Woke up to another one of those cloudy, cold and rainy mornings here in the NE. Did get out for a little while and walk around a bit, but it just wasn't that much fun, so I spent most of the day inside reading, drinking endless cups of hot tea and watching old movies. Really not a bad way to spend a day now that I think about it.

   Did get all signed up for another contra dance weekend. This one is in Atlanta in early November. Have been to it twice now and it is always a fun dance to go to. They always do a costume ball on Saturday that quite a few people dress up to. Not me.... I have a hard enough time dealing with anything that goes above and beyond a pair of shorts and polo shirt. Some might consider that boring, but it has taken me years to refine what I wear to dances and it works for me... so I don't think my 'costume' will change much this year.

   Have been doing some research of things to do once it does clear up again. I think I'll be heading for Old Town tomorrow to visit the canoe store and factory. It would be nice if I could corner someone there and find out why they decided to discontinue one of the best 'tripping' canoes ever made. I understand about sales and costs and all, but the 18'-6" Penobscot was an 'Award' winning design that gathered accolades from nearly all that paddled it. Barring an answer, being able to find 3-4 old ones stashed away in a corner would be pretty cool too. I already have at least 3 people who would like one or another one, including me.

    Also made out a list of light houses that are within driving distance of where I'm at. Would also like to go back to Bar Harbor again and take their light house boat tour. The only problem there is that they start at 9:30 a.m. May have to sacrifice a little sleep for that one.

Here are a few pictures from our 7th day on the Grand Canyon raft trip.

Early morning sun on some of the surrounding cliffs.

Breakfast is nearly done and we will soon be packing up and climbing on the boats.

Done with breakfast so everyone is off packing up their gear.

Loading up the boats. We were all pretty efficient by this time so it never took us very long.

More early morning scenery.

  

Looking downriver. 

We pulled in early for our one and only hike of the day. It was going to be a long one, several miles and much of that straight up hill. When they started calling it a 'Death March' I decided it wasn't my cup of tea. I'm glad I decided not to go.

The few of us who stayed spent the day reading and talking and trying to find shade. We finally went down into the canyon and sat under a couple trees or in the creek that was running there.

One of the other raft companies running the rapid we had already gone through before stopping for our walk. I think this one was a Class 5.

It started to cloud up as we pulled in for the night. The light shifted again and made for some real dramatic views.

Looking back up river where more storm clouds were gathering.

Our camp site for the night. Some of the group opted to set up tents in case it rained. I stuck with my plastic sheet figuring that even if it did rain it wouldn't be for very long. Turns out that we only got a few raindrops on us.

If you look close to the tan sandstone layer on the left you'll see a formation called the 'Owl Eye's' for obvious reasons.

 

 

A nice rainbow came out to cheer us on.

Sunset on the cliffs across the river.

Some more clouds and rain up river from us.

Finally clearing up for good and the sun touched the clouds with a little fire.

 

One of my favorite pictures from the trip.