The worlds longest art gallery

Last weekend I had a great adventure; a camping trip to Nine Mile Canyon, the worlds longest art gallery, featuring the amazing rock art work of the Fremont Indians. Having driven by a zillion times on trips to Moab, this canyon has been on my hit list forever, so I was thrilled to finally get there. I was not disappointed! A little bit of looking found petroglyphs everywhere; along the road, high on cliffs back in the canyons. It was fun to speculate about what they meant and what life was like there a thousand years ago. Since it's the worlds longest art gallery, this may be my longest post, because I couldn't pick just a few petroglyph pictures to share so here are most of them!

Spring Wild Flowers, Utah Style

I spent the weekend camping in the central Utah desert and found these lovely spring wild flowers! Thought I'd share a little color to brighten your Monday!

Ticket to Paradise

Did a little adventuring in Cache Valley over the weekend. We'd hoped to drive from Cache valley over the dirt roads down into Ogden Valley, but alas, we found the winter gate still closed. We did get to take in some beautiful country side, find Porcupine Reservoir, meet a cow a cow on the road, and even, believe it or not, find Paradise. A lovely day!

Not too bugged!

One thing Antelope Island has is bugs. The brine flies along the lake shore can be found in big swarms, and at the right time of year the mosquitoes, biting flies and no-see-ums can be really obnoxious. Sunday was lovely day cool and breezy and we encountered none of the evil bugs. We did see lots of these funky little butterfly-ish things, as well as some big bumble bees enjoying the Indian Paintbrush. Clearly I need to do a little research as I do not know what the former really is. I did find some cool pages with links pictures of bugs and butterflies of Utah. When I have some time I will have to search for my mystery insect.

Edited to add... I love my world. It is so cool that when I want to know something I always have a great source.. the "beady people", my fellow beadmaking friends that I have 'met' through the lampworking forum. I 'know' beady people from all over the world with all sorts of different backgrounds, they truly are a great resource. This time I have to thank Ricky, AKA "bugnerd", lampworker in Arkansas, who is also an entomologist. I sent him a picture and he responded that my mystery bug was indeed a butterfly, a skipper butterfly. Problem is there are more than 50 images to click through to further identify my little flier. Enter comments from my friend Rose, a "beady" friend from Ohio, that I've been lucky enough to meet several times in real life. She sent me to a cool link, Bug Guide where you can actually upload a picture and ask for help identifying a bug! What a perfect resource for a nerd like me. I'm now registered and submitted, we'll see if I get a response. Thanks so much Ricky and Rose!

Where the deer and the antelope play...

I'm sure I've mentioned before that living here in Utah we are a bit spoiled by all the wonderful, spectacular places we have to go adventuring. This weekend I headed out with a bunch of friends to one of my favorite local adventure spots - Antelope Island, an island in the middle of the Great Salt Lake, conveniently connected by a man made causeway so getting there is easy. Sunday we hiked the Sentry Peak trail, a trail I had not hiked before. A 6.5 mile loop up over the hill to base of Sentry peak, a leisurely hike at low (for Utah) altitude and not much elevation gain ~940 ft) We were treated to sweeping views of the island range land, the beautiful lake surrounding the island, and the snow capped mountains of the Wasatch and Stansbury mountain range. Wild flowers were blooming, and the wild life abundant. Lots of birds, we flushed a few chukars, and saw quite a few lizards, and of course buffalo. Despite being named Antelope Island, antelope sitings are relatively rare. We were lucky enough to see a few antelope off in the distance, but nothing I could snap a picture of. The island is more famous for it herd of buffalo, and got to see lots and lots on our hike, more today than any other time. I just love the feeling of standing on a hill high above the Great Salt Lake, taking in the incredible scenery. I wish my pictures did it justice.

Wednesday Hiking... Nope, not today!

Nope no hiking... because I actually had a bit of good luck... I won 2 tickets to the Black Keys concert at the Maverick Center. KUTV posts lots of contests on Facebook, and when I see one I play, as it only takes second to enter, and I figure that someone is going to win, it may as well be me. Today I opened my email and was surprised to find that I really did win!! So thank you KUTV!!!

A girlfriend of mine had wanted to get tickets to the concert, but I had passed. In my old age I've become a bit of a concert snob... If I'm going to spend a chunk of change on a concert it needs to be at a great venue; a concert hall with good acoustics, an intimate club setting, or one of our lovely outdoor venues. I've lost interest in arena concerts, as the acoustics are usually lousy, seats too far away to really see, or you are stuck in the general admission crowd, which as a short person, is really not that much fun. But tonight was great as the price was right - *free!*, I was able to take my girlfriend who really wanted to see the Black Keys, and we were treated to great seats in a suite near the stage.

Besides the enjoying a great concert, the Key's were awesome, I really enjoyed the light show that went along with the concert. Being the camera crazed gal who always carries her point and shoot, I had to try to capture the lights and colors. If you know photography at all, you know how challenging it is to take good pictures in this setting. It's hard to get the camera to focus in the dark. Dark scenes require long exposures and are therefore easily blurred by shaky hands (made worse by the desire to dance LOL)and even if I hold steady the musicians don't. I took lots of shots determined to get a few decent ones, and learned a few tricks. Like finding the focus when the stage light was bright, but not depressing he shutter until the lighting was interesting. It seemed that it was much easier to get a good exposure when the lights were blue, then maybe red, or green. When the lights were bright, which I thought would have been better, the camera didn't seem to meter as well, shots seemed overexposed. It was a fun little session in casual photography. If only my battery hadn't died before they brought out the huge mirror ball!!!

Wednesday hiking....

This week's hike was a short jaunt on the Desolation trail to the Salt Lake overlook. It's only couple of miles to the overlook, but of course in Wasatch hiking fashion it's up, up, up about 1250 feet. A pretty easy after work hike to a nice rock outcrop with a lovely view of the valley below. We had a botanical treat as well, lots and lots of Glacier Lilies along the trail!