Traveling is often a double edged sword. As much as I love where I live, the small town out in the middle of nowhere often poses obstacles to an already challenging career field. Nevada in general, is very rural and outside of Reno and Vegas, art jobs are often few and far between.
After the long Elko winter, spring is often my busy season, with something going on almost every weekend. I stumbled across Chalk it Down, a relatively new festival in Las Vegas on one of those infamous winter days and signed up, figuring it was worth trying out. It was a 12 hour round trip drive but I knew the road well and figured it was better than sitting at home.
Sunrise on the Road
As this was a one day festival, I had a few planned stops along the way. Ice Age Fossils State Park had been on my list to visit for a while, as I love anything deep time related. The park itself sits right on the edge of Vegas, an odd chunk of land across the street from subdivisions and gas stations. It was Friday afternoon when I arrived, windy but not too hot. I hit the trail after a quick spin through the museum, eager for some time out of the car.
Hiking at Ice Age Fossils State Park
It was fun to image the kind of animals that had once roamed the land of neon lights and slot machines and the trails were short enough that I was able to do most of them in a couple of hours.
My next stop, and my lodging for the night, was a campground in Lake Mead National Recreation Area. I'd passed through the area before, but had never had much of a chance to get out and explore. It was about an hour drive, but I managed to skirt around Vegas proper and missed most of the afternoon traffic.
My campground wasn't on Lake Mead itself, but instead overlooked a massive gorge with a blue river snaking along the bottom. Once I was parked, I decided I hadn't had quite enough hiking for the day and I set out again, stumbling onto a well trodden trail that followed the rim of the canyon. I walked it for probably two miles before the wind won out.
Hiking Out From Camp
By now, my trusty Kia and I were car camping experts, so I didn't bother setting up my tent, instead crashing in the back of my car. It was going to be an early day so I passed the time reading and reviewing the pictures I'd taken that day, knowing it was going to be an early night.
It was an early morning the next day as well, especially since I managed to set my car alarm off at 4:45am. I was already awake but I figured no one else was. Still the morning sunrise was surprisingly pretty, and I was on the road by six.
Tequila Sunrise
Chalk It Down was a surprisingly fun little event, taking place in the Las Vegas Arts District, something I'd read about but had never visited in person until now. It was surprisingly chilly, and I'd never been gladder to bring a sweatshirt. The theme was "Unity in Community", something I wasn't particularly interested in chalking, but I managed to come up with a fantasy themed community of an elf and her unicorn.
Though I had until late afternoon to finish, I wrapped things up about one, knowing I still had a six hour drive home that day. I snagged some pizza on my way out and bailed, pleased with what I'd managed to create with such a short deadline.
"A Community of Magic"
I headed out about two in the afternoon, slightly bummed that I hadn't got a chance to see more of the Arts District. I was already making plans to return. This chalk piece wasn't one of my more complicated works, and I found it was a nice change to all the stress of the large scale competition pieces I was used to.
But chalk is chalk and in the end, everything managed to work out just right.