Indian Market & Powwow

  Yesterday was the day that Guitar and I volunteered to work at the Tesoro Foundation Indian Market & Powwow. This will be the third year that I have volunteered for this event and I enjoyed myself more this time than at any of the other times.

My assignment for this event was “Artist Ambassador” which as I mentioned in a previous post is a fancy name for a “gofer”. It was however, a blast. I spent four hours walking among the artist booths, talking with the artists and helping them in any way I could. This is a juried show and the artists represented all sorts of talents. Jewelry was probably the most prominent talent but there was also pottery, painting, leather work and a lot more. The picture to the left is the artist Pahponee and her first place winning vase/urn. She really had some nice ceramic ware and seemed to be selling quite a number of items.

Another artist, Venus Brightstar was selling her leather creations which the ladies seemed to love. She had a second place ribbon for the item you see in the picture. I asked her if she did “guy” stuff and she said she did but had sold everything at her last show. When I told her I might be interested in a vest, she took my name and address and promised to send me some pictures of what she could do. That should be interesting. I told her not garish but a bit understated….? We’ll see.

At 1 pm they had the opening ceremony for the powwow portion of the event. There were about 75 Native American dancers and  they all made a grand entrance which was pretty impressive. I’m sure Native Americans of 100 years ago did not have costumes with all the brilliant colors I saw yesterday but I guess even Native American costumes have to keep up with “fashion”. Here are some pictures of the dancers…young and old.

I brought the RV to the house this morning and am beginning to pack it for our trip to Moab. I have got the proverbial “hitch itch” and the sooner I can get on the road, the better. It seems the weather will be pretty warm there, high 80’s with a chance of thunder showers every day but I’m oh, so ready regardless of what the weather is.

In just a little while we’ll be leaving for the airport to pick up Ladder Lady. I know The Bride is anxious to see her Mom. She’s excited that she will be able to show her a part of the country she has never seen before.

This will probably be my last post for a number of days. Thursday I’ll be in a campground with WiFi but I’m guessing I won’t get a chance to do a post until I get back.

Thanks for visiting.

26 May - Road Trip Day 5

Day five of our road trip and The Bride and I were going to explore some areas of Arches National Park that we had not seen before. On schedule this day was a hike to Landscape Arch and Delicate Arch and what ever else we could cram into the day. Since this was Saturday of Memorial Day weekend our plans were somewhat ambitious.

The rest of the group was out for another full day of four wheeling and they were going to do the "Trilogy", three of the most famous of all the Moab trails. I had done this ride with the group several years ago so I didn't feel like I was missing something other than the fellowship.

We started out at about 7:30 am and the weather forecast was for temperature in the upper 80's to low 90's. By the time we got on the trail is was already starting to feel warm. The hike in wasn't real strenuous but we took our time and looked at everything along the way. The cactus were just beginning to bloom and we saw several colors. Hard as we looked we did not see the most prized of all cactus flowers, a claret cup.Landscape Arch was just amazing. A portion of Landscape Arch broke off in 1991 and the arch today appears to defy gravity. Even if it were possible I don't believe I would try to walk across it in it's current condition. The Bride commented that Landscape Arch looked to be more delicate than Delicate Arch!

We also hiked on an adjacent trail and were able to see both Wall Arch and Navajo Arch. At Navajo Arch there was a magnificent panorama view of the LaSalle mountain range just outside the park.

At about 10:30 we began to walk out and met with a steady stream of people walking in. When we got to the parking lot, what had been virtually empty when we came in, was now overflowing and people in their cars were following people coming off the trail to get their parking spot.

I made an executive decision that we wouldn't do any more in the park that day and we headed back to the KOA for a leisurely lunch. After lunch The Bride went into Moab to do some shopping and I brushed up on my technique of napping.

In the evening all of the group some thirty strong got together at a room at one of the local motels for a pot luck dinner and slide show of the weeks activities. A great time was had by all.

Thanks for visiting.