid out in a long line. The burners are attached to the uprights, and the basket is attached to the cables on the bottom of the envelope.

The balloon was partially inflated with cold air from a gas-powered fan, before the propane burners are used for final inflation.

As you turn around, you can see other balloons in various stages of inflation.  There are many excited people on the field now.  Even though this is will be my first ride, I can't help but catch the wave of excitement.

Here we are in the basket ready for lift off.

We slowly and gently lifted off the ground.  These folks are our chase crew.  Our pilot stayed in contact with them as we floated above the city.

Other balloons were launched from the same site as our balloon with passengers like us.

There were just under 30 balloons that launched the same morning as us.

I have a fear of heights but I did not have any problems flying in a balloon.  Flying in a high sided balloon basket is not like standing in a roof or a high ladder. You don't get that vertigo feeling. It is more like the ground is unfolding beneath you, and, because you are moving with the wind, you don't feel any wind blowing. The basket does not rock or sway so you can't possibly fall out.

Winds determine a balloon's direction.  The pilot can steer a balloon to a limited extent by adjusting the balloon's altitude to make use of different wind speeds and directions.

We were prepared by our pilot for the three "bumps" that we would feel as the basket touched the ground. 

After we were helped out of the basket by the chase crew, the balloon came down and the process of packing up the balloon began.

Several of the passengers assisted with the packing up of the balloon.

And finally the balloon and basket are packed away in the trailer and we all headed back to the Fiesta park in the chase vehicle.

This was a fabulous once in a lifetime experience.  If you ever get a chance to fly in a a hot air balloon, don't hesitate!

Utah-New Mexico Vacation - Part 3

No trip to see canyons would be complete without a stop at the Grand Canyon.  This picture of my husband and I was taken at Desert View--one of the many viewpoints on the edge of the Grand Canyon in Grand Canyon National Park.

This is another view of the canyon taken from a viewpoint at Grand Canyon Village, just behind Bright Angel Lodge.

The next photo is taken of the Painted Desert within the Petrified National Park.  We had a very brief photo stop in this park. 

We really enjoyed our tour of the Acoma Pueblo and Mission, located 1 hour east of Gallup, New Mexico.  Acoma Pueblo's Sky City is situated on a 370 foot high mesa. This is the homeland for the Acoma people. There are 300 homes and structures on the mesa which are owned by Acoma women. They are passed down in their families. This is said to be the oldest continually inhabited community in the country, dating from around 1150 AD.

If you click on the next photo, you will be able to see the pueblo on top of the mesa.  There were no roads to the top of the mesa until John Wayne came to the Acoma people in the late 50's and wanted to make a movie.  The road was the result of a barter for the right to film a John Wayne movie.  The "John Wayne Highway"is the primary access point to the top of the mesa today.  Most of the 4,000 tribal members live in the nearby villages of McCartys and Acomita--only a handful occupy the mesa on a full-time basis.  However, most families maintain homes on the mesa which they use on feast days and as summer getaways.  There is no running water or electricity on the mesa and plumbing is accommodated via out-houses located on the mesa rim.

We were provided opportunities to purchase pottery and other art directly from the artists as we walked through the pueblo on our tour.

Utah-New Mexico Vacation - Part 2

Bryce Canyon National Park was our favorite park that we visited on this trip.  The scenery at Bryce takes your breath away!

These pictures were taken from various view points in Bryce Canyon.



This is my husband--standing on the edge of Bryce Canyon.

In the gift shop at the entrance to Bryce there were some quilt kits to make your own souvenir of Bryce Canyon.  The kits contained the photo blocks and the pattern.  You have to add your own batik fabrics to make the block sashing and quilt borders.  I picked up one of these kits.

Who knew that you could find something quilt related in a National Park?

Utah-New Mexico Vacation - Part 1

We recently returned home from a holiday to the U.S. - a 20 day tour (Sept 21 to Oct 10) that took us south of Saskatchewan through Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico and then back north through Colorado, and the Dakotas to Saskatchewan. 

With two cameras between my husband and I, we managed to bring home over 3,000 pictures.  It has taken me hours to sort through those pictures to choose just a few to share here on my blog.  Even though I thought I was just picking a few pictures, I have ended up with 11 posts! 

This was my third tour and my husband's first tour with Ryjo Tours out of Tessier, Saskatchewan.  http://www.ryjotours.ca/index.html



The scenery on this trip was constantly changing.  We often looked out of the window as we were travelling to see the most interesting landscapes. 

This picture was taken near Grand Junction, Colorado. 

When we were in Moab, Utah, we visited Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, and Dead Horse Point State Park.

This is a picture of Balanced Rock in Arches.

This is a picture of the famous Delicate Arch, also located in Arches.  This is the rock formation that is on the Utah state licence plate.

This is the view from Dead Horse Point State Park.  You can see the windy roads that the Jeeps and ATV's travel on to explore the canyons.

These pictures were taken in Canyonlands.

This was a picture I quickly snapped as I was getting back on the bus after a lunch break in Richfield, Utah.

The next two pictures were taken at Red Canyon, just outside of Bryce Canyon National Park.

Harrison Mills Quilt Show

This weekend was the annual Harrison Mills Quilt Show.  A small group of quilters--The Stitch and Rip Group--meet weekly in the hall to share their love of quilting and once a year, in October, they host a small quilt show featuring the talents of local quilters.  This is a fund raiser to support the upkeep of the hall.

 

 

This year, I entered six quilts.

 

1.  Lap size All About Halloween

2.  Pumpkin Warm Wishes

3.  Halloween Contemporized Country Squares

4.  Halloween Scrappy Log Cabins (on the left and Contemporized Country Squares on the right)

5.  JR1600 - Ladybugs in the grass

6.  Bear Paw

Line Art / Skinny Strips and a House Warming

Tonight was the housewarming party for our daughter and her fiance.  They took possession of their new house on September 1, 2011.

My daughter had expressed interest in my Line Art / Skinny Strips flimsy when it was on the design wall so I quilted it up and presented it to them as a housewarming gift.

This was the quilt that we worked on in August during Linda's PAR-TAY.  http://silverthimblequilting.blogspot.com/2011/08/third-fab-birthday-par-tay-of-2011.html

Fire Escape

Sometimes you need a project that provides instant gratification on a finish to jump start the creative process.  I also wanted to make use of my existing stash. 

I have been saving a group of Debbie Mumm fabrics for years--at least 10 years--waiting for just the right pattern to come along.   

Terry Atkinson's pattern,  Fire Escape was just the ticket to showcase my stack of Debbie Mumm aqua and red fabrics.  This pattern uses only 5 - 1 yard cuts of fabric plus one contrasting fabric for the lap size (60" x 72") quilt.

This one is now a finished flimsy and moves to the "to be quilted pile".  Let's hope it doesn't spend another 10 years on that pile!