Tag: utah

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Utah: Arches

I made the drive from Provo to Arches National Park – it’s a three hour drive one way.

I was very lucky, in many ways.

First, the drive was both beautiful and uneventful. I watched the landscape develop into wilderness suitable for a particular coyote and bird duo.

Second, the gate attendant told me the park was very busy, and the website showed attendance can be ~2500 cars a day, with very long waits.

I never had to wait, and found a parking place at each of the stops. I drove the entire park, and hiked all the trails that I wanted to visit.

Third – I dropped my shades while photographing little cacti. I was bummed when I discovered this, as it was VERY BRIGHT and very hot. On my way back out, I stopped at a place I had visited, retraced my steps out into the desert, and was able to find my sunglasses! This made the return 3 hour drive much more bearable.

I’m going to post a handful of the photos I took, mostly as a token effort to completely document this trip. However, I think it’s kind of pointless, because I don’t think I can effectively communicate the impact of this place in little photos on an electronic screen. Still, I took many many photos.

I saw real live ravens in the wild!

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Joie de Vivre

Books of Utah

When traveling, we like to visit independent bookstores, and support them. When we visited Burke’s Books in Memphis, I picked up a used copy of The Secret of Ventriloquism by Jon Padgett. As I lay in bed at our Airbnb, I read the opening pages about someone meditating during yoga, and I had the idea about someone astral projecting from one’s body and getting locked out. This + the fall of the FSK bridge in Baltimore = Terms of Service.

And when we visited Livraria Lello in Portugal, I bought a copy of Frankenstein. I was working on Brains at the time, and reading it really helped.

I walked into Pioneer books in Provo, Utah, and walked up to the second level (fiction). My eyes immediately fell upon Getting food from Water.

I’m actively working on my animation Fishwife, and without giving anything away, this book relates in a very inspirational way. I got goosebumps!

As I was checking out, I told the bookseller my history with finding magical books while working on films. Asia showed me some of her art, and an amazing 3D printed vending machine her partner helped her make to sell her work. So cool.

In Salt Lake City, I visited Ken Saunder’s Rare and Used books. I picked up a used copy of The Frank Zappa Companion by Richard Kostelanetz.

The store spans 3 floors in a rather corporate feeling building. All the folks working there were very friendly.

I also visited the Salt Lake City public library. The building is expansive and beautiful, and clearly supports various populations. I found their maker space was closed, but seemed to be robust and impressive.

I was delighted to see they have borrowable zines in their collection (as well as free zines!).

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Joie de Vivre

Provo, Utah

We spent five days in Provo, Utah. Beverly attended a conference, and I looked around.

This was my first visit to Utah. Monday and Friday were mostly travel days (by way of Minneapolis and Detroit), so I spent Tuesday exploring Provo. I drove to Salt Lake City on Wednesday, and then to Arches State Park on Thursday.

I’ll start with Provo. We visited BYU’s Museum. AI told me it’s the largest university museum in the country. I don’t know about that, but it’s a nice one. I did notice the lighting on some of the oil paintings need attention – standing or sitting directly in front of the paintings exposes the viewer to bright reflections off the oil paint. I am surprised at this.

One of my favorites is the Gilded Paradise exhibit – the recasts of Lorenzo Ghiberti’s baptistery doors.

It took Ghiberti 27 years to make this. I don’t know how long it took to recreate this casting, but they made 3D scans and some prints, including one of the sculptor. He put his likeness in the door.

The depth of field achieved in some of these panels is astonishing. I’m glad I got to see it in person.

Provo seems to wake up between 10 AM and 11 AM, and shuts down pretty early. I walked Central avenue, and here are interesting things I found.

The Heindselman’s yarn shop claims to be the country’s oldest such shop. I find it hard to believe that the oldest shop isn’t on the east coast. Yet the proprietor was very nice, and explained that the tiny gas meter door outside of the shop doubles as a tiny art exchange. While there wasn’t much tiny art with which to exchange, the lighting of the space was excellent. Well done.

The Cat’s Cradle Antiques Shop was my biggest surprise. It was filled with rare, valuable wonders, including original art by outsider artists like Howard Finster. If I had a great deal of disposable income, I’d dispose a great deal of it in this shop.

There are several Army Surplus shops, and we visited Uncle Sam’s.

I once met a man who explained to me that there are three kinds of freaks in this world:

  • Karate Freaks
  • Car Freaks
  • Army Freaks

Uncle Sam’s is the latter’s dream come true. And, being something of a bag whore, I found it to be a satisfying seller of bags. I chose this one:

I really enjoyed hiking around town and in the mountains. It was hot work, but that river provided some freezing relief. Here are some final photos for this post.

Joie de Vivre