siri

this free municipal hotspring is just a 20 minute drive from rt. 80. a very worthy winter tangent if you are driving from colorado to utah via wyoming’s rt. 80. nice clean heated bath house and the hotspring is sulphur-rich and has been captured in a large concrete outdoor pool area. lots of locals were there soaking up the healing waters and relaxing scenery (read: flat and no trees). i couldn’t believe it was free. if i lived in wyoming, this place would be my winter-time salvation.

cheap postcards and kinda kitschy. good stop during long rt. 80 trek.

well… wyoming is (at least in winter via rt. 80) a largely barren, windy, cold, and desolate place. however, it was very exotic to me (being from the densely-populated and densely-foliaged connecticut) and thus totally worth seeing. we stopped at a free municipal hot spring 20 minutes drive off of rt. 80 and that was very surreal and delightful. saw lots of deer roaming the streets of the small hotspring town, and it brought the opening montage for the tv gem ‘northern exposure’ to mind. another plus about wyoming: they have TACO TIME franchises! i love love love taco time with all my heart, and when i lived in the pacific northwest ate it daily. it was a fine thing to revisit their vegetarian burrito so far east.

it was surreal. beautiful location but impossible to get into a lot of things without ‘credentials’ (ie affiliation with some film, studio, or celebrity) and also all of the films were sold-out in advance. i had a great time because i got to see my friend’s film premiere and hang out with him and a bunch of friends. i didn’t see any sundance films other than his. i hit up the ‘slamdance’ festival instead for a couple of films, because there were tickets available. everything is very expensive in park city, so again, if you either have a free place to crash (as i did, slumber-party fashion with 20 of us sleeping-bag-sardined in a 2 bedroom condo) or ample money, it’s a worthy trip. but contrary to how the media present it on tv and in magazines, sundance is not bursting at the seams with A-list celebs. mostly, i saw unrecognizable behind-the-scenes industry types or unknown indie people involved with some film and press. i saw one person on the street i recognized as a hollywood actor: the woman who plays “nina” on the WB show “everwood”.

it is a little tiny city, but full of great restaurants, nice yale art galleries, the peabody museum of natural history, the amistad schooner, etc…. it has certain charms. the yale architecture is nice to look at, too.

the national gallery had more of his better works on display. the munch museum has a huge collection of his works, but few on exhibit. also, the metal detectors and oppressive security were a turn-off.

I will be going to Sundance from the 23rd to 29th to support my friend whose film, Moonshine, is part of the festival. I am so excited, but a bit worried about how much money everything is going to cost…

My friend’s movie is being screened at the Sundance Film Festival in a couple of weeks, and so I will be going out there to support him. I can’t wait!

I spent 5 days in Oslo in September and reflect on them daily. It is truly an enchanted and amazingly beautiful place!