What a change as we came down through the Wind River Indian Reservation. The US government was sure generous to “give” these Plains Indians such a great place to retire.

We saw antelope, bison, elk and mule deer, but no bears.

Robert Bateman has long been one of my favorites, especially his birds. This impressive, life-sized bison was beautiful.

This installation groups artwork thematically, giving visitors a variety of topics to look for as they encounter wildlife art in other galleries or outside the Museum. Much of the featured artwork comes from the JKM Collection, the core of our holdings, which includes works by Albert Bierstadt, Ken Carlson, George Catlin, Edward Kemeys, Bob Kuhn, Georgia O’Keeffe, Alexander Pope, Charles M. Russell, and Newell Convers Wyeth, among others. This Colorado soapstone sarcophagus hold a black granite raven, maybe 5 feet long and is a comment on what we may be doing to the environment.

It was pouring. I went and took a shower and put in two loads of laundry. This is a beautiful site right on the river. When I came out of the laundry, the sun was out and the sky was blue. However, that only lasted a while and it started to rain again. 

Monday, September 29
Pouring rain and 40 degrees. Has a wonderful visit to the National Museum of Wildlife Art. Founded in 1987, it expanded in 1994 to a gorgeous, unique stone building of 51,000 square feet. Irregular lines and the use of Idaho quartzite makes the building seem to blend into the rugged hillside overlooking the National Elk Range. (Note: all of these images were gleaned from the Internet). 

USA & Canada~Northwest Parks   Part 5

Wednesday, October 1
Got a late start, but had a beautiful ride up the east side of the Park to Moran, then down routes 26 and 287 to I80 at Rawlins, then on the our KOA at Laramie, a ride from the rocky Tetons in the northwest to the dry plains of the southeast. Eight hours and almost 400 miles. The first two hours were spent mainly stopping for photo opportunities.
While the sky wasn’t perfect, the Tetons were magnificent.

Had dinner with Jaclyn at Osteria Restaurant in Teton Village. It was very good and we enjoyed catching up with her on her activities. 

Tuesday, September 30
Raining again this morning, but light and intermittent, so we decided to drive as many roads in this small western parks as we could.

My cousin Brad has a house here, and, although he is travelling on business, we wanted to connect with his wife Jaclyn, so we called and made arrangements to meet her for dinner. We drove up the Moose-Wilson Road while the sun was briefly out, then met her and had a drink at their very beautiful home in Teton Pines.

The Museum preserves and exhibits the largest public collection Carl Rungius' work in the United States. Widely regarded as the preeminent painter of North American wildlife, Rungius began his career in Wyoming, not far from the Museum’s location. Later in life, he spent the majority of his summers in Banff, Alberta, painting the vast Canadian Rockies and plentiful populations of big horn sheep, mountain goats, grizzly bears, and moose. My father used to tell me how hard it is to paint black things, but this black bear, and Robert Bateman’s Raven (below) show that it can be done.

Many artists working today were directly inspired by the European artists featured in the Widener Gallery. Masterworks by Romantic painters Edwin Landseer, Théodore Géricault, Jean-Léon Gérôme, and Rosa Bonheur complement work by the acknowledged forefathers of wildlife art, including Richard Friese, Wilhelm Kuhnert, Bruno Liljefors, and Carl Rungius. Important European sculpture is also on view, highlighting Antoine-Louis Barye,Auguste Rodin, and Rembrandt Bugatti. These two paintings are by Rosa Bonheur. The one on the left is one of the few I have ever seen of wildlife (deer) in the nighttime.

We spent well over two hours enjoying the more than 550 artists and 5000 item collection. The exhibits were arranged by topic:
The Greene Pathways Gallery presents a selection of paintings and sculptures representing the wildlife and history of this region. The scope broadens from local to national as visitors continue down the gallery with historic and contemporary artwork featuring animals native to North America. A special highlight t is one version of Edward Hicks painting, Peaceable Kingdom.

and arrived at the KOA near Jackson (302 miles). The road in, along the Snake River was beautiful. I hope the weather clears tomorrow. We saw deer and elk on the mountain right behind our camping spot.

Had lunch outside of Idaho Falls where we were warmly welcomed

After we turned off on route 26, we began the climb up to Togowatee Pass at 9600 feet. It had been snowing when I took the Teton photos, and now there was snow all around.

Gail South

As we concluded our route a rainbow appeared. I got it over the prairie, and, wonderfully, over a herd of bison grazing. (150 miles today)