Day 14

There’s this thing that, by taking this trip, MB and I seem to have escaped. 

For a fee, you can arrange to have friends, neighbors, coworkers, employers, or even perfect strangers flocked with flamingos of the artificial variety. 

It’s one of those shenanigans that kind of appeals to me. Those who have visited us know we already have a small resident flock at our house. 

Here is my contribution to the current trend

Where are we now

 Yesterday’s photo was at Icy Straits Point, Alaska, where bears outnumber the people four to one, and average around 1200 pounds. 

Today we’re at Juneau, Alaska’s state capital. We shared the port with three other cruise ships, all with a lot more than four times as many passengers than ours. We have about 900.

The day started early with a bus ride to Mendenhall Glacier. 

Mendenhall Glacier is only 13 miles from Juneau and accessible by road, which makes it extremely popular. 

Then we caught a boat to to go whale watching. 

We also saw a bear, eagles, and orcas. 

Then we returned to Juneau and documented we were here 

Extra post

 Saguaro NP

And

Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum 

Saturday animal show

Prairie Dog

When MB and I were on our last road trip we revisited Badlands National Park in South Dakota.

Both of us had been there before, just not at the same time.

I mentioned in a previous post that we'd seen Bighorn Sheep.

This was the place.

double-click to enlarge

He's there right in the middle of the picture.

Folks were being really careful not to disturb him.

He was ignoring them.
There were others throughout the park.

So, it appears that they're aware they are safe, as nothing seems to disturb them.

not a Prairie Dog

Whatcha doin'?

seen at Badlands National Park

 Sometimes it's the little things you see.

Caught in passing

We were really lucky on our last cross-country trek. 

There were opportunities to photograph wildlife.

While taking a shortcut* through Zion National Park, we had pulled over on the side of the road and saw a flock of Bighorn Sheep eating bushes.

We also saw some at Badlands National Park.

Maybe I should dig out all of the Bighorn pics and post them?

*don't ask who would consider driving through a national park a shortcut

 

We move on a little further

Slightly less than 500 miles on the first day.
Day two found us heading to Moab, Utah for our first adventure of the trip.
We took the scenic route [well, it was scenic once we got past Salt Lake City].

We were in no hurry because MB's son [the one who lives nearest us] and his family were joining us for the rest of the journey eastward on day three.
Once we left I-80 it was mostly two lane mountain roads, reaching 9,000 feet in elevation.
Fortunately, it was still summer driving.
Weather was not a concern.
It was, however, more than 450 miles and projected to take a little more than 7 hours.

It really is scenic country with many small communities with quirky speed limits.
It helps to have a passenger who watches that stuff.

Just short of Moab the navigation app warned us of a traffic slowdown.
What it didn't tell us is that there was major construction on the north end of town where two lanes of traffic are joined by a highway coming in from the northeast and funneling down to one lane with construction barriers preventing left turns into motels where travelers have reservations for the evening.
Those same construct barriers also prevent travelers from traveling further into town once they've manage to find their way into the motel.
Oh well!

MB and I did finally get to the real downtown, where the tourists and the locals were out in force.
We found a really nice little Mexican restaurant that we would probably revisit if we can get back into town.

Day Three: one of the reasons we went to Moab in the first place.

It is an interesting park in that there is only one way in and out.
There is no loop.
It's 18 miles in, then back the same way you drive in.
The scenery is spectacular.
We joined up with family at the visitor center.

Most of the time the pictures speak for themselves.

This one needs a little help

click to enlarge . . .   really!

The other reason we drove to Moab was up the highway and a little bit west.

The major decision for Canyonlands is what part does one visit.
There are four ways to go, each independent of the other.
We chose that which is most panoramic, Islands in the Sky.
It pretty much overlooks the rest of the park.

Mesa Arch is only a short walk from the visitor center . . .

. . . and is right next to the canyon.

I think maybe we want to go back to see at least some of the other three parts of this park.

The confluence of the Colorado River (the one that flows west) and Green River is somewhere out there.

Then we all drove to Grand Junction, where we had an inkling of how some Colorado drivers are.

Not my cat, not Friday

There's been some drama here.

There's a cat who hangs out in our yard.

Actually there are two cats, but one is really shy and they don't hang out together . . .   or even at the same time.
This one is called "The Cat."

It doesn't hang out so much as it lurks.
There are numerous birds and other creatures who inhabit the area.

The favorite spot to hang out seems to be the short wall behind the pool.
It is a good observation post.

The cat may be found any time of day when there are no humans present.
Its favorite thing to do is hunt squirrel.

Here's the rest if the story.
The video pretty much relates what goes on almost daily for the past month or so.
The squirrels have been using the fences to travel the neighborhood in their search for food since before I moved here.

I could tell about how they shredded the canopy on a pop-up in the side yard, but it's boring and typical of squirrels.

Anyhow, each day the cat appeared and waited patiently for a squirrel.
The squirrels aren't exactly stupid.
They know the cat's there, waiting, and it can jump onto the fence rail without difficulty.
It's as if the squirrel is taunting the cat, sometimes from a distance, sometimes up close.
I've observed it on numerous occasions.
I wish I'd remembered the GoPro to record the antics.

Monday, was just like every other day.
The cat was waiting on the wall staring up at the fence.
The squirrel was about fifteen feet away, nattering away and twitching its tail.
Then the squirrel made it's way over to a place not quite directly above the cat.
It must have insulted the cat.
Suddenly the cat was on the fence and the squirrel was airborne, after being swatted.
It appeared that both the squirrel and cat were stunned by what happened because neither responded immediately.
After a few seconds squirrel was up out of the planter and scurrying across the yard into the bushes.
The cat continued to sit on the fence and wonder what happened.

Now, each morning the cat is back waiting in the usual spot, periodically looking up at the fence top.
Squirrel, on the other hand, has not returned as yet.

There were tresspassers

They were here last year, in May.

Friday cat

Nice kitty 

Sometimes

A post writes itself . . .   kinda.

Almost . . .

 We had visitors on Saturday at dinner time.

One of these days I will have the phone turned the video is landscape instead of portrait.

Some Mondays . . .

No words (day three)

MB and her friend were walking on ther beach yesterday afternoon.
This ol' gal had hauled out to catch some rays.

Yellowstone

They say, "timing is everything."
I've no idea who they are, but there are others who say, "location, location, location."
Whatever it is, if someone else says it, it has more credence.
Just look at all the crap on koobecaf that everyone believes.

But I digress.
We were still 82 miles from the park.
So it was grab a quick bite from the complimentary motel breakfast and hit the road.

Our first stop was just west of Cody, beyond the tunnel, for a view of Buffalo Bill Dam.
The gate to the visitor center was closed.
We settled for viewing Buffalo Bill Reservoir.

We then proceeded over those mountains to

Some distance into the park we got a view of Yellowstone Lake and the Grand Tetons [in an entirely different National Park] beyond

The boys are still with us.
They felt it necessary to show the aftermath from the wildfires in Yellowstone a couple of years ago.

They asked me to remind you that almost all of the images can be enlarged by clicking on them.

The ravens were very talkative and about everywhere we went in the park

The bison weren't quite so numerous

. . . and definitely quieter

We followed the Yellowstone River north from the lake

If you enlarge the following picture, you can almost tell that the dark specks are bison, grazing along the river

The boys wanted to see Yellowstone falls. Viewing was limited to the lower falls because of paving.

I mentioned timing earlier.
Had we arrived a day later many of the roads in the park would have been closed for winter.

 It was definitely cool where the Sun didn't shine.

There was lots of hot springs and geysers.
We've plenty of pictures of them.
Some of them smelled worse than bison.

Here's the one everyone likes to see asks about.

. . . or like this

It was later in the afternoon    . . . and it was cold because clouds had begun to roll in.
Until that time it wasn't that unpleasant.

One more look

It was then time to find our way to the next overnight stop  . . . across several state lines.

From Wyoming, to Montana, to Idaho, and Montana.
It was dark and snowing when we reached Butte.

yep, timing