Kootenai Campground Montana, we were in Montana last June. This is basically the end of our trip from last winter. My brother and his wife live here and we stayed at this campground while we were visiting.

I actually did not take a lot of photos while visiting because we spent a lot of time just hanging out together and catching up on old times. We did go sight seeing, but sometimes spending time with family is more important then taking photos for me.

Yesterday a reader commented on the eagle photo. Mentioning that the bird in this photo below looks like an osprey instead of an eagle. So I thought I would share today a photo of each bird to show the differences between these magnificent birds.

I cropped the photo so we could have a closer look. From a distance the two birds can look similar and hard to identify for sure. But, the 3 things I look for are the color of the feet, the size of the beak and then the body size.

The osprey beak is much smaller and thinner, plus the osprey has a definite color difference with the one stipe that leads away from the eyes.

With body size, even a young eagle is quite a bit larger than an adult osprey.

Both birds are beautiful and majestic in their own ways. A sight to see in nature for sure.

I did find a few small flowers blooming here and there. I tell you, I am ready to see more flowers now. Spring time is always so uplifting as the grass starts to grow and the colorful flowers replace all the brown of the long winter months.

Kootenai Campground Montana

Sandra J

Sandra J’s Photography & Fine Arts

Plymouth Washington, another fun place we found to camp at right along the Columbia river bordering Washington and Oregon. We stopped for gas just before the park back in May as you can see the sign says $4.65 for regular. Our cat and smaller dog always jump up into the window when we stop so they can look around and sit in the sun when it is cold outside.

We looked on the map and saw that there is a lock and dam on this river called the McNary Lock and Dam. This dam is built on the Columbia river which is full of Pacific Salmon.

So we noticed there is a bike path going all the way to the dam, so we headed that way. We came across this giant tunnel that you have to ride through to get to the dam. It looked pretty spooky at first because it is quite long and pitch black in their when you first enter it.

I will have a video of it next week, I am always ahead on photos and the videos come out later. Come to find out this tunnel used to have train tracks in it as the trains would have to pass through here.

But they changed that and rerouted the train to go over the hill instead of through it.

The interesting thing about this dam is that they built a salmon run so the salmon can still go up stream during spawning. It runs up hill and around the dam back into the lake on the other side.

They also built a viewing area inside of a building so you can go in there and watch the salmon swim by. It is like a little tunnel in there for them with lights on you can see them.

If you look close you can see the outline of a huge salmon swimming by the window.

I found this so interesting, because I have never seen a salmon before until now.

Have a great weekend.

Plymouth Washington

Sandra J

The Land of Irrigation, Idaho and Oregon by far has the most beautiful pasture land I have ever seen. We cam across a lot of pastures that were being watered by high pressure irrigation systems, not only for their crops but also on the pastures even with animals like horses and cows in the pastures with the sprinklers going.

Here is the link to my video for yesterdays post on my You Tube Channel, I do like making videos of where we have been along with taking photos. Link; Idaho’s Grand Canyon Here

I grew up raising horses and my pastures never looked liked these. They are so lush and green and not one manure brown spot anywhere to be seen and no weeds anywhere as well. I was quite impressed.

The Land of Irrigation

Sandra J

Exploring Idaho ,back to the end of last winters trip. I get carried away with putting photos on that I am taking now, but I still have 3 states to go from the previous trip. So Idaho is next, a state that we have never been to.

As we first entered into the state at the SW corner, you can see that the view goes on for ever. This first photo shows some water in the background which is the snake river. We camped there for about a week. This was back in May of 2022, so the temperatures were not all that warm yet.

We were making a slow trek towards Washington and Montana, knowing we were going to go over White Pass. White Pass (elev. 4,500 feet (1,372 m)) is a mountain pass in the northwest United States, in the Cascade Range of Washington, southeast of Mount Rainier and north of Goat Rocks. We did not want to get there to soon because they can have snow and ice storms everyday at any time of day. We were waiting for it to warm up a little at the pass.

As we were camping here for a week, we found on the map a place called Bruneau Canyon, a short drive from where we were staying. Well this road makes it look like a very long drive. 🙂

This area below in the photo had a sign at the start of the road that said, WARNING; This road crosses US Air Force bombing range for the next 12 miles, Objects may fall from air craft.

Well, nothing fell on us. But we did see a runway off in the distance surrounded by fence.

Anyway, back to the story. We made it to the canyon. This canyon is referred to as Idaho’s Mini Grand Canyon. It is quite something to see. Almost as if the earth split open for miles and a river flowing down at the bottom.

Exploring Idaho

Sandra J

A Parallel Realm, A parallel realm where everything operates according to His will. 

Night photography is a challenge but fun as well, going out in the dark of the night and looking up into the heavens. My camera picks up more than what my eye can see most of the time.

I went out yesterday morning, as I new there is a full moon out right now, to see what possible photo I might find to take that would be a little different. I was walking back to my jeep and this puddle of water caught my eye as the moon is reflecting in it.

So I set up my camera with an aperture setting of f/22 and a long exposure of 10 sec shutter speed. f22 point sources of light become these bright, multi-pointed stars. The result is below, it was an empty parking lot with some buildings in the background as well. Something a little different.

This photo below I was using my bridge camera and it only has an Aperture of f8, so I was not able to get the star effect of the moon over this parking lot, which is actually a truck stop we spent the night at when we were out west.

 A parallel realm where everything operates according to His will. 

A Parallel Realm

Sandra J

The name live oak came from the fact that they remain green and “alive” throughout the winter when other oak trees are dormant and leafless.

While many species of oak trees are found throughout the world’s temperate zones, live oaks are native only from Virginia south to Florida and west to central Texas, especially thriving in the heat and humidity. 

The Name Live Oaks

Sandra J

Above there is reflection
Colorful and bright
Dancing in the sunlight
Shimmering at night

The world is full of beauty
And also some surprise
Perhaps it is the future
Reflecting in our eyes by Robert Longley

Reflections in Time

Sandra J