Road Trip - Coal Mine Canyon

Coal Mine Canyon is a remote gem of the southwest that borders

the Hopi and Navajo Nations.  It  sits on the edge of the 120 mile wide 

Painted Desert, a sparsely settled region without many roads 

but covered by extensive areas of exposed weathered rock. 

There are no signs and these were the directions we followed:

From Tuba City head SE on Main Street (AZ 264) for about 14 miles. 

 Shortly after you pass mile marker 337,  look for a windmill 

to the left.  As you cross the cattle guard the dirt road will fork.  Take 

the right fork to the parking area.

It was about 60 miles from Flagstaff to the turnoff...

As we entered the Navajo Nation our navigation system
made us feel like we  were in the middle of nowhere - but we 
forged ahead since we had been in Tuba City 40 years ago.

And "nowhere" was beginning to look pretty good,

and was ever changing.

However before we could go and walk around
Coal Mine Canyon, we had to stop in Cameron
at the Navajo Parks & Recreation Office to get
a $12.00 permit  - per person.  And we are pleased
to say it was worth every penny!!!

Now remember those directions stated above, and the
mention of a windmill - easy to find and the cows found
it too - and the watering trough.  We found the following
which need no titles - enjoy.

On our way back to the highway, a few beasts

posed for us, but did not even care that we were
talking to them like they were our family pets

Back at Cameron (which is still on the Navajo
Nation land) where geocaching is not allowed,

Don had time to do a Virtual at the old
Valentine's Bridge

while I got a more up close & personal
look.  Beautiful.

Next we turned west towards  the Grand Canyon West entrance

in search of The Little Colorado Gorge Overlook

 which was interesting but due to the dry season
the usual Robin egg blue water (created by the
mineral content during summer months) was non
existent... as was most of the water!

However as we headed back to Flagstaff we saw
a very strange phenomenon...

Road Trip - Four Corners etc.

Day 1 of our multi faceted trip...

Our objective to get above 5,000 feet for

the entire 12 day trip... and to give our new

Honda CR-V Touring a real test drive.

The back seat had room for more stuff because the
cargo area was stuffed full...

And our navigation system gave this photographer
everything she needed to tell the driver what to do.

Our first stop was at one of the most unique and scenic
rest stops we've ever used.  It was called Sunset Point near
Black Canyon City.  Even tho it was on the opposite side
of I-17 it was worth the effort.

And Don found geocache #1

We began to gain elevation and soon were enjoying
the distant clouds and the appearance of Pinon Pines &  Junipers.

Pretty nice.  Now about 85 degrees...

I realized how much I had missed seeing GREEN trees.

And when I spied a Jeffrey Pine I actually had to
go over and verify that it really was a Jeffrey.
Just sniff a crack in the bark and if you smell
vanilla, you've found Jeffrey.  SUCCESS.   AH... 

And, Humphrey's Peak at 12,300' elevation makes a
great backdrop to Flagstaff since it is the highest peak
in AZ and is part of the San Francisco Peaks. 

Since it only took 3 hours to arrive in the Flagstaff area
we had time to do some local "site seeing"...

Pardon my crumpled map, but it spent a lot of time
jumping in and out of my pocket as I lead Don thru

Picture Canyon Natural and Cultural Center which  was
placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.

We hiked for about 3 miles and enjoyed a few of the key
points as shown on the above map.  Basically we were
disappointed... not much to see.  Waterfall minimal
due to it being late in the season

We did enjoy the Petroglyph Site

but it was minimal compared to other southwest sites.

There were numerous geocaches in the park, and this one
"Just Hanging Around" was easy for me, the non-geocacher
to find!!!

Regardless of where we hike  it's always good
to remember to look up now and then - don't you
think Mary Ann.  This one's for you.

Elden Pueblo Archaeology Site was a great place...
a site of the ancient Sinagua (Sin ah' wa) village,
inhabited from about A.D. 1070 to 1275 and

worth the 3 "turns" to finally get to the parking lot.

Last stop for the day pretty nice when we found out upon
checking in at the Best Western Pony Soldier Inn & Suites

we had been upgraded us to a Suite.  Good Night...

Yes, You have to be Warped to Weave....

And I have a button to prove it...  Thanks Madelyn.
Get ready here we go with another weaving lesson.

Yes, those bread cloths I was working on last time
I made a "weaving" post are all finished and waiting
for our local craft show with other handwoven items
I   have completed.

There are basically 2 types of designs.  "Loom Controlled" designs
are determined by the way you thread the loom, tie the harnesses to
the foot treadles and the order in which you step on the treadles.



Tapestry Weaving (my favorite) is a process where the weaver creates the design
and that's my current project.  Ready for some new vocabulary words?

My weft yarn has been wound in balls and placed
on my loom shelf for easy access as I weave.

With Tapestry weaving, the loom still has to be threaded (warped), but the
thread interlacement is basic weaving where the yarn goes over one
warp thread and under the next (plain weave).  

A design (cartoon) is drawn to scale and placed under the
warp threads.
The hieroglyphics are guides for color and weaving techniques
I want to use to get the desired visual result.

Each row of weaving is packed in place with a hand held
tool called a packing fork and not the "beater" that is part of the loom.  You can tell  I'm left handed...

The weft yarn is wound into "butterflies" 

When I step on one foot treadle it raises every other warp thread
which creates an opening between the raised and not raised
threads.   I pass the yarn through the "shed" opening by hand
and hand pack the weft tightly in place - about 30 rows per inch
for these handwoven coasters.

Tapestry is a weft faced weave structure where you only see
the weft as opposed to cloth (loom controlled structures) which
generally show various amounts of both the warp and weft.  As
each neighboring weft weaves thru the shed opening, it must
travel in the opposite direction of its next door neighbor for this technique
which is called "hatching", to work.  For example,
in this shed, the green is traveling toward the left, the turquoise toward
the right and the purple toward the left.  There are numerous variations possible!!!

For this series of Coasters, I decided to weave
a variety of tapestry techniques that I use to create
different looks in each of my tapestries.

For example I did a series of 5 small format tapestries,
which reside in our AZ home, using many of these
shading technique.  Each piece is 9 by 11 inches and framed
in a black 11 x 15 inch shadow box.

These wool Coasters woven on a cotton warp
 will all be about 4.5" x 4.5" with a little fringe..
 #1 finished - only 19 more to go...

Pickleball Indoors...

After sitting around inside for over 3 weeks because

of the  100+ degree temperature... 90 degrees by 8:00 a.m.,

my pickleball playing had completely stopped.  So I went to the

Apache Junction Multi-Generational Center to play "Indoor Pickleball"

LOVED IT   - A/C about 74 degrees.... AHHHHH

I have played before indoors, but didn't like it.  The low lights
were like looking up into the sun the entire time.  Not so here as
this is over 2 stories high which puts the lights higher.  There
is also an indoor track around the mid-high perimeter... you can see people
peering down at us from above.

However, it took me a game to get use to the light reflections on the floor
and when the ball hit and bounced from one of those areas,
 I must say I missed more than a few!!!!

But after a while I got the hang of things and met lots of great
pickleball players, Mike, Bob, Rich, Cheryl, Cheyenne, Sue  Mike H
and one more Mike, etc. etc.

Too many lines appeared on the floor as this basketball court
is also used for Volley Ball and Pickleball and each "sport" had it's
own set of court markings, making things very confusing.
On one court the left "outside pickleball court" line was painted
black, while the right one was painted dark green.   All other
pickleball court lines were painted dark green. 

I played several games with Rich from Flagstaff
and we did real well as a team!!!  Thanks Rich.I played for over 2 hours today and will go back as often as I can till
cooler weather arrives..  Than it's back to our outdoor courts.
It was 102 when I stepped outside to head for home!!!!