It has begun!

After a Thanksgiving feast a week early, winter decided to start early also! We got pounded with really cold weather and a bunch of snow... awesome!

Icicles on the side of the road overtook live plants!

Grasses froze as the snow fell and the water cascaded down and ricocheted off of boulders to stick

The Camry (Eleanor) on the morning of Sunday, Nov 21... I put on chains to get to the ELC.

Quaint (and poorly insulated!) Diablo (H-4) house in the snow!

The entry gate to the ELC... covered in snow!

First snow...

This is a shot from November 18th in the morning. The madness began on the 17th, but this is the picture I have for now... as I write this it is 29 degrees outside and the icicles are forming on every surface I see. It's gorgeous because many of the deciduous trees are barren, allowing me to see what actually is going on around here!

Desert Southwest 3 of 3: Reflection

Has it really been three weeks since I have written on this blog? Yup. 10 days in the Desert Southwest (U.S.A.) with Hannah, Jared, Matty and Andrea.... AWESOME! Great to run that trip through one of my favorite places in the entire world. That is where the current header picture was taken.
I could write about it, but I will just post pictures instead... now that I have figured out how to deal with my lack of internet at home (again!!! ahhh).

Desert Southwest 2 of 3: Pictures

I post this picture because it is the best action shot I have ever taken. Andrea jump kicking Matt while he shoots a fireball. I never saw the outcome (whether the kick landed before the fireball was delivered.) Either way, someone won the round and moved on to play M. Bison in the finals of Street Fighter II.

At the Grand Canyon. It was completely clouded over in the AM but by 3pm we were able to see across it!

At Monument Valley. This is the Left Mitten... but a little bit too small to fit my hand.

Sunset at the Moonlight Springs ranch, where we spent an afternoon emerged in the Navajo culture... we had just begun a closing ceremony during which the medicine man blessed our students and our excursion.

One of the teachers of the school reflects a moment at the Horseshoe Bend overlook. It is 1000 feet down to the Colorado River from this point... be careful not to lose your footing on the slick sandstone. One man fell to his death in front of his family a month before we were there.

Desert Southwest 1 of 3: Pictures

The grottoes and amphitheatre at Bryce Point

Close-up of a Hoodoo

It's called, "Queen Elizabeth Rock." Can you see her holding the bouquet of flowers?

ALL-STAR CREW celebrating another great week!

The day after the madness, we spent an afternoon in Egypt... at the base of the pyramid in the Valley (of sin...)