Category: Wild Wild West

With everything going on at the moment (move-related stuff), there’s no way I am going to be able to do a nice, logical/methodical description of the vacation. So I decided to just pick a date at random as time permits and share a few photos. With explanations, of course.

The first date I selected was September 11. That was the day we left Salt Lake City (SLC), which was really just a layover for us, and headed for Grand Teton National Park.

Annelies had never been to SLC. I had only passed through previously. Neither of us had ever looked into any of the Mormon history stuff. We’d never visited the Great Salt Lake either. In fact, I’d only ever seen it from a distance. Both of us, being the travel geeks that we are, thought it would be cool to not only see the lake, but touch it. So we selected a spot on the map that would give us lake access.

Hubby did the selecting for he and I. Annelies used her maps and GPS. Both ended up choosing Antelope Island State Park.

It really was chosen just because it looked like we’d be able to get to the water (as evidenced by the map at left). None of us knew a thing about the place in advance.

It ended up being the third really nice surprise location we discovered during our trip.

Why such a surprise? We had no idea we’d be seeing wildlife there. We just thought we’d stop, touch the water, and be on our way. For example, we had no idea that Antelope Island is home to one of the largest publicly owned bison herds in the nation.

While Hubby and I have seen bison in large numbers before, Annelies and Yves hadn’t. So they were very excited.

I was already excited before we saw the bison. To get to the island, you have to drive across a causeway, both sides of which were chock-full of all sorts of cool water birds.

The island itself was gorgeous. Keep in mind, SLC is surrounded by mountains. And the island was named “Antelope” Island for a reason.

We stopped at the visitor’s center and were entertained by a large flock of Cliff Swallows.

Inside the visitor’s center was a cute little gift shop, where I was able to purchase a new toad. (In case you missed the tragedy report, my frog was lost!)

When I went to touch the water, Hubby waited in the truck. That’s when I saw the brine flies, which I found quite intriguing.

Keep in mind, I had no idea what they were. I thought I was walking through dirt. But, as I approached, the “dirt” took off, en masse. Buzzing.

I stopped. They landed. I stepped. They moved.

It was the weirdest thing. Not only could I see them, I could hear them, too!

When I went back to get Mike, he looked at me as if I were crazy after I told him “you have to come and see these flies.”

There’s a YouTube video (not mine) that shows these harmless creatures. The image below shows a swarm that launched itself when a guy put his kayak in the water.

Yes, Hubby was intrigued, too.

But the coolest thing about the island — REALLY cool — were the gazillion sunflowers gracing its shores.

Apparently, there are over 60 species of sunflower that grow wild in Utah.

I’ve never seen so many sunflowers. It was awesome.

Now, I am off to pack.

Maybe I’ll find a few spare minutes for more random images tomorrow…

If there’s anything specific you’d like to see, let me know.

We made it to Grand Teton safely on Sunday. This whole vacation has been fantastic, but our time at Grand Teton was some of the most relaxing ever. Not because we just sat around, but because we took our time doing what we wanted, when we wanted, and didn’t have to be anywhere at any certain time.

We left the alien landscape of the desert behind and were treated with some more amazing mountain scenery.

Grand Teton National Park is like no other place on Earth. Annelies described it as “very Zen.” I thought that was pretty appropriate.

The above image and the two that follow were shot during one of our hikes.

The next image was taken yesterday before we left GTNP. This is the quaint little two-bedroom cabin we shared. It was at Colter Bay Village in GTNP.

And now we are at Yellowstone. We are staying outside of the park in West Yellowstone, Montana. This is our last full day here. So I need to sign off and get moving.

We’ll be homeward bound tomorrow.

On Tuesday morning, we said goodbye to Shannon (she flew back to California) and the four of us headed for Utah. Lucky for us, it was a warm day (60 degrees as opposed to 30 degrees). If it had been 30 in the valley, we would have been screwed. Because we had to drive across a 12,000-plus foot mountain. As it was, we got hit with dense fog and snow flurries. On the day after Labor Day.

Trail Ridge Road cuts across Rocky Mountain National Park. The highest point on the road is 12,183 feet. In the picture below, you can see the height of the snow stick. They put those along the roads so the plow-drivers can find the side of the road. When snow sticks are that tall, you know they get a LOT of snow.

After successfully traversing Trail Ridge Road, we headed south. We drove through Winter Park, Colorado, which was nice to see. Then we crossed another high pass on our way to Interstate 70. I must say, I-70 in Colorado and Utah is MUCH more scenic than I-70 in Maryland.

We passed quite a few other big-name ski resorts, too (Breckenridge, Copper Mountain, Aspen, and Keystone, to name a few). We even stopped for lunch in Vail. That may sound fancy, but we only ate at Subway. We still had a long way to go.

The rain stopped shortly after Vail, but the clouds lingered as we passed through Glenwood Canyon, which is supposed to be the most picturesque section of interstate in the country.

Shortly after that, the sky began to clear and the landscape started changing.

We continued heading south and west toward Utah, which was our ultimate destination.

The further south and west we traveled, the clearer the skies became, and the more desert-like the terrain.

Before heading into Utah, we had one final stop in Colorado near Grand Junction… the Colorado National Monument.

Honestly, neither Annelies nor I knew much about this place. But we’re all national park fans. We knew we’d be passing close by, so we thought we should pop in. And boy are we ever glad we did.

You want to see some amazing scenery? All of the following images were shot there.

 

 

 

 

 

It was breathtaking.

All that rain we drove through made for some pretty dramatic skies.

As gorgeous as it was, we couldn’t linger long. We still had to get to Utah.

Once we got to Utah, we were all completely blown away by the scenery. The image above is just one of the shots I captured en route to Moab, which is where Arches National Park is located.

Pics from there will have to wait until tomorrow. Those shots make the ones you see here look dull by comparison.

Stay tuned…