(Top photo)I had a chance to chat with presidential First Lady Laura Bush for a few minutes following her speech at Zion National Park. What did we talk about? Hiking in Zion. (Photo below) Nellie and I in front of the Zion Nature Center prior to the ceremony. Photos by Nick JorgensenYesterday I had an unusual opportunity to meet and visit with Laura Bush. She visited Zion National Park along with Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne to speak at the re-dedication of the Zion Nature Center. As a board member of Zion Natural History Association, I was invited to attend the ceremony along with my wife Nellie and about 100 others. The ZNHA helps finance the Zion Junior Ranger Program, the oldest Junior Ranger Program in the nation, which is housed in the Zion Nature Center.
Mrs. Bush gave a stirring speech (
see video clip)supporting the national park system and announced she and some friends would be spending this week hiking the trails of Zion. I had a chance to chat with Mrs. Bush for a few minutes following the event and was impressed with her abilities to fill the role of the first lady. She is a very eloquent and classy person. We were however somewhat uneasy and a little shocked at the amount of security and media presence involved. Yikes! We were almost relieved to finally leave. Afterward we drove on up to our cabin on the east rim of Zion and spent the night under a full moon in perfect silence and privacy knowing that somewhere down below in the canyon a cadre of security people were hovering over the First Lady of the United States of America.
Okay, I admit it, this is more of a fishing trip than an art trip, but my sketch book will be with me at all times. We leave in the morning to hook up with my son Jon Lee and my brother in law Robert Eves at Lake Powell for a couple of days. Robert is bringing his bass boat which will put us in range of some great photo reference for paintings and some great fishing locations also. What could be better than that?
We flew down to Houston Texas yesterday to spend a few days with my daughter Jana, husband Phil, and grandkids Mattie and Katelyn. Today we took it easy and just enjoyed our time with the grandkids. We visited the Houston LDS Temple, a cool park, and old town Spring. I did a little sketching in my travel sketchbook and Mattie added a few drawings of his own. His drawings are pretty amazing for a three year old. He has his own school and art room in their house and the walls are plastered with his artistic creations. Jana knows what budding artists need--encouragement, art tools, and plenty of paper.
Following the Zion National Park dedication ceremony and speech by Laura Bush we drove on up the mountain to our cabin at East Zion. After the rush of security and crowd at Zion we enjoyed the complete privacy and solitude of our hideway in the Ponderosas. Following a little clean-up work on the cabin we kicked back and relaxed.
My favorite pastime is sitting in my Sky Chair and sketching in my sketchbook. Nellie lies in the lounge chair and reads. Aaah, perfect weather, peace, and quiet--this is the life!
