APRIL 14, 2010 More below: CANYON, 2009

Getting closer

Tri-C 2010 Portfolio Preparation class show poster The Portfolio Prep class has moved a couple of big steps closer to our end-of-semester show. The print material, a poster that you see here, and postcards that will be mailed to invitees, are nearly finished.

We have a couple of changes to make and by this time next weeks they should be at the printer. With luck the postcards will be in the mail.

In the digital world, www.vcdportfolio.com went live tonight! There's lot more to be added: samples of student work, downloadable resumes and more, but at least we're up and running with an RSVP form that should give us a sense of how many will attend the show.

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Last year

A year ago we were at the Grand Canyon on April 14th. My notes from that day:

Longer hike today - about 5 miles, almost to Dripping Springs. Joanne lost interest at some point and I continued for about 15 minutes more. Turned back when after I went around the 3rd or 4th bend that I'd vowed "just one more bend in the trail and I'll be there."

I just googled it, and I was less than a half mile from our destination. In the canyon a half mile - depending on where it it - can be a serious bit of hiking. According to the website, though, the last section of the trail is fairly level.

So I missed "a fern-filled cave trembling beneath a massive amphitheater" and "some of the most fantastic views the Canyon has to offer." Oh well.

Today has been a day of adjusting expectations. We were going to get up at 5 a.m. tomorrow to get on the Phantom Ranch wait list, and we were supposed to be at the Backcountry Information Center today at 8 a.m. for the lottery for sites at Indian Garden campgrounds. But... the weather report calls for 28 degrees, snow and high winds tomorrow, so we're wussing out.

Now that we're here I see how more preparation beforehand would have helped. I booked our (expensive) rooms at the historic El Tovar Hotel thinking that it had a soaring lobby built with huge Ponderosa pines. There is a hotel like that, but unfortunately it's not the El Tovar. This place is built with logs, OK, and is historic, but honestly isn't that spectacular. Tomorrow we've moving to the less historic and much cheaper Bright Angel Lodge.