Road Trip ! Dead Horse & Cayonlands National Parks

1st stop Dead Horse Point - The Colorado river cuts through the soft sand stone canyons of Utah's remote countryside on route to Nevada's Grand Canynon. Cold by night & hot by day Dead Horse Point is unforgiving place. The steep to vertical cliffs create an imposing, impassable landscape, leading to the legend that cowboys used to drive wild horses towards the point, trapping them there before capturing the ones they wanted.
Today there's less savage activities, like hiking, biking & rafting. The unseasonably warm temperatures meant our coats & warm clothes remained unused & with no shade the baking sun cooked the hire car.
Mesa arch - not a sight for those, like me who hate heights.

Trail riding Grand Junction to wine tasting

26C, clear blue skies, sharp cactus & a lot of dust - trail riding Grand Junction, CO
Karina flew out via Salt Lake City to join the pain & fun. The blistering heat helped the dirt stick to the sun cream & added a barrier of protection agianst the Cactus spikes too. pic of Ressie flying down & then over "Cutes & ladders"
Unlike skiing; this is the easy way to get back up hill.
3 hours of thirst generating riding allowed us to easily justify a little R&R time sampling the local vineyards.

Colorado bound - hiking & biking

Whilst Karina stayed to shop & catch up with Emma in Chicago, I took a short flight to Denver, had a quick night stop with Ressie's buddy Troy. Ressie flew in the next morning from Hawaii with work & we set about making plans.

Time to be "Sport Billy" !

Ressie's flexible location meant we were able to get out & up into the surrounding Denver mountains to hike & then further on up into the Vail & Brekenridge area to Hike/Bike.
The flat irons were a good way to stretch the lungs & get used to walking at altitude. The 2 hour deceptively steep trail had me gasping to air all the way. If you look closely at the picture you can make out some crazy rock climbers going up the hard way - there was no way I was going to do the same!
Vail in the turning Fall colours of the changing Aspen trees. The warm Indian summer weather was starting to turn the green leaves to yellow, to burnt orange & red - wonderful scenery.
This third day, all day hike up the White River valley trail took us up to 12,000ft beyond these waterfalls .....
.... to a peaceful col lake in the baking mountain sun. I'd only brought along my woolly hat as protection as I'd been expecting snow like conditions at the top, how wrong can you get!

Denny's Arts of Life studio

It's been 16 years since Denny & I last caught up. So I was over the moon to be invited to see what she's created since our days of working with developmentally disabled adults at Camp Jened.

Located in the artistic community of west Chicago, Denny & colleagues have set up an art studio of a broad cross section of artists to celebrate their talents. Using donations, fund raising & community connections the project has grown over the years, moving site & now expanding into a second location for the convenience of more distant attendees.
The studio has a simple principle. The artists own the project, based on a management set skeleton strategy those that attend get to own & input into the running of the studio. The main focus of the studio is art but the group are involved in much more. They have a band & are also involved in the PR & promotion of their work.
To see more visit http://www.artsoflife.org/

U2 & Snow Patrol play Solider Field

We joined Denny & her husband David south of Millennium park for a short walk to Solider Stadium (home of the Chicago Bears). The massive 65,000 venue was packed out for the 2nd night of U2's new world tour.I'd bought the tickets on line from a ticket exchange so was more than a little nervous that I'd wasted 6 peoples time with fake tickets (as all I'd received were internet print outs) but my fears were alayed & everything went to plan.

Snow Patrol warmed the rapidly filling stadium up before the main event. Due to the risk of tickets not being valid I'd pitch at cheap seats right up in the gods - the visual spectacle was stunning & so much better than being down in the crowd.

Click to listen to the atmosphere (2 complete tunes)

Final number & exit (6 mins long)

Chicago Cubs vs Cincinatti Reds

A short ride up the Red line to the Lincoln Park area of town is Wrigley Park, home to the Chicago Cubs.
Karina, Emma & I soaked up the warm Saturday atmosphere & attempted to decipher the rules of commercial rounders as the game went along. We were aided & abetted by an avid fan & soon learned the rudimentaries, including the sponsored freebies, (such as a free Dunkin Donuts coffee should an "in" (a run) be made in the third innings).

The Game in a nut shell - 1 side throws it....

.... everyone inhales with anticipation......

...... the other side wack it or miss it ....

... half the crowd goes wild depending on your supporting point of view.... whilst those without one watch on with bemusement.

Everyone then gets stuck into beer, pop corn, pretzels, sodas, T-shirt buying & general chit chat conversation at a volume that anyone can overhear on the other side of the stadium!

We lasted 6 of the 9 sessions (2.5hours) before grabbing some jet-lagged sleep on route Solider Stadium to see U2.

The Cubs won 5-2 to retain a mathematical chance of making the play offs (apparently).

High times in Chicago town

Breakfast near the roof of the world. 97 floor of the Hancock tower

Views are not conducive for those who suffer from indigestion

Brian & Emma help us play eye spy

Then show us around Navy peir

& Millenium park

Storm & Choco - a sherborne affair

Pictures speak a thousand words

but when they don't you can always add video clipage instead - can't wait to roll this out in 25 years time!






Smiles all round then !! Happy Birthday Hagar ;)

Choco loco 1st 3 weeks of fun

9 Weeks10 Weeks
11 Weeks

Garden play with Phesy!

Bloomburg's Summer party

Decadence & fun all day at Oysterley House.


101 things to do, 101 things to eat & drink. Twisting & shouting to the Jail house rock by a sushi bar to stuffing jelly babies & Tango dancing next to the Mad Hatter's tea party.

Balvarian Sauage & Salty bread

Well it's rude not to isn't it :)

Munich & sunshine- a perfect combination to start a 5 day break :)

We meet up with Gordy & CC who brought Iona & Shona into town. G&C must have been camera shy as I've not got a snap of either of them, which is strange given how quiet & bashful Gordy is!

Never to miss a party Doug & Kirsten also flew in to join us. We all meet up in the St Peter's platz before Dougie decided it was entertainment time - nice try fella.

The weekend wasn't destined to be all happy. A sobering trip to Munich's North East side had us visiting Dachau the first Nazi concentration camp. The camp stands quiet & somber as a memorial to those that suffered so much - for more information see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dachau_concentration_camp

Returning to Munich after a night in Gutung (The Finley's souther suberb) we headed for the English Gardens, Munich's Hyde Park were a great morning visit. Being some 10kms in length we went to find wheels & hopped on 2 rental bikes to explore. City goers were out enjoying the weather & by early lunchtime the Beergardens were starting to fill up with weekenders & tourists alike.

Instead of partaking in more beer & sausage during the afternoon we made tracks for the Austrian border town of Fussen & it's fairytale castle countryside & picturesque scenary. We travelled down by train, taking the countryside in as it went by. We spent much of the early trip avoiding being given greif from old grumpy locals keen to shut the drafty open train windows. I let them enjoy the after effects of too much Sausage & cloudy Weisbeer instead!

Neuschwanstein castle is situated in the town of Hohenschwangau 5kms from Fussen. We checked into a local B&B & went for an evening stroll. There's a father & son thing going on in Hohenschangau, with both sides of the valley decorated in these grand buildings. If you want more history click on. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuschwanstein


Karina & I ate Deer Goulash & Gnocchi in a delightful local restaurant before crashing early. We been warned about the tourist buses arriving from 10am onwards so up early & 1st in line to buy tickets. The hike up into the mountains had the heart pumping & the sweat going but it was infinitely more fun than an experience than taking a bus to the top.

The interior is magnificently decorated with every surface painted, carved or cloth covered. The only let down of the castle is that given it's size, it is incomplete. The King's death halted building so most of the buildings are actually unfinished & inaccessible. What was on display however was just the dreamland world that he had tried to create.