Blueprint for Accountability

The Wall Street - Washington Connection

I was at Georgetown University the other night 

to see this discussion. 

Absolutely brilliant and very informative if you don't know how 

Wall St is connected to  government.

The Wall Street-Washington Connection from Culture Project and Lannan Center on FORA.tv

Its a couple hours long, so sit back, grab some tea and get informed.

From UT to DC

So, you know how things can change in an instant. Yeah - for me that happens more often than usual.

3 days ago I was in Utah. I'm in Arlington, VA now - just outside D.C. Welcome to my crazy nomadic life.

For months now, the person I worked for in London has been trying to find me a position in the US (she now lives here). I didn't think it would happen. Lots of great plans never really happen when it comes to putting them into action. This time, it happened. It just happened at an inconvenient time, as I had just started in Utah.

The proverbial "offer I couldn't refuse" was made. Actually, I would have been stupid to refuse it. I had to leave the same day the offer was made - night really. I apologized a hundred times over to my workamping employers. I really do feel terrible about leaving them just like that.

So here I am, now central to a congressional campaign. Back to politics!


iris artpurple iris artvintage gas pumps artanthropomorphic artdobro art

BIG change

How quickly things can change in a matter of hours. Details to come... but the next month is gonna get CRAZY.

guitars artmusic room artresonator guitar art

Toadstools & Sand Dunes

The shop is closed on Sundays, so that's my day to escape. This past Sunday I headed toward Page to get my oil changed and stock up on some stuff. On the way there I saw a sign saying "Toadstool Trailhead"... no idea what the trail was, but the name alone was reason enough to stop so I decided to head there on my way back from Page.

Awesome hike! Short, less than a couple miles round trip, unless like me you can't find the actual trail bit and wander around for a while in other directions taking photos. You end up walking in a wash most of the way, then the trail picks up and makes you feel like a mountain goat at times:

 

So, at the end you get to this foreign looking landscape that resembles a sci-fi flick from the 60s, of what they thought another planet would look like. And there are toadstools. Rock toadstools.

 Pretty nifty.

After that hike, I ended up back in Kanab earlier than planned so I kept going to the Coral Pink Sand Dunes, a state park about 20 or so more miles toward Zion. There was sand, lots of it. And wind. Not a great combo, but you can get some pretty sweet pictures of sand blowing off the dunes. The sand isn't so much pink as it is orange... maybe at dusk it turns pink?

There was this old wood beam fence running along the edge of the dunes. I sort of went a bit photo mad for it, but it just looked so cool. This was my favorite at the end:

Perfect temps, perfect sky so all in all a pretty good day off. This was my only day off this week, so I earned it. You can see the rest of the photos here:

http://heather-applegate.artistwebsites.com

Life in the parks...

I am currently living and working in Kanab, Utah... aka, Little Hollywood - cause so many westerns were filmed here. Kanab is kinda the crossroads of where people pass through to get to the Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, and Bryce Canyon. Its a tiny town, so its nice to have places close by to explore on the days off!

Took this in Zion National Park

I've been living at the place I work since the RV park isn't open til April 1st... this is the scene in front of my car on the side of the trading post & museum:

Not sure what I'll get up to this coming Sunday - I'm working 6 days this week. Tomorrow I'm going to do a half day then come back in the evening for when a tour bus comes in for the dinner and dress up movie scene thing... overtime is great, but definitely looking forward to Sunday! If the North Rim of the Grand Canyon was open I'd head there, but I don't think it is - maybe back to Zion if the weather's good and I can hike one of the trails.

Working again

I've just started my first job as a Workamper at a place in Kanab, UT - Frontier Movie Town. They have a museum out back with a lot of the old movie sets from back in the days of old westerns. Loads of films have been shot in the area.

Here's a little video of what they do for the tour buses that come through - last night we had a French group come through. It was hilarious. I'll be doing the photography for the tours, and working in the gift shop.

So far we've only had a few customers in during the day - so most of the first month we're open is getting the shop ready, inventory, and learning the ropes.

Kanab is right in the middle of where people pass through to get to the Grand Canyon, Zion NP and Bryce Canyon... lots to see around here, and I've not been to Zion or Bryce yet, so days off will be spent exploring!