Weekly wrap up... wildfires, dancing, Shakespeare and mice.

Another week has flown by! Besides the rodeo and Grand Teton Music Festival last week, here's what else happened. I didn't find time to ride horses but did manage to go see the free outdoor Shakespeare performance at the Arts Center in Jackson. They performed for two weekends, and this year it was Taming of the Shrew.

It was easy to find a seat and parking, and the crowd was a mix of families, tourists, locals and some of my ranch co-workers. People brought blankets to sit on and picnics, and the stunning backdrop was Snow King Mountain with its grassy ski slopes.

They updated the play, using wacky costumes and adding 80's music here and there, but the dialogue remained true to the original Shakespeare play with a few modern zingers added for laughs. Personally, I prefer period costumes but the acting really was phenomenal. I'm always amazed by any actor who can memorize pages of old English and deliver it with flair. My favorite part of the photo above is the reflection of the mountain in the glass! Below, the neon finale at dusk (still 9:30 pm here) ... excellent show.

Scout had a good week and is still happy as a clam here in Wyoming. She enjoys supervised afternoons to roam around my cabin. Coyotes and birds of prey prevent her from going out unattended. We were awakened last night at midnight by a noisy ruckous not far from the crew cabins, and it sounded like a pack of coyotes had grabbed something. An unsettling noise in the dark, almost like a pack of hyenas. Glad we were safe inside!
Here's Scout stalking...

                     
                                                            Stealth walking.....

And..... a gift for Mom. Poor little thing, He looks like he's smiling. Sadly, this week she has caught and presented me with two mice, one adult and this adorable baby. No injuries or blood observed when she brought them to me, but they both died shortly thereafter, probably from shock ;(

With an abundance of birds and critters to keep her occupied, she has located a honey hole where she sits for hours waiting to see what goes in and out. Can you spot her hiding in the tall grass next to my cabin? Life's a jungle out there...

This is one fat and happy cat, chilling in our cabin ;)

Last night, I finally attended "Sunday church" as the locals call it. The venue was the Stagecoach Bar in Wilson, a cozy hole in the wall with an assortment of cowboys, ranchers, locals and then a few tourists added to the mix on Sundays.

It gets packed, and if you're anywhere near the stage and band, you will be asked to dance. I stuck to a high top table in the back and just observed. These people twirl and two step and love every minute of it. I wish I didn't have two left feet, but alas I do. The same Stagecoach Band has been playing here for 42 years and the music is pure country. There's only one original member on stage. No shortage of cowboy hats, boots and big Western belt buckles... what a blast!

Finally, the big news these last two days is 2 wildfires burning nearby. Highway 191/89 that I drove on through Hoback back in May is closed in both directions about 30 minutes away. One of the fires was started by a lightening strike. I'm not sure about the other. Evacuations are being ordered south and east of here, and this morning the air is thick with smoke. The smell is awful. Fires are burning at Deer Ridge and Cliff Creek near Bondurant. A guest ranch there has been evacuated. No one at my ranch seems alarmed... we shall see. This is the view from my bed right now....

These are today's local news photos below ... don't be alarmed ;)

Grand Teton Music Festival

The 7 week Grand Teton Music Festival has finally kicked off for the summer. An annual event since 1962, it features soloists and musicians from all over the country. They come here to share their talents and entertain the Jackson community. Concerts are held at Walk Festival Hall in Teton Village, just 2 miles down the bike path from the ranch.

From the festival website: "The Grand Teton Music Festival’s all-wooden performance facility, Walk Festival Hall, is acclaimed by listeners and performers alike for its intimate atmosphere and superb acoustics. Walk Hall is located in the heart of Teton Village at the base of the Jackson Hole Ski Resort, a short drive from the town of Jackson. When you take a seat in Walk Hall, just a few feet away from our orchestra, be prepared to be fully enveloped by music. Like much in Jackson Hole, our hall is unpretentious, but delivers the clear sight lines and warm acoustics that provide a wholly intimate musical experience."

I attended my first performance last night and was not disappointed. Each Tuesday, they have a FREE one hour performance called Inside the Music. Themes vary each week, and 6-7 pieces are chosen and performed by visiting musicians with commentary provided on each by that week's visiting conductor. Last night, the theme was Bohemian Brotherhood and featured works by composers from Hungary and the Czech Republic. Click the photo to see a larger version of the program ;)

With no intermission or second act, an hour long performance is actually perfect! I really enjoyed hearing the insights on the composers and music, provided by Host and Associate Conductor of the Dallas Symphony and violinist Karina Canellakis. 

It was general admission and I chose a seat in the second row, center, just a few feet from the stage. I'd never been so up close and personal at other venues, and it was like having master musicians playing in my living room! They had a piano trio, string quartet and more during the hour long performance...

The next five Tuesday concerts will feature Chamber music in film, Friends of Brahms, Simply Classical, Lyrical Composers and American Classics from Tin Pan Alley to the Tetons.

Over the pass and through the woods....

I finally got around to driving over the Teton Pass to Idaho! It's about 6 miles up (a steep 10% grade) and 6 miles down the other side to the Idaho state line, with beautiful vistas along the way. The pass was used by Indians 9,000 years ago, by trappers and explorers around 1800,  and in the 1860s by engineers to try to find a railroad route. Teton Pass was ruled out. Homesteaders came over the pass from Idaho in 1880, and in 1886, the first horse-drawn wagon came across, taking a few weeks to make the trip. Mail service to the Jackson area began around this time, and in 1913, the Forest Service finally built a paved road.

Above, the view of the valley from the top of the pass... along the way, there are runaway truck lanes and signs near sheer rock cliffs designating avalanche areas. Accidents involving 18 wheelers are common and just last week, one overturned, spilling potatoes all over the highway. The local paper offered free potatoes to anyone willing to pick them up. ha-ha.

First time in Idaho! On the way back over the pass to WY, I pulled over and parked at the Phillips Canyon lot and trail head and started hiking to Ski Lake, about 5-6 miles round trip and a moderate 1,000 foot ascent. Looking back down at the pass and parking lot as I climbed:

There were wildflowers everywhere, and the path up was spectacular with views of the Gros Ventres range in the distance and Jackson below...

About half way up, I took the Ski Lake fork as the Phillips Trail is a long advanced hike. No thanks. I had the trail mostly to myself and only passed 2-3 groups of hikers during the 2 hours. I crossed two short man-made bridges and a meadow...

 

Ski Lake is an alpine lake, fed only by melting snow coming from the mountains above. The water is crystal clear and turquoise. I arrived after about an hour and was a little winded from the climb.  It was worth the effort!

I didn't want to miss lunch back at the ranch, so I headed back down and got to my car in half the time compared to climbing up ;) Again, flowers and views were to die for. There were also shady pine forests along the way... Sound of Music anyone?

Bear 399 and an art show...

Last night, I headed into Jackson hoping to attend a much anticipated presentation at the Teton County Library on a world famous grizzly, Bear 399. Internationally-renowned wildlife photographer Tom Mangelsen and nature writer Todd Wilkinson were the speakers. I arrived 30 minutes early to get a seat in the auditorium, but quickly realized when the line of cars stretched around the block for 1/2 mile that it was not to be. Overflow doesn't even begin to describe the crowd ;(

Bear 399 is a social media sensation, 20 years old and mother to 16 offspring over the years. Last Fall she was rumored to have been killed by a hunter but miraculously reappeared this spring... with a cub! Then last month, the cub, probably her last due to her advanced years, was hit by a car and killed in Grand Teton National Park.

From Nationalgeographic.com...

Bear 399 first became a star when, in 2006, she appeared along the roadside in Grand Teton Park, supposition from biologists being that because a male bear had killed her first cub in the backcountry she wanted to find a safer place to raise subsequent broods. A year later, 399 was nearly destroyed after she and her triplets mauled a hiker in Grand Teton who accidently stumbled upon an elk carcass they were feeding on. After the hiker pleaded to have 399 spared and park officials examined evidence, they ruled that the mother was only behaving naturally and shouldn’t be lethally removed. Over the last decade, 399, in fact, has shown no aggression toward people even as she and her offspring navigate huge crowds of people gathered along the highway in “bear jams.” In recent years, 399 became arguably better known than Scarface, the male bruin in Yellowstone, and Cecil the lion, who made his home in Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park. But in 2015, both Scarface and Cecil were killed by hunters when they wandered outside national parks. 399 has been a muse for legendary Jackson Hole nature photographer Thomas D. Mangelsen, who features her in the new book Grizzlies of Pilgrim Creek. He’s spent the equivalent of two full years assembling a large portfolio of images focused on 399 and her extended family. Mangelsen was overjoyed by the latest news of the bear. “Every year she’s still with us is a miracle," said Mangelsen. "This could be the last cub she ever has because she’s pretty old in bear years," he adds. "Most bears don’t reach that age.”  More than half of 399's cubs or descendants have already died, often from run-ins with people or other bears, Mangelsen adds."

I needed a new game plan, so I drove a few blocks into town to attend an art opening and auction at the Heather James Fine Art Gallery just off the town square. Fine art indeed... I was offered an iPad when I walked in to "bid", and pieces were displayed on a screen as bids came in and were updated, both live and online.

I knew they were going to have works by Picasso, Calder, and Norman Rockwell, but was still impressed by the number of original works by these and other artists in a small Jackson gallery.There were paintings and sculpture by Salvadore Dali...

A full wall of Calder works for sale...

And of course, some ORIGINAL Picasso sketches... "only" $100k. I saw one piece with a $17,000 price tag and actually contemplated buying it on my credit card, then realized it was "just" a signed, numbered lithograph and not a true Picasso original. ha-ha.

I really enjoyed the room filled with Norman Rockwell art, much of it inscribed to various friends for whom he had created the pieces.

The gallery's collection also included some Andrew Wyeth watercolors, and a wall of Marilyn Monroe photographs by Lawrence Schiller... also for sale during the auction ($5,000 each!) ;)

I keep forgetting that Jackson isn't just a little Wyoming town, but one of the wealthiest zip codes in the country with so much culture and so many unique experiences to offer. Not to mention that the wine and passed hors d'ouevres were pretty good too ;)