Not sure what happened this morning, was awake around 6:30, saw that it was to darn early and rolled over for another hour or so.... next thing I know it's 10:30. Guess it's not wasted, wouldn't have slept that long if I didn't need it. Of course staying up until 1:45 last night probably didn't help. Was always more of a night owl if given the chance.

    Worked on photos for what was left of the morning and part of the afternoon. Talked to a friend here in Denver early on and we set up a meet for an early dinner and then a movie over at the dollar theatre. Met Joe at 3:30 and we went and had some wonderful pizza at a new place for me. Really good thin, crisp crust, just the right amount of sauce and toppings. Reminded me a lot of the pizza I had over in Italy. Of course the ambiance wasn't quite the same, especially having Joe sitting across from me.... but it was good pizza!

   The movie we went and saw was the 'Most Excellent Marigold Hotel'. Not sure about the hotel, but the movie was very good. Tons of great actors and actresses in it including Maggie Smith, Judy Dench, Bill Nighy and Tom Wilkerson. The story was heartfelt and the acting superb. I would certainly recommend this movie to everyone.

   Home at a reasonable hour this evening. Spent some time watching some taped segments of the Olympics with Tom and Donna. Will be moving over to Marge and George's place tomorrow night and giving Tom and Donna a break from me. Though they say I can stay as long as I want and that I'm no trouble at all the truth is always somewhat different about guests and we all know it. While I love spending time with all of them and they are the best friends in the whole world, I know that next year when I swing through Colorado I'll need to figure out some other arrangements while I'm in the area. In the mean time I'll go and annoy George and Marge for a week or so.

   In the meantime here are some new pictures from the river trip. Sorry it is taking so long to get these out and posted, but I took a heck of a lot of pictures and it takes time to sort through each days photo's, pick the ones I like and then crop and adjust lighting exposure on them all before posting and writing a short description on each. But it is something I like to do and I would like to think that my pictures are getting better as time goes along. Also; hello to Sweden, a new country with someone who visited the blog, even if it might have been by accident. Welcome.

Day 4 on the Missouri River Trip. August 4th, 2012.

 

Still at the same campsite as yesterday, Eagle Creek. We will spend one more day and night here before moving on again tomorrow morning.

Tom took up playing native Indian flutes a few years ago after 'cutting his teeth' on a soprano recorder that he use to bring along on river trips. those first few years were a very 'painful' time for all of us. He is however remarkably good at playing these flutes, maybe even approaching expert levels these days. All I know is that it is a joy to listen to him play now, especially when he is up some canyon early in the morning on a hike and you can hear his music drifting back down the wind while you are still snug in your tent. Here he was just practicing some songs and it seemed rather appropriate to be playing here in this place.

Would of loved this photo to be a total silhouette of Tom, and who knows, maybe someday I'll photo-shop his shirt black. But it's good enough as it is now.

One of our hikes is up 'Neat Coulee', just behind camp. You start getting into some nice sandstone formations as soon as you walk into the mouth of the canyon.

Fun formations everywhere you look. I think the one on the left looks like the head and neck of a camel.



You are soon surrounded by the walls of the canyon which block most of the sun and cool things off a lot.

Bird Rock?

A nice picture of Tom and Rhodie.

You can see that the canyon walls are starting to get even steeper, higher and closer together.

It has now turned into a true slot canyon.

Sticking out of the sandstone walls are all these bumpy looking blobs that, if my memory from geology class is still good, are called concretions. Meaning that when the sandstone was laid down there were 'bubbles' in the layers from air or other soluble materials that leached out leaving a hole in the rock. Later other soluble materials seeped in and filled the opening before solidifying. Now after eroding a bit it just looks like the walls have a bad case of the warts.



A close up of where one of the warts has fallen out of the side of the wall.

We finally got to an area where Rhodie couldn't climb up and which was to high for Tom to hoist her. We both walked a little further up the canyon, but we couldn't leave her looking like this for to long.

Right at the top of the canyon was this arch and what looks like the remains of another one that use to be right next to it.

Once out on top you get the true feeling of just how big this part of the country is. This photo is looking back up river with our camp in the trees down alongside the river.

A closer view of that same area.

Once done with the hike it was time to go back to camp and cool off. The river was surprisingly cold when you first got into it. Once in though it was like heaven. If someone would of just brought me a cold beer....

We had just finished lunch and were reading our books when this guy decided to join us. Not sure where it came from, but it crawled into a partially hollow cottonwood tree right where we were sitting. It later came back out and wiggled on into some bushes and on up the hill. Not sure what kind it is, maybe a Bull Snake, but it wasn't a rattle snake, even though it did shake it's tail like one when you poked it with a stick.

The sun is starting to set and the light is washing everything that wonderful golden color again. My favorite time of the day by far.

One of the last views before dark.

Woke up in the middle of the night for some reason... no not that one, even though I did end up going to the bathroom anyway. While up it was hard to not notice the cliff across the river and how the moon light made it look in the night. Stayed up and watched it out my tent door for quite some time. Not often you get a view like this from your bedroom.