In case you missed them: Part 1 and Part 2.
My mother, her friend, and I hopped on the commuter train “The Coaster” in Solona Beach and took it into downtown San Diego for the US Sand Sculpture Challenge. Artists from around the world (not that many) compete for a $60,000 prize. Two of my favorites are below:
The Seed
Close up of The Seed
I assume the one above started as a solid piece and the innards were carved out. It looks like a difficult process. I like the one below because there is some action involved. A shark is trying to eat the boat, dolphins are trying to push the shark away.
We Need a Bigger Boat
Close up of We Need a Bigger Boat
Given the prize amount, these people probably do it for a living. Not to mention, they probably practice making the same sculptures over and over.
After some more dinners and brunches and brothers and nephews, it was off to the train station for the return trip home.
The return trip was pretty much like the trip out. I was even in the exact same train car. It had made a round trip back to Chicago while I was visiting. I was in a different sleeping compartment on the opposite side of the car, but unfortunately due to the train being turned around and heading east, meant that I was going to see the same scenery on the north side of the tracks. One advantage was that we lost some time overnight due to train traffic, so by morning we were 2 hours late. That meant some of the scenery which is not visible in the middle of the night would be visible at dawn.
By dawn’s early light, Williams Junction in Arizona, picking up passengers from the Grand Canyon.
Horses in field between Williams and Flagstaff, AZ.
Some of the things I did on the train between snoozing was to track our speed (we hit 90 MPH at one point), track our position, listen to the railroad communications on my scanner and read a book.
Back in Albuquerque NM getting refueled and windows washed.
And finally back to Colorado.
The drive home from La Junta seemed agonizingly slow. Four hours later, at 1:00 AM, I arrived home and pretty much fell into bed.
