Thursday, September 17, 2009

Thursday, Sept. 17



This afternoon I went to visit some old friends who live in the Salt Lake City area: Barbara and Bob Aikin. Barbara was Charley Cochrane's head tech(nician) when I started working for him at Scripps in 1969. We worked together there for a number of years until Barbara retired in the late 70's (I think). We've kept in touch over the years and seen each other occasionally at various events. When I was in Salt Lake City two years ago, I was able to visit with Barbara briefly (Bob wasn't home). This trip I had more time to spend and we had a very nice visit all afternoon and then went out to dinner.

Bob was in the Army during WWII, stationed in Germany, and had a very interesting collection of weapons (knives) he had gotten while he was over there. There was also a very interesting coin collection that he acquired from from a German soldier. Their display also showed the various medals Bob had gotten, including a bronze star.






On our way back from dinner, the sun was just going down and the clouds and mountains formed a gorgeous picture that changed by the minute as the sun set. The clouds took on pastel hues and almost blended into the mountains. I am still a little confused as to why these clouds were pink and purple and looked for all the world like the sun was setting behind them, when, in reality, we were looking due east! Barbara assured me the sun was setting in the opposite direction and that these colors were the reflection of the sun's rays off the clouds and the mountains. Maybe the soft pastel colors were because of this and normally I have viewed the sun setting behind the clouds, rather than on the opposite side of the horizon. Anyway, for whatever reason, the cloud colors were beautiful tonight.






The white color on the tops of the mountains is not snow, just light-colored rock.











Now, if I used the "sunset" setting on my camera, the subtle pastel colors became a vibrant, reddish-orange which was more like the sunset colors I'm used to seeing, but, truthfully, I kinda liked the pastel hues better (and they were what we were actually seeing.)






This is the view through the car window. It was so beautiful, I just couldn't stop.

(and I still think the sun might have been glowing behind those clouds --- see the bright circle of light just to the left of center?)


2 comments:

  1. Hi Sue,
    I justs got caught up on your blog after about two weeks of not viewing it! Great job! I loved Salt Lake City and have stayed at that same campground a couple of times. It's so convenient to downtown and you can get a bus right in front. I spent two weeks in Salt Lake City doing genealogy about 8 years ago. I miss the West but that's where I'm going next year. Colorado is my main destination. I've been so busy since I got back home and can't believe I've been back a month now. Enjoy the rest of your trip and the Rally. I look forward to continuing your journey with you! Ginger

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  2. Thanks, Ginger. The rally officially starts today (Monday) and we start going to the Library tomorrow. This is a small rally, only 8 Roadtreks and 14 people. But that's probably a good thing as we novices can get more personalized help from the two gals leading it. I didn't know you were into genealogy. How far back were you able to go on your family tree?

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