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When I was in Jackson visiting the art galleries, several of the photographers had some really neat pictures of barns on Mormon Row in Grand Teton National Park. I dragged Mom out there the second day of our visit to the park so that I could take photos of the homes and barns along this road. It was really clear that morning and the Teton Range was crystal clear and made the perfect backdrop for them.
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So after a couple days of re-cooperating at my sister’s house. I resumed the ‘Great American Road-trip’ and picked up my mom in Idaho Falls. We hightailed it out of there and headed up to Jackson, Wyoming. Jackson is a cute town and had some really cool art galleries that we wandered through. One of Jackson’s tourist stops is the town square. It is a one block park, that has these elk antler arches at each corner. It was just screaming for a photo of Rusty so I took one.
However, the real highlight of Jackson was the Pink Garter Theater. Mom wanted to go to a melodrama, but we couldn’t find what she wanted on-line. We did come across this Theater that was showing “Who’s Playing the Sheriff”. It was a musical, in which the audience had to participate. Mom got serenaded and they unwisely decided that they would give me a squirt gun during the bank robbery scene. The actress who gave me the squirt gun told me to shoot anything that moved. Once she moved, I shot her. I was then instructed to shoot anything that moved that wasn’t her. About halfway through the scene, I was soaked and so were the rest of the cast members. At that point the actress came back over and told me that I had lost my privileges and she was taking back the squirt gun. Oops, she didn’t realize who she had given a squirt gun too! Overall, it was quite cheesy, but kind of endearing at the same time.
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In route to get Kathy, I saw a roadside shop with giant arrows and tepees out front. On our way back to Mesa Verde, I pointed it out to Kathy and we agreed that we needed to stop and to get Donnie a postcard of this place. A couple of days later, when we made the journey to the ‘Hogan Trading Post’, we were sorely disappointed because they didn’t have postcards of their giant arrows (or tepees). Bummer. So I took a picture of Rusty next to the giant arrows (look close he’s sitting on the arrowhead). If you are interested, it is for sale, so you could be the owner of this fascinating roadside shop.
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This photo was taken at the Anasazi Heritage Center. They had a lot of cool exhibits there, but being the kids at heart that Kathy and I are, we tried out the kids exhibits as well. We both ground corn and Kathy attempted to weave, but not very successfully (we are blaming it on the poor directions). We also got to see more ruins. The highlight of my visit however, was this crazy puma that they had in one of the exhibit rooms. I thought it was a perfect place for Rusty to get his photo taken.
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Mesa Verde National Park is full of Ancestral Puebloan ruins. The photo above is of Cliff House, which Kathy and I took a ranger-guided tour to view. Ranger Jo was our guide and she was one of the highlights of Mesa Verde. She had all kinds of stories about Grandfather Eugene, who called her “Girl” and “told her to tell her people” this, that, and the other. Every time she spoke of Grandfather Eugene, she would stomp her foot and point her finger at us, it was quite entertaining.
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So Kathy and I arrived at Mesa Verde and the first warning we were given when we paid our campground fees was that there was a bear in the area, so we needed to keep a clean camp and keep all of our food in the car. Now this was nothing new to me, but Kathy seemed a little bit worried. As we rounded the corner to get to the campground we saw this large black cage sitting at the campground entrance, which is similar to the ones they use to transport the nuisance bears in Yosemite. Kathy looked a little more worried and asked what she should do IF she saw a bear. I gave her the run down, but I still think she was concerned that we would get eaten by a bear. Per usual, we never saw the bear, but I thought that the cage was the perfect place for our little plastic bear to get his photo taken. Since it was still there the next day, we squeezed the bear in through the grating and got the photo. I was worried for a moment that we might not be able to retrieve the bear out of the cage, but I was able to rescue it.
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So after my stint in Arches I was a little overwhelmed by all the huge landscapes. A couple of months ago at one of my shows, I was asked if I could shoot anything, all day, everyday, what would it be? My immediate answer was “Macro.” I clarified, by adding “well, not true macro, but compositions of little things that you usually miss because you are looking at the big picture. More like little portraits.” This trip has reminded me, that while I love to be in the great outdoors, I sometimes get overwhelmed by photographing the great outdoors. So the first afternoon in Canyonlands I spent focusing on finding those “little” compositions. I particularly liked how this prickly pear cactus turned out.
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No trip to Arches is complete without a hike up to Delicate Arch. The hike is not that strenuous and is only three miles long. But is mostly on slickrock (without much shade) and you are in the desert, so it is a hike that you want to start earlier in the day and one where water should be carried along. A couple of months ago, Phil and I had a conversation about all the dumb people you run across out hiking, people who are mostly dumb due to their lack of preparedness. This hike was no exception. I left the trailhead about ten a.m. and headed up the trail with my hydra-backpack full of water, a snack, basic first-aid, and my camera gear. (You know, the usual) Heading back, I was shocked to see several families starting up the trail with no water, no food, and no backpack of any kind. Some of these kids were under the age of 5. It makes you wonder if people read the huge signs at the trailhead that tell you to bring at least one quart of water per person, and then what they say to the ranger if they have to get rescued due to heat exhaustion. This is just one more reason I never would have made a good park ranger…I would have had a hard time not telling people that it was their own dumb fault!
Rusty and I arrived in Abbey Country on the 5th of June. I had forgotten how breathtaking and overwhelming the scenery was and Rusty felt at home, his red coloring matching the red rocks perfectly. I had great hopes of seeing a bighorn sheep in Arches National Park. The park literature touted their population of bighorns, the park newsletter we got at the entrance had a special feature on the bighorns, and there were metal sculptures of bighorn sheep at the Visitor’s Center. Alas, it was not to be and the only bighorns we saw were these metal ones that Rusty had his picture taken with.
Note for C!nder: Rusty is a huge hit, but if you decide to make a line of traveling companions I would suggest adding some sort of bulk to them. Rusty loves to have his picture taken but doesn’t sit still when there is any wind. 
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So as Rusty and I were high-tailing it out of Great Basin National Park, we came upon some roadside art. There were indeterminate metal sculptures, bottles on fences, a fishing alien, and this one which was our favorite. Hope you enjoy it too!
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