detour through Joshua Tree

 

got a new camera for christmas… WOOT!

so, thought I’d give it a quick test run out in some nature.

on the way to LA from Scottsdale,

we took a quick detour through Joshua Tree National Park.

even the road into the park looks nicer

through the lens of the new camera.

YAHOOOOOO!

 

 

on the drive through you pass this cool rock outcropping.

all I could think was…

that’s totally the spot from the

Entourage episode ‘Tree Trippers!’

HA.

 

 

just as the sun was setting,

we made it to the ‘Cholla Cactus Garden’.

what a wild place.

the whole scene is a bit otherworldly. 

(because I know what other worlds look like???)

 

 

spied a little bunny rabbit camouflaged in the brush. 

cute.

 

 

I have never seen a Cholla cactus before.

they look super fuzzy and soft… but they’re definitely NOT.

isn’t this thing cool looking???

 

 

looks like the new camera’s ok.

think I’ll keep it.

tee hee.

 

Wyoming wildlife

 

we woke to a bright sunday morning.

relaxing in the village square,

we drank tea and watched the sun rise,

creating a vision of autumn colors:

 

 

I sat pondering the fact that we’d seen zero wild animals

in Yellowstone or Grand Teton National Parks.

a testament to the challenges of keeping things ‘wild’ in our National Park System?

on the road back to Jackson, however, we saw these two buffalo snoozing.

exciting.

 

 

and this moose, unknowingly being ‘shot’ by a handful of travelers.

albeit their weapons were Nikons and Canons…

 

 

and last but not least, the vicious and oh so scary black doggy species.

yikes.

don’t get too close!

 

 

along the ride back home we stopped along the crystal clear waters

of the Snake River, watching the fisherman unload their catch.

they pulled out a few nice cutthroat to show us.

 

 

and then back to Utah we went,

to the not so wild life…

 

Yellowstone National Park.

from Grand Teton National Park we headed north through the

Targhee and Bridger Teton National Forests.

trees and trees and trees for miles and miles…

 

and miles…

  

with little time, we headed straight up to Old Faithful.

who, apparently, is not as faithful as he’s cracked up to be.

here’s a pic of Bijou yelling at him for being 15 minutes early,

so that we were forced to witness only the tips of his grandeur…

over the tree tops,

from the parking lot!

 

 

with just a couple of hours to spare,

we drove a short way north to Midway Geyser Basin,

where you stroll along a boardwalk…

 

 

admiring the crystal blue waters of

Excelsior Basin.

 

and then continuing along the path up through the misty expanse

 

toward Grand Prismatic Spring.

the ‘largest and most beautiful hot spring in the park’,

according to National Geographic.

except…

with the steam, you could only see the runoff streaming underneath.

the camera was able to capture even more than I could really see.

papooey!

 

 

 

on the walk back across the boardwalk loop and out of the steamy mist,

you finally spy something fully visible,

the ‘Turquoise Pool’.

  

 

and so was our tiny little teaser visit into Yellowstone National Park.

we’ll be returning again soon, no doubt.

(we’re coming back for YOU Old Faithful!)

Teton National Park

along the way out of Teton Village,

we spotted this hot air balloon about to go up. 

imagine the view - cruising gently and silently through the crisp morning air.

    

 

on the north side of Jackson we ran into the usual string of cars,

randomly parked along the roadside gawking at some wild animal.

so we pulled over as well, and were elated to see

two massive wolves bounding across the road and into the fields.

my mouth was agape in awe.

by the time I gathered myself enough to grab the camera,

this was the only blurry, out of range, shot I could manage:

  

 

and yes, if you look closely, the wolf is wearing a collar. 

I learned that there is one black wolf and 4 grey wolves in the Pinnacle Peak pack,

which roam the area just north of Jackson and the Elk Refuge.

what an INCREDIBLE moment.

I was miffed about my less than stellar camera skills,

so i followed the black wolf down onto a private road full of beautiful homes. 

I ended up in a driveway a mile out of view of anything,

just searching for that beautiful animal,

standing on the roof of my car to find it.

after 1/2 an hour - no luck with the wolf,

but once I turned around, saw this view.

 that works.

 

 

driving up through Teton National Park is awesome,

in every sense of the word.

its such a striking and inspiring setting.

I couldn’t help but snap a ton of photos of these magnificent peaks.

from land,

 

 

and from sea.

just kidding… that’s Jenny Lake.

 

 

after taking all those pics, I started to grow weary,

so I stopped to ask one of the locals

‘which way to starbucks?’ 

she looked at me, laughed, and I swear I heard her mumble..

‘ha. out of towner.’ 

 

 

heading north through the park we stopped on the shores of Jackson Lake

to contemplate life in the reflection of Mount Moran.

  

 

then hiked around the grounds of Jackson Lake Lodge,

it was very ‘The Shining’-esque having been closed up for winter.

my favorite kind of tourist spot…

one without tourists!

and just when I thought I couldn’t possibly take one more photo of the vast Teton expanse,

I turned around and looked up at the mirrored Lodge windows

and shot a little self portrait,

as a reminder of the moment.

   

 

BLISS.

assateague island

ive always wanted to see the 'wild horses' on assateague island in MD. so, bijou and i packed up the buggy and drove off monday morning to check it out. just the idea of getting on the road on a beautiful fall day to see something new was exciting. the sunroof was open, the sun shining above and the drive quite scenic:

while at the visitors center getting the usual bit of education, i spied this sign:


yikes! not the romantic looking creature, galloping down the beach, splashing water everywhere, that i'd imagined. im a bit frightened! as we drove over the bridge to the island, this deer, clearly disobeying the road sign, gave us an additional taste of what was to come...
this place REALLY IS WILD!!!

( click on pics to make them bigger)

so we drove for a while in search of these mystical horses. we pulled over and walked into the woods looking for them:


eek. feels very 'blair witchy and/or 'deliverance' -like in here. so, we decided to head out to the beach to look for them:


but all we found were surfers:
(what they were even attempting to surf is unclear)


so, we decided to take one of the nature trails out to the wetlands where the ranger said they would most likely be:


and we sat and watched the sunset,
taking in the beauty of the day:


no horses to be seen here, but we did see this 'bird' perched overhead. he was eyeing up bijou like he hadnt eaten in days, so we left.


feeling fulfilled by a lovely day spent exploring, but defeated by the absence of wild horses, we hopped back into the truck and started home. on the way back out of the park we came 'round a bend in the road and there they FINALLY were!!! the WILD HORSES!!! YES!
it was magical, it was beautiful, it was...
ridiculously tame.


there they stood, in the middle of the road - not moving. they were so tame that i actually had to drive around them to keep going. it was a sad and sudden realization that people like me had made these 'wild horses' well, not so wild. and so, bijou and i drove off into the sunset and left these horses behind us. yep, there they are.
still not moving...


WILD.

niagara falls

reluctantly, we packed up the car and headed off towards vermont. we stopped in gary, indiana along the way to let bijou go for a swim in lake michigan. um. we will NOT be adding gary to the potential cities to move to list...

mmm. factories and pollution make for GREAT sunsets.

next stop - niagara falls. one of those places you must see before you die. once youve seen it - no real need to go back, as far as i can tell.



lots and lots of water...

crazy horse, mt rushmore, badlands

in south dakota we stopped to see the crazy horse memorial. (nothing to do with those lovely ladies in vegas, i assure you) its pretty cool to see this type of stone carving in progress. you can see his head, quite obviously, on top; and they are now working on blasting out the horse below him. it cost money to get any closer, so we decided the view was better from here anyway...


not far from there is mt rushmore national memorial. more rock carvings. more money to walk up to some rocks when the view is better from far away. actually we liked the view from driving around the backside best... hey george!


and the real reason that we decided to head this way on our journey eastward - was to see badlands national park. i highly suggest this geologic wonder to anyone who has the opportunity... so cool! i have so many photos from this visually awesome landscape. here are a few of my faves:







i guess i could start making some more lunar landscape comparisons, but again... never been.