Mini Adventures and Finished Products

About a month ago, we took one of Eric's days off to enjoy the last of the decent weather before the season of hibernation set in. We picked a random off-road trail from our handy Arizona back-country guide and set out to commune with nature (or at least drive through it!).

When we stopped for lunch, Kristen had fun throwing rocks at a can usually used for shotgun practice.

Not sure if you can see the small bit of Lake Somethingorother in the upper right corner, but it was pretty! :)

We did a lot of trail driving like this, through rocks and dirt, water and mud.

There were some really technical parts of the trail toward the end that I would have literally had NO idea how to get past. I would have ended up turning around and driving the 5 hours back the way I came. Thank goodness Eric knew what he was doing, and even he said they were some pretty crazy spots for our stock Cherokee!

But, by far, the best part of the trip was when we came on the following sign, posted just off the side of the road:

I'm guessing they've had problems with that in the past!?

But overall, although it was a LONG drive (nearly 9 hours altogether!) over some pretty nasty parts, we had a really good time.

And this past Thursday was my last pottery class in this session. I'll be taking the summer session, too (for as long as I can), and am really looking forward to it. I had several pieces that I managed to completely finish, and then a few others in various states of done-ness. Here are 3 of my first pieces.

This was my very first. The class dubbed it the 'Barbie salad bowl' because it was so small. But I loved how the colors on it turned out, regardless of its size.

Don't worry, my pieces progressively got bigger as the class went on. Here was the next bowl I did. It weighs a ton because the walls are really thick, but I liked the shape a lot.

And then this was the last piece that I had completely finished in this 8-week course (meaning it was thrown, fired, glazed, and then re-fired). I absolutely LOVE how the glazing on this one turned out, with the bright red and white flecks in the middle.

So overall, it was a really fun class with a really great group of people. The next course over the summer is 12 weeks, and, although I'm sure I'll miss several of the classes, I'm so looking forward to seeing what else I can accomplish!

On a totally separate note, does anyone know why I find it physically impossible to change the channel if 'The Wedding Singer' comes on TV? I've seen that movie 5 bajillion times (literally!) and yet I feel like I HAVE to watch it every time. Darn you, VH1, and your Movies That Rock! :)