I'm sure that location has you wondering, it's a spot near Robin's house that has great views of both Bell Rock and Courthouse Butte. In addition to that, at a time when it's difficult for us to get parking spaces at the trailheads, we'll find plenty of space to park along the road. For specific directions and the actual location, you'll have to refer to the email as I will not be posting that info online.
Ok, now for this past week's escapade at Yavapai Vista. This will be a short one as I was unable to take too many photos. The reason why will be explained shortly.
Once again I didn't take the time to do the arrival photos - had I realized I was going to have so little opportunity to take pics, I probably would have. But then, as we all know, hindsight is 20/20.
Initially it was just Sandy, Lisa, Nancy and me. So, seeing that no one else seemed to be showing up, we decided to all head up to the actual vista as we did last week.
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| (Front to Back) Sandy, Nancy & Lisa |
Lisa had wanted to get there ahead of time and really wound up pulling up just about the same time as me. However, she did head up to her spot ahead of us. As you can see, Lisa and Nancy had no problem deciding on spots.
What you can't see here is the reason why photos were few. You see, the winds were Great and I don't mean as in gee they were just wonderful like a slight balmy breeze just to keep you comfortable. No, I'm talking about what felt like gale force winds as in "batten down the hatches" everyone. We had to hang onto everything. It was like painting with one hand tied behind your back, but in this case clutching your painting set up madly.
Do you see the white board on the ground by Lisa -- go up and look. Yes, well, right after taking that photo it took a hike all on its own. That left Lisa scrambling after it down the hill a bit.
Sandy decided to set up right near there for her first spot and that's where she started her painting from. I decided that it probably wouldn't be wise to set up my tripod so found what I believe was Nita's spot from last week and sat on the rocks.
This next photo is thanks to Sandy. Oh, this is really interesting. Nancy had texted me the photo and in looking at it in Photos on my Mac, at the top it shows this
When I click on the From Sandy, it opens up messages. -- Ok, I'm getting off topic here, but thought you all might find that interesting. So, now, here's the photo.
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| (L to R) Nancy, Lisa, Me with my hair blowing back |
Oh, by the way, that rock happened to be particularly comfortable -- perfect if you like to sit and paint which is not my norm. Anyway, the winds continued to gust the entire time we were there and the reason why Sandy was able to take this photo is because she decided to move from where she was to what she hoped would be a less windy location. Meantime the part that was holding my water blew over TWICE (I use water mixable oils & use water for cleaning brushes and general cleanup) - anyway, I was continually being splashed. Good thing it was a small container!
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| Sandy's second spot |
Sandy's dilemma at this point was that she hadn't finished the painting she was working on and this was definitely a different view. But, she somehow managed to have it work out.
We all started feeling like we were being beat up pretty bad and decided we should just pack things up. Sandy was the first to get things put away and here she is with Nancy & Lisa.
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| Nancy, Lisa (Packing up) & Sandy ready to go |
So, we headed back down the trail with Lisa leading the way.
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| Lisa smelling a Cliff Rose |
Unlike her bug deterrent, you have to get real close. The shrubs were really blooming though and looked very pretty.
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| (Front to Back) Nancy & Sandy and a pretty trail |
We got to "The" bench and saw LeAnne in the parking lot.
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| Rabbit Ears in the background & LeAnne |
LeAnne let us know that Robin & Hamilton were at the edge of the parking lot painting and had arrived late. However, both LeAnne & Robin packed up and joined us.
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| (Front row L to R) Lisa, Me, Sandy, Nancy (short timer) (Back row L to R) Robin, little patch of white which is Hamilton & LeAnne |
Hopefully next week the winds will have blown through and we can have a more reasonable morning at Robin's location. Hope you all can make it!