The Yaak River in Montana, we are eastward bound, leaving the great state of Montana. We will be traveling on Interstate 90 and today we are under a winter storm watch here in Montana. They have been getting a lot of rain and snow this year.
The interstate runs all along the Yellowstone river and if you have not heard, the Yellowstone river is flooding. They actually had to close Yellowstone National Park because the river has washed out the roads in the park. So I hope the road we are traveling on won’t be washed out either.
Spring is in the Air, the sun shine really brings out the colors to some of our song birds. Where in the shade they may look like plain old black birds. But when the Sun shines, the vibrant colors do as well.
I think this one is checking out his toe nails, might be wanting a little pedicure. 🙂
Colorful World With Ducks, nothing more colorful then ducks in the spring. I am not sure what is up with these ducks that look like they are wearing top hats. But the vibrant green colors are always so beautiful in the spring.
Here is a fun little video of these ducks swimming at this natural spring pond. Called; Synchronized Diving
150 Birds Photographed, what a fun year for me photographing birds. So many I have never even heard of as well. That is what I like most about birding, like this bird below, the Avocet, I get home and have to get my bird book out right away to see what the name is.
Video of a Beautiful Peacock below or click on this link here; The Peacock, I came across this bird at a mercantile store strutting his stuff. Beautiful birds.
We were camping by a lake and I was just sitting there enjoying the view and this bird below popped up out of the water. It is called Clarks Grebe. Such unusual names for some of these birds.
Plus, I have spotted my first magpie. This bird is hard to photograph, they are fast and don’t sit around to long and always seem to be very far away. They are actually a lot bigger than I thought they would be.
The King Bird, these are great little fly catching birds. You normally find them perched low on something and then they swoop down and catch a bug. I think the soft yellow on this bird is so pretty.
Pecos River New Mexico & Texas The Pecos River, one of the major tributaries of the Rio Grande, runs through New Mexico and Texas before it empties into the Rio Grande near Del Rio Texas. The river flows out of the Pecos Wilderness, through rugged granite canyons and waterfalls, and passes small, high-mountain meadows along its 926-mile journey
The Pecos has figured in many tall tales over the years. Fans of frontier lore have heard the phrase “West of the Pecos,” is the region where the Wild West is said to have begun.
These two photos below are not mine, I found them on the internet to show how high the water used to be here on the Pecos river. This area was very popular with boating a few years back, big boats used to travel down this river.
But today, you might only be able to get a canoe down parts of the river, I will show you what it looks like and who occupies the canyon floor now in the animal kingdom world tomorrow.
Leaving Seminole Canyon Texas, this area of Texas is our first look at the vastness of the south west. A terrain that is so different than anything I have ever seen.
Here is a video of the Pecos river and all the goats; Sometimes my videos go on after I make the post but I will add the link the next day. Wild Goats on the Pecos River
It is a place that has changed over the years, where people used to live and provide for themselves and others. When water was flowing high in the Pecos River.
As we were standing at the bottom of the canyon, I looked up and squinted as I tried to see what these 4 rock type things are. So I zoomed in on them with my camera and it appears to be cement braces trying to hold up the two giant rocks on the side of this cliff.
My main thought is, how did they get those up there. Hmmmm, 🙂
Goats Lots of Goats, we discovered this canyon on a drive we took one day. We parked the jeep at the top of the canyon and as we walked closer to the edge to see the view, we could hear faint noises coming up from the canyon floor. At first, I did not recognize what the noise was.
Then we looked over the edge and here we saw dozens of goats all along the canyon. Not just on the bottom, they were all over the sides of the canyon as well. In yesterday’s post, I showed you a photo of this canyon half full of water. Now the goats run all over this area, I am not sure what they are eating, there sure wasn’t much for vegetation.
We drove down to the bottom of the canyon over on the right side of this photo below. The goats were all over on the left side of the river. So, some of my photos were a little blurry. The goats were very far away from my 400 mm lens.
They did look healthy and pregnant for some of them. So, they learned to adapt to this environment and find food. It was fun to hear all the baby goats singing away, as their voices echoed in the canyon.
2022 A Year to Remember for us, We started this journey back in September of 2021 and what a trip it has been. Even during these trying times for everyone, we are so thankful to have traveled around the states to see what beauty awaits all of us when we step away from the noise of the world around us. Creation has a way of keeping things in balance, it is alive and thrives no matter what.
We have made it to Washington and will be heading east again soon. We have travelled over 8000 miles in 11 months. Seeing things beyond my wildest dreams, a place that is a true gift to our eyes when we slow down and really see what is around us.
This journey was also a trip to try and avoid snow for the first time in my life. It was so nice not having to shovel snow this past winter. We were able to stay in some mild temperatures most of the way, a few 90 degree F days, but overall not to bad. This map shows the route we took, it wasn’t a planned route, we just knew to go west and then north.
We did want to see the Red Wood forest, but California seems to have to much going on, like higher gas prices then what was in our budget. But, we did come across some amazing pine trees in the mountains of Nevada that towered over anything I have ever seen. So that was good for me.
Washington this time of year is just gorgeous, I have never seen so much green, the Norway spruce trees are amazing. The smell of flowers is everywhere and so many new birds I have seen here as well. I will definitely come back to this state for sure.
Overall, what might be my favorite place? Well, Nevada was at the top of my list until I saw Oregon and Washington. I grew up in the north country and I have a love for forest over desert. But, Montana is next and I am thinking I will love that as well.
Folks have asked us many times on this trip if we miss our home.
Over my 60 years of living on this planet, I have discovered that home is not just a place for me. Home is a place in my heart where I know I am going. But, life is to be lived no matter where you are, this beauty around us was made for us to enjoy and marvel at the craftmanship of our creator.
Our time here is very short and when you see the vastness of this earth and the heavens above, it makes me not want to miss a moment of this precious thing called life. To love, laugh and smile and help others do the same.
Thank you for coming along on this journey with us. We still have more to come. I love sharing what I see through the lens of my camera and taking photographs of this beautiful place, creating a moment in time that can not be duplicated. A photograph becomes history the moment you snap the picture.
What lies ahead is just as exciting, faith, love and trust in our Father, that is what I believe in. 🙂
Seminole Canyon Big Bend Country About ten miles northwest of Comstock is Seminole Canyon State Park. Sitting on more than 2,000 acres, the historic site displays jagged canyons cut through the Chihuahuan Desert, where the Pecos River flows into the Rio Grande.
We were here back at the end of February; we had made reservations to Big Bend National Park for the first of March. So, we camped here for a week as we continued our journey into Texas
The extreme dry climate has set in here in southern Texas, very low humidity and 90 degrees F for this part of our trip. This is the dry heat people are always talking about in the south, as long as there is a breeze, I did not mind it.
This is our first-time camping with no electrical hookups. We had to rely on a portable solar panel that we have to keep the batteries charged. We overestimated how much power we use after a couple of days. We woke up one morning and the refrigerator light was blinking, the batteries were dead.
So, we made sure everything was un plugged the next night, like the DVD player, that blinks a red light all night long, We learned to stop using battery power by midafternoon so that the batteries had enough juice in them to keep the food cold at night. It was a learning curve, but we figured it out right away.
There is a lot of history in this rugged part of the world, where people who lived here back in the day, lived in the carved-out caves along the canyon walls. There is a big difference in our house on wheels and the home below in the canyon wall.
But, amazing how we figure out how to use what is provided to us in nature/creation. The sun is a very powerful tool that provides energy, warmth and the ability for everything to grow.
Below is a photo of the Pecos River, we had not even heard of this river until we went out for a drive and came across this beautiful canyon just a few miles west of Seminole canyon.
Driving up U.S. Highway 90 from Del Rio, who would imagine the sight of the Pecos River and the Pecos High Bridge appearing suddenly in view? Soaring 322 feet above the water, the High Bridge is the tallest railroad bridge in Texas.
It flows into the Rio Grande River, to view the Rio Grande from Seminole canyon park, it is a short 7-mile hike or bike ride across the rocky terrain to the north canyon rim. These photos are being shared because husband rode his bike down there to take a photo for you and for me. 🙂
I like to ride my bike-on-bike paths, payment sort of terrain. He loves to go off roading with his. 7 miles was a bit to far for me, I did go about 2 miles on the path, it was so bumpy and lots of rocks. So, I went back.
The Rio Grande water is very low, like a lot of places all along Texas. I will be showing more of these photos of the river as we make our way west.
Have Jeep Must Travel, this old jeep has taken us down a lot of dirt roads this year. What a fun way to see the roads less travelled. It sure needs a good wash and wax though. 🙂
End May With a New Bird Count, 142 birds photographed. Remember, there are over 900 birds species in North America. So I have a long ways to go.
This first new bird to my eyes is the Western Tanager. What a bright colored bird, orange and yellows. We were camped at a small campground and I went for a walk and saw all these bright colored birds. I went over to the fence where they were all flying about to see what was attracting them all to this area and come to find out the owner had taken the honey comb trays out of his bee hives and these birds were loving that.
Next is the Bullocks Oriole, it was getting in on the action of the honey as well.
New Bird From the Bahamas, this is the Eurasian Collared Dove, with very bright red eyes. This chunky relative of the Mourning Dove gets its name from the black half-collar at the nape of the neck. A few Eurasian Collared-Doves were introduced to the Bahamas in the 1970s. They made their way to Florida by the 1980s and then rapidly colonized most of North America.
One of the things I like to use if available when I am out looking to photograph birds, is to use a bird blind. Some of the campgrounds have them built in the wooded areas, plus you can make one your self at home if you want to. Here is a link to LLano State Park in Texas, that actually had 4 bird blinds to use when you visit this park.
Another New Bird, the Yellow Warbler. I finally have a warbler photograph. This one did not want to look at me, so I only got a couple of photos as it was very fast and did not stick around long. They really liked this tree with the yellow seed type things growing on it.
These yellow flowers on this tree smell so good. I could smell the floral scent before I got to the grove of trees out walking in the desert. It is like nothing I have ever seen or smelled before. It was beautiful and these warblers loved these trees as well.
Hot Air Balloons Means Spring is here and no wind finally. It is a nice calm morning as I step outside of our camper to enjoy the early morning fresh air and I could hear a strange sound off in the distance. I walked to the front of our camper and here flying across the sky are the most colorful hot air balloons, coming right at us and one floating right over us.
They landed just on the other side of our camper. As the company that gives the rides pulled up next to the balloons to deflate them and give the customers a ride back to the starting point.
The photo below is a composite where I added all the balloons onto one photo to see all the bright colors together.
The World of Finches, Finches are a colorful addition to any back yard and to our bird list if we have one. Which I am up to 137 now. There is one bird on this post that I don’t know what it is, mostly black with a bit of yellow under the bill.
Plus a video link to my You Tube channel showing a Green Heron hunting fish, I think I forgot to add this one a few days ago, Link Here; Green Heron
Lesser Goldfinch
Gold Finch
I don’t know what this one is. If anyone has a guess let me know and I will add it to my list.
Blue Eyed White Pelican, well I am back in my element of birding today. I have jumped ahead a bit to share these photos. We are in Idaho right now and camping next to a lake. It is so nice to be by water after all the dry months of traveling in the south. But I still have plenty of photos to share from down there as well.
We set up camp at this lake near Boise Idaho and right away I noticed white pelicans off in the distance. So I got the camera out and pulled up a chair and here they came flying right over top of me. What a wonderful sight after all these months on the road.
There is just something magical about watching these large birds glide in the air.
I noticed this ones eye is such a pretty blue. Maybe they are all that color. I will have to find out this week.
Below a group of them were flying by and I have never taken a photo of them flying with their bills open like the second one from the front. You suppose they like to fly like that catching the wind like a dog does when they put their heads out the car window? 😊
Just Doing Some Birding Today, these birds give me goose bumps when they fly this close. We are camped near an air force base. My favorite kind of camping as the air force is doing practice runs everyday.
Best seats in town, I just pull up my chair grab the camera and watch them do their maneuvers. Amazing technology.
Are you wondering how I got this first shot, being it looks like I am in a plane right next to them. 🙂
They were flying pretty close and banking right around us on my right side, so with a telephoto lens and cropping the photo a bit, it looks like we are right there with them. 🙂 Have a great weekend.
The Color Red Attracts Birds, I am not sure if it is the color or is there an aroma that attracts birds to flowers. Like the hummingbirds, if we have anything red out in the yard they will go and check it out. Even if my husband has his red hat on, they will buzz around him.
But today it is another new bird to show you. The Gila Woodpecker, it says they eat bugs and I saw them perched on these cactus every morning and evening.
This one below is the female, this ups my bird count to 138.
This photo below is the male, it is not a great photo, he was pretty far away, but it showed the nice red patch of feathers on top of his head.
What a Smart Bird the Raven, I was watching these ravens at one of the campgrounds we were at for about a week. They kept an eye on all the campsites. As soon as a camper left there spot, the ravens would come in and inspect the area, looking for scraps.
This one actually checked out the charcoal grill and seemed to be telling the others that there is nothing left here. Then he jumped down to the ground to make sure he did not miss anything.
Armadillos (meaning “little armored ones” in Spanish),
Armadillos are prolific diggers. They dig many burrows, as well as dig for food. The animal will not survive in areas where the soil is too hard to dig. Many other wildlife species use and benefit from abandoned armadillo burrows.
Cows in the Desert, the desert is an amazing place I have found out. I see cattle here and there grazing the dried up desert landscapes. Wondering how do they get any nutrition from all this dry grass. We have not seen rain in months down south as we are traveling, yet there are a few flowers here and there and some plants stay green also.
We were driving some back roads and came across this small heard of cattle. This black one here was standing so perfectly still even as I walked up to the fence to take its photo. He posed very well with the mountains in the background. You can see the video of these beautiful cows Here; Long Horn Cattle
Spring is the time for calving no matter where you live.
Nevada Northern Railway, one of my favorite things next to photographing nature and birds, is photographing trains. Especially steam locomotives. This is my first one I have taken a photo of and the beautiful depot that they have maintained for folks to visit here in Ely NV.
Even their railroad crossing signs are unique.
Have a Great Weekend
Thank you David for asking about photographing something architectural, I just happen to have taken these photos a couple of weeks ago. 🙂
From the Mountains of No Names comes faith as small as a mustard seed, where nothing is impossible.
I have lived in the mid west my entire life and never ventured west until this year. I have always wanted to see the mountains and it is truly a sight to behold. To be able to climb to the highest peak that I can climb to and then look out over this vast landscape for miles and miles.
Not only is it breathtaking but it makes me see how small we really are, like standing next to the ocean. Areas that are bigger than my imagination and more beautiful then I could ever dream of. Creation is truly a gift.
The mountains started in southern Texas, below we climbed to the top of Franklyn Mountains in El Paso Texas.
This photo below is Seminole Canyon in Texas, taken with the drone looking at the Rio Grande river which is very low water levels. We have noticed the lack of water all through out the south.
Below is the wide open spaces of Arizona, BLM land, that is our camper in the photo. BLM land is free to camp on. You just find an empty spot and stay there up to 14 days. The dust was blowing here all the time.
Utah is amazing, the red rocks and canyons are amazing to see. This photo below is Zion National Park, it was taken with the drone outside of the park. Looking west. It is quite something how on top of the mountains it looks flat almost everywhere.
This mountains range below and valley is quite the place. Its location speaks of much history on how folks lived back in the day. It is called Spring Valley in eastern Nevada, it is full of natural springs all along the valley. The water is flowing even now as we visited this place.
The green valley floods with the monsoon rains in the spring and summer and many many years ago, people lived along the valley and all this water would freeze in the winter. Cutting ice out of the frozen water was a way to make a living here. I will have more information on these places as I get to them individually.
Another mountain in Nevada below, we drove to the top of this one which was nearly 10,000 ft elevation. It is quite the road to get to the top. There is snow up there and you definitely want 4 wheel drive going up this back country road. But what a view from the top.
We continue our travels north, thank you so much for following along. I appreciate all your wonderful comments you leave on these post and enjoy being able to talk to each and everyone of you when I can. The internet is not always the best in some of these places we have been to. But thank you very much, I appreciate it. Have a wonderful day.
Female Ruby Throated Hummingbird, I have seen my first hummingbirds today. I always enjoy watching these beautiful little birds. We are in Nevada right now and it is cold here, last night it got down to 28 degrees F. But as soon as the sun comes out these little birds are flying all over the place.
We are heading farther north tomorrow, we have been watching the weather and staying put for a few days here trying to avoid the snow that is falling in Oregon. I still have plenty of photos to go through from Texas, NM and AR. I will be sharing those as we go along.
We are finally seeing some green grass, but the winds are still extreme here in eastern Nevada. Not as much dust blowing and that is a nice change. We are headed towards a rainier climate and that might help wash the outside of the RV and Jeep. They really need it.
Below are some of my favorite Hummingbird shots from last summer. 🙂
Starting to See Cactus Now, I always love seeing cactus when in the south. So many different kinds, but we are traveling through this area in February and March, so a lot of the cactus do not look so good this time of year, as it is colder temperatures even in Texas.
We did find this bridge on the map and drove over to see it, I find the construction of older bridges fascinating as well. This is actually a historic bridge named Buchanan Dam Bridge, built in 1937. It was a perfect location at the time below the dam on the Colorado River.
It is a pedestrian bridge now. You can walk across it and when you do there is a constant humming sound, like music almost. From the wind or the traffic going across the newer bridge up river.
Inks Lake State Park Texas, after our stay at the last park I found this state park that was only an hours drive away. We really like not driving more than a couple of hours between parks when possible and we are only staying at this park for 2 nights.
The Colorado river runs through this area and it is the largest river within the state of Texas. It travels 862 miles, almost 600 billion gallons of water flow in a typical year.
Back in the day the river was as much a danger as a blessing for the residents around this area. So they decided to build a dam, a series of six dams to try and control the Colorado river and Inks Lake Dam was the second one built in the series.
In 1940 the state acquired about 1200 acres to make this park here. It has colorful rocks all around the lake, lots of hiking and really good fishing they say.
I love to learn the history of all these places we are visiting. It isn’t about just camping, I find this trip we are on is a walk down the real history of this country. How did all of these places come about? We have been finding a lot of these parks have great museums near by as well and we try to stop at all of them.
So much better than reading it in a book, to get out there and see how everything has changed over the years is quite remarkable to me.
What I Have Learned, This trip we are on has shown me a world I knew existed but was afraid to walk into. Traveling away from the physical world that I grew up in, has made me realize that my safety net is not where I am but knowing I am in His world where ever I am.
Next Stop Granger Texas, our next stop in eastern Texas is at Willis Creek Campground, a Corp of Engineer Lake. If you love camping in national parks and Corp of Engineer parks, I highly recommend getting the America the Beautiful pass, it cost $80 dollars for the year and gets you 50% off your campground fee.
So this campground cost us 11 dollars a night with water and electricity included. This pass has saved us a lot of money on this trip.
We entered the park and there are deer every where. I am not sure if this one works here and wants us to pay her or she is just adding to the scenic view of the park.
