AiR in the Red Desert

Well kids, the last day of the residency continued with a pretty nasty, steady wind all day long.  And in the morning it even rained which made it a chilling experience.  At Camel Rock, I even idled the car, blasting the heat and using the heated seats to warm up. But, I did manage to paint in some details on a painting. I then made a 17 mile loop to Superior, an old turn of the 20th Century mining town.  In the Union Hall restoration building/exhibit, there was some information on the "Coral" and "Ice Cave'" formations which might be worth an exploration if any of us make a return trip to the region. Aya and I did a return trip to the wonderful Seedskadee Refuge, spotting a Moose and possibly some Sage Grouse.  We enjoyed an ice cream at the Farsom Mercantile on the way back where we packed up for the journey back to WI.

While Aya worked in the afternoon, Pops made one last dash to the Desert to capture the  Killpecker Dunes and Leucite Hills.  While it was hoped to be a quiet evening, there was a rather nasty wind that came up making the painting a challenge.  Big lightning on the trip home made for a memorable trip.

Aya and I drove up to Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge this morning in an actual rainstorm.  Of great interest was the Moose.  A fabulous place.

While Aya was stuck in meetings all day, Pops returned to the Boar's Tusk area to finish up some paintings. After exiting the area on one of the nastiest washboard roads of the trip, Pops drove to the South Pass area where the Oregon Trail and others found the easiest route through the mountains. Oregon Butte is so named because it marked the beginning of the Oregon Territory back in the day. It is situated on the Continental Divide, actually where the Divide splits into two where drainaged flows neither East nor West.  It is the Great Basin. Also are the Badlandish Honeycomb Buttes. The day was capped by the artist Art Chat and a few beers afterward.

After some afternoon housekeeping and remaining schedule assessment, Pops decided to make an evening return to sketch in some more details which worked out perfect. With storms abrewing, the sky was fantastic!

Aya and Pops arrived in Rock Springs for Pops' one week AiR with the Sweetwater Community Fine Arts Center in Rock Springs.  We were greeted by RJ and Deborah at this sweet Air B&B. View from our front door.  And boy, does this truck make all sorts of noises! After settling in and a trip to Albertsons, we visited a park in nearby Green River.

This morning we got up before daybreak to make a trip down and around the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, a large large area with deep canyons, mountains, and probably all the fossils you could possibly ever want to look for (we didn't).  And an intergalactic airport near the start of our trip. Some amazing views in the Utah region at Red Canyon: Cattle must be cheap here as we see at least dead one hit like a dear at the side of the road every day. And an impressive dam that was completed the same year Aya was born. We made this journey a brief one so Aya could get some work time in.

Fearing the ever present wildfire smoke from neighboring Western states growing worse, Pops spent a good chunk of the day painting in the amazing Firehole Canyon.  It is a fabulous place for sure!

On our way over to Evanston for an afternoon visit with Linda and Tim, we drove through the fabulous Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge on our way to Fossil Butte National Monument.  It should be noted that this was the trip where Pops decided to Master the finicky Android Auto feature in the CRV. We grudgingly admit that, yes, it's alright! Seedskadee as this fabulous osasis in the desert, Fossil Butte was nice, hot, with a nice nature trail and impressive exhibit in the visitors center, but we wouldn't rank it high on the "return to someday" list. Bear River Park featured some selfies and the ever energetic Kiltie.  They also have some white bison, which is a cross with some breed of cattle.  Yellowstone it ain't. Pops decided to make a quick run to Green River to stand in the shoes of one Thomas Moran and make a version of his well known "Palisades" Rock formation.

The second full day (Saturday) began with a trip up the dirt road into the Red Desert. First up was Boar's Tusk, where Aya took a nice desert jaunt.  She also made a quick visit over to the White Mountain Petroglyphs.   We then tried the Pine Canyon road at RJ's suggestion.  Interesting, but I don't know if it was worth the slow,.bumpy ride. After a midday break for a small informal talk by Pops at ARTember in Rock Springs, we took our first peek at the Firehole Canyon in the Flaming Gorge National Recreation area that evening. Whew!

Pops made his first artistic forray into the Wilds of Wyoming, heading just South of town to Camel Rock along the Cooper Ridge feature. Pops got the Red Desert tour with RJ, the co-chair of the Advisory board.  Poor Aya slogged a full day of remote work.  We finished the whirlwind day with pizza at Old Chicago.