Henderson Hill, Utah

We drove up Second Left Hand Canyon pretty early this morning. When we had a view of Noah's Ark, we dropped Valerie off to do some painting. Then we went up the road to the end. At least, we went as far as the snow would let us, which was probably a couple of miles. We got stuck only once and I was able to dig out in a few minutes. (Last time it took at least a half hour and then a guy came by in his F-250 and hooked a chain to the Chev.) We got out of the truck and scrambled up the back side of Henderson Hill until we were on a ridge with scattered hoodoos. It was sort of like Cedar Breaks or even Bryce Canyon. The sun was warm and we could hear the creek during the climb. It was a nice break after a cold week.

http://picasaweb.google.com/aorlemann/HendersonHillUT#

St. George, Utah

Valerie showed at the St. George Art Festival last Friday and Saturday. It wasn't necessarily a great show for her, but it was a break-even effort and she made some good contacts. The best painter at the festival was Arizona-based Charles Thomas. He is represented by a southern Arizona gallery (http://www.galleriatubac.com/artists/thomas/), but he shows in St. George each year. My favorite painting was entitled, "Escalante." Thomas had applied the paint with a palette knife so it was rough and blocky—a little abstract but with a real feel for the area, actually, around Cannonville.

Park City, Utah

It was time for my yearly ski vacation in Park City. So, I went up to Mark and Kristi's place on Friday afternoon and drank their beer and ate their food. It was a good start. On Saturday morning, Mark had to go blasting, so Jason made me breakfast while I spilled a gallon of coffee all over the kitchen. By the time I had that cleaned up, Cylvick was calling me every five minutes to say that he was waiting for me on Crescent. When I got there, we went straight to Jupe. By the time we caught up with Mark, we'd done a couple laps in Scotts, toured Pinecone Ridge, and latched on to Tall Paul. From there it was a hike to High West, a hike to the North Shoulder, and a couple of beers at the Summit House. After a pair of cruisers, we called it a day. Mark had to go to the patrol banquet, so Cylvick agreed to play host to the free-loader. By the time I got my crap off, he was already waiting for me in Wanship. We toured his office (http://www.ziprider.com/) and went home to see the family. We had a beer, a martini, and a bottle of wine while we excoriated capitalists of all stripes. After a good sleep, Sarah mixed some pancake batter and we drank a pot of coffee. It was time to take my memories of good food, great snow, and outstanding friends back to southern Utah.