Arches National Park near Moab Utah is spectacularly beautiful. This trip was made even more special by a musician playing under Windows Arch. Everyone was mesmerized. The sound coming from the small black steel drum was hauntingly ethereal. Wow! What a treat!!
We drove right to the end of the park where there are various trail heads for hikes. At dusk we took a hike to Delicate Arch where we watched the sun go down. All the red stone formations turned a glowing pink colour. Stunning!
Drove the Flaming Gorge Scenic Byway to Moab today. It starts in Utah, heads a bit east and into Colorado and then south a ways before heading west again into Utah. Lots of open plains areas until we got into the red rocks. (Puts Sedona rocks to shame!)
One can’t go to Yellowstone National Park without seeing Old Faithful! When we arrived she had just finished spewing, so we had to wait an hour and a half for the next geyser event. That worked out fine as we spent the time having a picnic lunch and checking out other geysers in the area. I sat at a viewing area and sketched Old Faithful until she erupted at exactly 2:03. Amazing how accurate they can predict the eruptions!
It was cloudy as we drove south out of Yellowstone Park and into Grand Teton National Park. The Teton Range comes right out of flats. No foothills per se. tonight we are staying in Jackson Wyoming.
First stop this morning was the Paint Pots. A nice walk through Lodge Pole Pines took us into a thermal area. Lots of steam and even some boiling mud!
Calcite Springs and the Yellowstone River both cut their way through the sandstone rock of the area. Calcite springs leaves a colourful deposit as it goes. Very colourful.
The Yellowstone carves the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Very deep! Gorgeous views!!
The lower hot springs at Mammoth are walkable and very interesting as you can get very close to them. The upper terrace is a driving loop. It is amazing what formations thermal hot springs can create!
The first day in Yellowstone National Park we drove the upper loop. Gorgeous open area with elk and bison in abundance!
Don and I have booked for two nights at the Yellowstone Gateway Inn in Gardiner Montana. It is the town just north of the North Entrance to Yellowstone National Park.
Gardiner is the home of the Historic Roosevelt Arch. The local school is near the arch and Don and I had a laugh as a herd of elk were eating and resting in the schools football field.
Don and I took a walk around the town of Gardiner. They seem to have no shortage of elk in the town. As we walked down streets I was closer to the elk than various handbooks on Yellowstone suggest. They sure aren’t afraid!
Pompey’s Pillar National Monument is a massive sandstone outcrop that rises 150 feet from an almost two acre base on the banks of the Yellowstone River.
Ethnographic and archeological evidence indicates that this Pillar was a place of ritual and religious activity. In 1806 Captain William Clark (of the Lewis and Clark expedition) stopped here.
Here are photos of the other FAN members’ journal pages.
At the end of the conference these pieces are swapped amongst the members. I have five different pieces from five different FAN members that I received at five different conferences over the years and I proudly display in my studio.
A group of fifty fanatic fibre artists flew to High River Alberta to share ideas and plan future exhibits. Fibre Art Network is an organization that unites fibre artists from across western Canada. What a great time!
One of the long standing traditions is for each artist to make a journal sized fibre art piece, that the artist describes to the entire group and then it is given to another fibre artist participant.
This year my piece was called, "Is Hindsight Really 20/20?" In it an eye looks toward the west and sees ongoing political and societal problems, murdered and missing women on the highway of years and the TransPacific Pipeline controversy.
I am excited to give this piece to a new member of FAN, Cindi. I hope she enjoys it and will hang it in her studio to remember her first FAN Conference.
I am honoured to have my self-portrait "Fibre Lover’s Fun Day" chosen to tour with the Manitoba Rural and Northern Juried Art Show along with many other artists. In particular, I am pleased this show has a total of five fibre artists! Wow! Fibre Art is really in its stride!
