Monday June 11, 2012

Began the day with a trip to the Visitor's Center where I ran into several friends. Checked out the display from my residency on the gallery wall. I had heard from several friends that it looks great and is receiving a lot of positive feedback from visitors. I'm pretty happy with it. It includes the poster I designed of the Interior students' paintings, eight of the original paintings, one of the paintings I completed during my residency, and a photo of me and write up of the project and my residency. Sara and Julie did a really nice job of hanging it all. Next we attended the junior ranger program where the kids learned about the prairie dog ecosystem. The program was held near the Saber Site, so we headed there next to hear about the work there. Ed has been updating me since the dig started, so it was neat to see it in person. Decided that the best way to introduce the park and give it some context was to drive the loop road. We made some stops along the way, and hiked the fossil trail and part of the castle trail. Found a few fossils along the way, including a fragment of oreodont tooth and mandible, and many flowering plants. A particular favorite of mine is the prickly pear's large yellow blossoms. Headed back to the visitor's center in the afternoon for an astronomy program. Tricia had the solar scope out as well as a device that shows sun spots. While there, we ran into both Ryan and Amanda, and made plans to all meet for dinner at Cedar Pass Lodge during Ryan's dinner break. Ed met up with us for the meal, and after we all (minus Ryan who was on shift) headed back to his place to watch a movie until the night program started. At sunset we walked our way back over to the amphitheater for the night astronomy program that Tricia and John were giving. I was surprised to find that it was Sara leading off the night program, with a talk about the Artist in Residence program. It was one of the more surreal experiences I've had: sitting anonymously in the audience, listening to a park ranger talk about the Calhoun school group that was there when I was, showing photographs from their trip, most of which included me. Next she put of an image of my painting of “Calhoun Canyon” and talked about my experience hiking with the Calhoun kids, then talked about my residency. Surreal, yet exciting to be included in the weekly night programs. On the walk back to the quad, Ed stopped us under a lamp post to watch the bats circle and swoop, feasting on the insects that were drawn to the light.