The Art of Vacation

This weekend Sun Valley is hosting a 3 day Arts Festival and the big grassy field is full of neatly arranged white tents manned by artists and filled with arts ranging from hand-made furniture, to sculpture, textile art and paintings.  John was grousing that Lisa had put him on "art restriction" because of his propensity to buy art both in Costa Rica and while traveling.  

I was really taken by a textile artist whose "quilts" more closely resemble fine modern paintings.  This is because she actually paints and dyes the the fabrics before assembling her abstract designs.  But my heart was stolen by the watercolors of Kim Howard.  Kim is a children's book illustrator and her booth had both her paintings and books.  I was drawn to a small painting in her "Pairings" series, in which she paints bird mates.  Kim is holding the humming birds painting I (we, right Ben?) bought.  

Lisa and I both bought copies of one of the children's books - we both have Baby Olivias to buy for.  Kim signed our books and wrote sweet dedications to the Olivias.

Lisa and John really liked the art glass in one booth and debated quite a while whether to buy one or two like this one.  They have recently bought a bed and breakfast suites that their son Ian is running in La Fortuna, Costa Rica and thought the glass garden art would look great against the white stucco walls.  The decision was finally made to buy this one and take in home carefully in carry-on.

The sun got pretty hot at the festival and we had each bought something, so we decided to take them to the Taylors Loop hike we did with the Botanical Garden ladies, but just the short hike to see the flowers and butterflies.  The Little Blues were massed on the creek edge, sipping up their minerals and held still for a picture.

 This picture is actually from the previous day, but Ben wanted to show everyone how cleverly Ketchum manages to save pedestrians from disaster - bright red flags are stashed at busy intersections on each side of the crosswalk and pedestrians can walk and wave the flags.  It really works.

Kathy and Betty recommended Trail Creek Cabin restaurant for dinner or at least drinks, so we decided to give it a try.  It is a rustic cabin built in 1937 and surrounded by cheerful gardens and bordered by Trail Creek, noisily burgling right beneath our table on the deck.  Before our food arrived, it started sprinkling, but the big red umbrella over us was perfect shelter.

Lisa ordered this refreshing salad of watermelon, feta, cucumbers, etc.  Twice now here I have made a salad with crisp watermelon, thinly sliced onion, greens and a light vinaigrette.  It tastes like summer.  I am going to call it my Idaho salad...

After dinner, we drove the length of Fairway Drive, because we heard this is the Sun Valley street of multi-millionaires.  Since we were told the street is home to the rich and famous, we stopped to ask these bears for their autographs and they agreed have their picture taken with Ben and John.

The final picture of the day - a breathtaking sunset with sunbeams streaming through the clouds.  No art can compare.  And nothing is better than to share such a spectacle in the company of friends.