Flaming Gorge ~ Wildlife

And after this, there may be one more post about Flaming Gorge. The place was beautiful, as was much of what we have seen these past five weeks. So, my fascination with this day must, at least in part, be attributed to the fact that this was the last excursion of this fabulous trip. Also, the day was perfect and we did see some wildlife.

We have learned that chipmunks carry their tail in the air like an antenna;

thirteen striped squirrels do not.

I love these three photos of the doe and her fawn.

Look closely and you will see her fawn to the left, behind the bush.

Here goes the doe, over an embankment, away from us!

Her fawn follows close behind.

Now this is some WILDlife!

Can you see the eagle in this one taken at the Flaming Gorge Dam?

See, it is at the far left. I nearly missed it because shooting birds in flight is not easy.

In this photo, I cropped the shot above so that the eagle is visible.


















Now this was exciting! I don't know how, but Rich spotted this antelope high on a hillside while driving those crazy roads. It took me a while to find it with my zoom which made me even more impressed with his ability to see it. I was thrilled to get these two decent photos!

There are thousands of wild horses roaming the land here and we were fortunate to see a small herd from the main park road on our way back out.

We think that this is an eagle...right Amber? This one really startled us though which is why we're not certain. We were driving along when a very large, black bird, almost on the road to our right, flew right in front of our car. It appeared to be about the size of a wild turkey but we are wondering if they puff up before flight when startled? I got these two shots, the third is a cropped version of the second, and then we waited a short distance down the road hoping that it would return to finish whatever it was so focused on by the road. Unfortunately, it slowly drifted away in flight as we watched.

 A pretty successful wildlife watching day after so many disappointing ones throughout our trip.

Lovin' Life ~~ and WILDlife!

  Bev 

Flaming Gorge - Thrilling Roads

In the post where I embedded the video of Flaming Gorge, I mentioned the unpaved dirt and gravel roads we traveled much of that day. Keep in mind that all of this varied terrain and scenery was along the length of this Gorge. These photos are in chronological order as we drove. We did not meet a vehicle or see a person during these back road hours. This may be why...

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I have two videos of portions of this drive which are pretty cool. It takes so much of my very expensive mobile broadband allotment to upload though that I decided against doing that again...maybe later.

Lovin' Life ~~ and Thrilling Roads!

  Bev 

I Beg to Differ!

Shelby is not 5; Shelby is 7!

I can almost hear her giggle now; she will love this!

And yes, we are in Iowa so we should definitely be home tomorrow. It will be fun to see if the girls go crazy with all that space to run throughout the house.

Lovin' Life ~~ And Sweet Giggles!

  Bev 

Flaming Gorge

On Tuesday, "we" drove more than 60 miles on winding, hilly, unpaved dirt and gravel roads through the Flaming Gorge between Rock Springs, WY and Dutch Johns, UT. The Green River runs through the Flaming Gorge Reservoir eventually joining the Colorado River and is part of the Colorado River Reclamation Project which supplies water to several states including Arizona and California. Here are some shots of the Reservoir.

If you are interested, the following is a 2 min., 24 sec. video that is a 360 degree panorama filmed at the same spot where the photos above were shot.



This video was taken with my trusty G9; uploaded to my computer with a Targus USB card reader; uploaded to YouTube via Verizon mobile broadband, which took over an hour while we are driving along I-80 in Wyoming and Nebraska this morning; then embedded into this blog posting which is also connected to the Internet via mobile broadband...yikes!

Meanwhile, Rich drives on...

Lovin' Life ~~ and Technology and MOAO!

  Bev 

Three States ~ Endlessly Intriguing

On Monday we drove...and drove...and drove some more...475 miles worth because if we don't just buckle down and do some driving, we'll never get home! Saturday night I woke up sneezing in the middle of the night and felt close to rotten all day Sunday while we immersed ourselves in the beauty of Hells Canyon. Since we were just going to drive all the rest of Idaho, a corner of Utah, and into Wyoming on Monday, I knew I could get some sleep...haha

Driving through most of the Northwest, you are treated to one amazing scene after the other. Sometimes the terrain will change dramatically in just a couple of miles...it is such an amazing land. I ended up taking about 260 photos that day. Today though I'm going to break it up with a few examples of the many, many other interesting sights along the way.

Let's start in Idaho with scenery and agriculture...

Mesas, Buttes, Plateaus...

I don't know the difference

The always fabulous Snake River

A feedlot right on the interstate.

And my favorite of this group...can you find the white butt of the antelope in this photo? It is already cropped pretty deeply but there is an antelope at about the center...trust me!








It was lightly raining as we entered Utah and when we stopped for gas (you are welcome to contribute to a gas fund anytime...just kidding...for now anyway!) there was a hail storm.

Yes, that's trash at the edge of the parking lot;

there are pig people wherever you go.

This is a favorite of mine...a brilliant white light illuminating this small farm on an overcast day.

The colors and shapes of the land and sky as we approached Tremonton, Utah

A fresh dusting of snow high on the Wasatch Range above Tremonton.

Triple trailers are only allowed on I-80 through Ohio and Indiana, and select Western states so you won't see this on most highways. 

A far northeastern portion of the Great Salt Lake 

A water tower that caught my eye for its unique shape and color. 

What can I say...I loved the colors and shapes on this silo and barn too. 

  

A double railroad tunnel through the mountain.












Of course no drive through Utah would be complete without photos of red rocks in various formations.

  

  

Can you understand why I keep exhausting my supply of superlative adjectives to describe what we have seen and experienced? It's all so indescribably beautiful and fascinating and mesmerizing.

And then we crossed into Wyoming again, from the west this time...remembering our time in Cheyenne at the eastern edge a few weeks ago. We only went as far as Rock Springs but saw all this varied terrain in that relatively short distance. As evening fell, a golden glow was cast over the earth. 

  

The shadow is that of our RV; it's hard to believe, but this scene was even more breathtaking in person.

Lovin' Life ~~ And All We've Seen

  Bev 

Downhill ~ Literally

This morning we are on the road again, heading east out of Rock Springs, Wyoming. After we passed the sign Rich said, "Continental Divide....it's all downhill from here." Is that a pun? I'm never sure.

You've seen photos of Rich behind the wheel before and here he is again this morning.

Have you ever wondered what I do while he assumes all the major roles? Here is what I look like all day, every day. The first was taken moments ago and the second was taken yesterday when we were Meandering along many miles of unpaved Wyoming back roads in the Saturn.

I nearly always have my trusty G9 in my hand.

Yes, I know, now your day is complete...teehee!

Lovin' Life ~~ Homeward Bound!

  Bev