The best photographers rarely bother taking photos in the middle of the day because they know it's all about the quality of the light, and the quality of the light is at it's best within an hour of sunrise or sunset.

I rarely even see the hour after sunrise! But, once in a while, we're in the right place at the right time around sunset. Never have I seen the setting sun change the landscape so dramatically as yesterday here in Big Bend National Park. Desert sunsets are simply magic, that's all there is to it. We were on the river till almost 5:30, so our 40-50 mile scenic drive back thru the center of the park took us thru prime time!



One of the truly unique peaks in Big Bend is called Mule Ears. We decided to take the short drive to a specific Mule Ears overlook. Since we had only passed a few cars all day long, we were sure surprised to see half a dozen cars at this parking lot and people standing all around. On closer inspection, we saw they were all painting.



Come to find out, it was a workshop given by two professional artists, David Caton and Bill Zaner. Hey Emily! I know you're in a watercolor workshop in Italy right now ... how about trying Texas next! David didn't have his own website but said you can find him on www.harrisgalleryhouston.com and Bill's website is www.BillZanerPaintsTexas.com and there is definitely contact information on Bill's site. This class was all working in oils, but we were told they do workshops on watercolor too. Here's David at work:



Back on the road and on to the next mountain scene, the Chisos Mountains. Just the road itself was quite gorgeous, don't you think?



And, most anywhere you look.



Here are the Chisos from a distance.



And we made it up to the top of the Chisos road *just* in time to catch the full sunset.



OK .. the day is done. Can't take any more pictures. Still 28 miles to go to home. What a day.

Houn,
You asked about kayaks. The yellow one (mine) is a two-person Ocean Kayak Malibu Two I bought on Ebay. The original reason I got this boat was to use it solo as a dive kayak and enable Chris and I to paddle together. Chris soon realized she wanted her own boat for diving. If you go far enough back in the blog, you will see what happened to her first kayak.
Ocean Kayak makes several two-person kayaks. Google "two person kayaks" and you will find more.