30 June 2013 - Neon Museum and Boneyard

For some time I have been wanting to see the Neon Museum in Las Vegas, and I finally had the opportunity to go. Opportunity being an interesting word.  

I was in Las Vegas for four days attending the Western Writers of America annual conference, which was a hoot! However, during those four days, Las Vegas was setting all time records for high temperatures. It ranged from 116 to 119 while I was there. I am here to testify that it was HOT!

But I had one evening free to go see the Museum. The Museum was created to save and display old neon signage-- now considered the classic Las Vegas art form. As the older once iconic hotels and casinos are torn down and replaced, much of the gorgeous neon signage is being saved and restored. 

For people like me who adore signs and love typography-- this is a mecca. There are three parts to the Museum. The Boneyard, the Fremont Street Gallery and the Neon Signs Project. 

The sign for the museum is made from many other pieces of signs. The first N is from the Golden Nugget, the E is from Caesar's Palace, the O is from Binnion's Horseshoe and the last N is from Desert Inn. 

I started with a tour of the Boneyard.  It was fascinating!  So much information about early Las Vegas, the evolution of neon, how you date neon signage. Loved it all. Because it was so darn hot and the Boneyard is outdoors, they offer tours in the morning and the evening. On the tour I was part of, they wouldn't let you go out in the yard unless you were carrying water, and every 10 minutes or so they checked with everyone. Are you feeling ok?  Anyone dizzy? Nauseous?  Will everyone please drink some more water now!


The main building and/or reception area is the original reception area from the La Concha Motel designed by Paul Revere Williams. It is a wonderful example of mid-century modern and has more than just a nod to the atomic shapes of that era. 

It was also interesting to learn that Paul Revere Williams was born in 1894 and was the first African American to become a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). He had a hugely successful career and because he designed homes for many notables such as Lucille Ball and Desi Arnez, Barbara Stanwyck, Frank Sinatra and Tyrone Power he was given the nickname "Architect to the Stars."

Behind the La Concha lies the Boneyard: a huge lot with six foot wide paths winding through old neon signs. 

You can imagine how hot all that metal gets -- and since you are walking through an alley of metal it was like walking through an oven. My biggest and only complaint is that the signs are SO large you can't back away far enough to get the whole sign in a photograph.  Perhaps a wide angle lens would have helped.  Most of these signs are not in working order, but at least they are being collected and worked on.  I don't remember which sign it was, but the guide said it cost over $250,000 just to get it moved to the Boneyard. There are more than 150 signs stacked along the paths. 

Here is the sign from the original Golden Nugget. That lumpy potato shape is the nugget.

 This is Sassy Sally.  Too big to get in one photo. 

 This Yucca Motel sign must have been incredible when lit up. All those twisty neon curls!

This duck came from Ugly Duckling Car Sales - a used car lot that was out on Boulder Highway. It is newer, coming from the early 1990s, but he is really cute.

 

The second part of the Museum is the Fremont Street Gallery. As the museum volunteers restore signs they are installed on Fremont Street. I think there are nine or ten of these on display now. Here are the Silver Slipper and the Hacienda Horse and Rider.

 
Not just casino signs are included in this collection but such things as this lovely motel sign.  I think it should be next door to this particular wedding chapel, but what do I know. 

I spent too much time outside in the heat walking on Las Vegas Boulevard taking pictures of signs.  Finally had to say calf rope and wait for a bus. I was whipped.  But great fun!

 The third part of the museum is the Neon Signs Project which consists of several restored signs on Las Vegas Blvd. It is a wonderful thing that this original neon art form is not being lost. As many of the new casinos are moving to LEDs, the city passed a new law that says a certain percentage of all new signage has to be neon. I think that is a fine thing indeed.

21 June 2012 - Canyon hopping

This afternoon, after work I decided to take a drive. I had discovered that you can drive up Parley's Canyon get off I-80 at Jeremy Ranch and drive north to East Canyon and back down to Salt Lake. Since this was totally new territory to me, I could not resist. 

It was a beautiful day for a drive. Sunny and warm, but open window warm, not air conditioning warm. My drive took three hours, yes, I dawdled the entire way. Lots of stops. The majority of the time the road followed the meandering East Canyon Creek.  This area is enough higher than the valley that in some places the leaves were just coming out on the trees. 

I saw lots of favorite mountain flowers:  blue penstemon, scarlet gilia and indian paintbrush. They were stunning against the gray sage brush. 

The creek was so inviting, I really wanted to take off my shoes and socks and go wading. In some places where it was wide and shallow it had big beds of some aquatic plant covered with tiny white blooms. In the picture above, the white speckles on the left side are not water ripples, but a patch of these flowers.

In addition to the wonderful scenery and wildflowers galore, the highlight was (I know, you are way ahead of me here) a new bird. 

This time it was a yellow warbler. I could hear them, but boy howdy, they were hard to spot.

It wouldn't be Utah back country without an abandoned house.

This is built from field stone. Lord knows that there is more rock here than dirt. 

The land is all open range, so who knows, maybe cattle or horses use this for shelter in winter. 

Speaking of cattle, there were also some picturesque ranches  off the road as well. 

 By the time I crossed into East Canyon and was making my way down the mountain the sun had dropped quite low, but it surely showed off all the layers of hills and valleys.

Just another spectacular day here. And the icing on the cake was the sky when I finally reached the bottom of the canyon. 

19 June 2013 - What's blooming this week

Last year when Jack and I went to Red Butte Gardens we were both enthralled by the Foxtail Lillies.  These lilies ranged in colors from white, light yellow, dark yellow and orange. The flower stocks were often 6 feet tall.  Last fall we ordered twelve  tubers and got them planted before the first snow fell. 

All  twelve came up this spring, then with the wild temperatures fluctuatating from freezing with snow to 80 degrees to snow again, we did lose one of them. Out of the remaining eleven plants, six of them sent up bloom stocks. 

Being naturally optimistic I am hoping for more (and taller) next year. Those blooming are so lovely.  

The blooms at Red Butte were covered with bees of all kinds. The bees have not found ours yet. 

Maybe I need to get a hive of my own set up. 






 
 

 















The oriental poppies are at the height of their glory. The blooms are not lasting very long in this heat -- we hit 97 today, but I am enjoying every minute of them. 

When I was young, the driveway garden, was filled with roses, canterbury bells and the ever so exotic bells of Ireland. Those are long gone, but these little star-shaped bells are blooming madly. One more thing to add to my list of what-is-it research. 

And speaking of roses, here was the big surprise. I have mentioned several times about all the work in, on and around the pyracantha hedge-- trimming it back, pulling some out and other wise hacking it down to a manageable  size. During this process I uncovered a second lilac bush. I knew there was one all smished back there and it now has breathing space. The second one was a lagnappe. But the big surprise? Roses. 

Growing up in the middle of a pyracanta bush is an old classic climbing Blaze rose. What fun! With some air, sun and water, it went to town. The poor thing only has two canes, but it used them well. Next year it should be fuller and loaded.  

It is possible that it has bloomed in past years, but the pyracantha hedge used to be about 12 feet thick. Could be it was totally obscured. Day by day the jungle is being tamed and surprises abound. 


While these aren't really flowers, it is a good time to mention that all of Jack's tomato plants are blooming. Several have green tomatoes already. They are loving this hot weather and are growing like crazy. 

Last year I had a big pot of nasturtiums. This year several volunteers showed up. Great!  They are such a happy flower. 

Funny, this year I seem to have lots of yellow, red and orange flowers, including this dahlia. 

Even the copper rose is red on the inside and gold on the outside. 

And I am considering adding red hot pokers to the mix. More red and yellow. 

It is a pretty hot combination.












And here's my favorite. One lone milkweed plant, covered in butterflies. 

 

15 June 2013 - Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge

Decided I need to do something besides stay at home and feel sorry for myself.  I have been meaning to go see the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge since we moved back here.  I thought it would be a quick drive up I-15.  Well, it certainly was a drive. I had forgotten that Brigham City was 77 miles up the road.  I had an hour's drive north. It has been decades since I have been north of Ogden, so it was like seeing it for the first time. Again, I am awed by how beautiful this state is. 

Here are a few views from the drive north. It is quite lovely-- the valley is so flat and the mountains rise up out of nothing. All along the Wasatch Front, you can see how the rocks are twisted, curved, folded and heaved up out of the earth. Stunning.

 

 The refuge has a 12 mile road that winds in and out of water ways, marshes, open water, dry flats--many different terrains. I only saw two other people on my trip and I was there from 4pm to 7:30. Took me a long time to drive those 12 miles. 

My main goal for this trip was to see a white-faced ibis and a bobolink. My final count was 37 varieties of birds, and eight of them were firsts!  A good day. I think I need a different camera- one with a faster shutter. So many pictures have blurred birds. Guess they don't like sitting for portraits. 

First new bird. One of the first birds I saw was the very bird I was hoping to see-- a white-faced ibis. I was so excited! He was a little far away for good pictures, but I was snapping away like crazy trying for a decent shot. Who knows, it could have been the only one I saw all day. For the most part, the overall color you see is a cinnamon brown. But with the right light, you can see all kinds of colors and sheens in their feathers. 

Here's the funny part. After finding the first solitary bird, I ended up seeing several hundred of these birds. They were everywhere and in big numbers. Here is just a tiny section of shallows that is filled with ibises. I think there are about 78 of them in this picture alone.

Not only were there hundreds of ibises in the meadows and wading in the shallows, but huge groups of them were practicing vee formations overhead. 

You don't even want to know how many pictures I took of the ibis, much less anything else. 


Second new bird:  A Long-billed Curlew. I watched a parent with two screaming juveniles for some time. The babies were not afraid of me at all, and other than taking turns yelling, did not move away. The parent was more restrained. 

Third:  Bullock's Oriole. Really pretty. Too far away and too fast for a good picture. 
It kills me that the tamarisk tree he is sitting in is in focus. Maybe I need to learn about manual focus. 

Fourth: This cutie pie is an Eastern Kingbird. 

Fifth: Western Kingbird. These little birds are all over, but they are extremely fast and rather shy. You'll see them sitting on wires, road signs, and the top-most branch of little shrubs, taking off in the most amazing acrobatic flights chasing flying insects.  Here are two photos:  This is the Western Kingbird from the backside, and a side view with their lovely yellow belly.

 



 








Sixth:  A Wilson's Pharalope. This one was so new to me that I had not even heard the name before.  Thank goodness for Sibley--my favorite field guide to birds. 

Seventh: Clark's Grebe.
I have previously seen Eared Grebes and Western Grebes--saw hundreds of Western Grebes on this trip.  I had pulled over to read a sign that mentioned the refuge was a great place to see both Western and Clark's grebes. Had to look them up.

Boy do they look alike! The defining difference for me was that on a Clark's Grebe, there is white above the eye and on a Western Grebe, the eye is surrounded by black. Subtle stuff.   Here is a Clark's Grebe.

        And for comparison purposes, here is the Western Grebe. 

Eighth:  Lark Bunting. This bird was really hard to catch. He was along the roadside bouncing in and out of the grassy cover chasing bugs. His black and white markings were very showy, although in this photo he looks grayer than he really is. 



Nineth? As I was leaving, I saw these two youngsters on a pole. I am not sure who they are. Broadtailed hawk? Need to do some research. 

Here are a bunch of old friends and some of the scenery from my very wonderful day. 

Snowy Egrets. 

Lots of them. 
I love how their bright yellow feet accent those black legs. 

 This is an immature Little Blue Heron. What a surprise to find out the juveniles start out white. His lores (the skin at the top of the beak) is pink. That is the deciding factor. That and his legs are gray, not black. 



Ring-necked pheasant. 

Black-necked Stilts

 Killdeer

Sandhill crane

Great-tailed Grackle. This was another surprise. I don't remember seeing these in Utah. But I love all things grackle, so I'm happy.

 

Seagulls: The ever-present California Gull in front, and near the back the black-headed birds are Franklin's Gulls. 

 

Pelicans and Cormorants - they seem to hang together.

Pelicans and more Ibises 

Black-crowned Night-Herons

 

Great Blue Heron

Yellow-headed black birds. Did I mention how noisy the refuge was? Most of the racket was from the blackbirds. They sound like rusty hinges when they squawk, and do they ever squawk.

  

And speaking of all the bird calls, and how the air fairly quivered with bird songs, it wasn't just birds. 

 

Oh, Canada(s)

Other funny stuff. Carp. HUGE  carp. On my way into the refuge, I stopped at a pull-off to look at the rather spectacular scenery. I kept hearing a sound like splashing in a  really big barrel. 

Here I am standing on a concrete barrier that is 5 feet above the water level. Carp, at least two and a half feet long are trying to jump up and over this barrier. If they made it, they would die, but it was quite something to see as they leaped out of the water.  I have my toes in the picture for scale. It was startling to have them come hurtling up out of the water. This carp's nose was higher than the edge of the cement.

Next are way too many pictures of the refuge. Every corner   opened up new vistas. All gorgeous.

 

 

 

One last funny story. Whenever I stopped and got out of the car I was set upon by biting horse flies. Yep, today I am covered with welts. They were slow enough that when you felt the prick you could slap them dead. But when I got back in the car and was driving away they would fly alongside my car-- actually flying faster than I was driving. I would look out my side window and there would be one to five or more of these huge green-headed flies staying even with me.  It was like something out of a cartoon. I could see their evil little grins. "Gonna get you!"  And they did.