Category: Nature

Thoughts on nature with links to my photoblog at SmugMug

Image #249 – The Badlands

SAMSUNG CSC

One of the first pieces of art that I bought was a woodwork-reduction painting of the Badlands by Gordon Mortenson  entitled “Cattle Country.”  I have loved that piece of art and yearned to visit that exotic part of the world. Today I got my wish. It was a spectacularly beautiful day and the Badlands were all I had hoped for. The area has received a lot of rain this year and the grasslands that surround these unusual geological formations were lush and verdant. Wildflowers were everywhere and, just for fun, prairie dogs and buffalos.  All in all one of the best days ever.  ❧

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Image #247 – Off the Grid — Drifting in Clouds

Image #247
Highway 130 near Laramie, WY. Thunderheads form over the Wyoming hills.

I’ve been off the grid for a while.  The past sixteen days were spent in Trinidad, California (thank you Bunny and Ed!).  Remarkably laid-back, Trinidad is a seductive kind of place. The ambiance of Trinidad/Arcata/Eureka just sucks you in and soon the rest of the world slips away. The ocean, the redwoods and sequoia, the wild bursts of wildflowers and ocean fogs all contribute to its mystery.  I have a backlog of photos to share.  Stay tuned.

I’ve been on the road for about six weeks and turned back eastwards on May 29th. I passed through Lassen Volcanic N.P. in California, across the Nevada desert, back up into the Rockies and across the Snowy Mountain Range highway, which was closed under six feet of snow when I passed by in early May.  Now all the snow is melting and the rivers are swollen downstream. In Saratoga, Wyoming the town was sandbagged against the rising North Platte River.

Image #247(1)
North Platte River rising in Saratoga, Wyoming. The river crested at the top of the sandbags and then receded.

I stopped and spoke with some National Guard troops who had been helping the community fill and pile sandbags. The told me the worst was over and the town was spared.  I thanked them for their good work and wished I had added, “It’s good to have you home.”

As we came out of the Snowy Range and down into the town of Laramie I watched thunderheads form, great huge thunderheads that made the great huge hills in front of them seem very small.  They were forming in the north and would  move on to pummel north Wyoming and the Dakotas but my trip back into Denver was sunny and smooth.  All is well with Tango and Alice. ❧

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Image #244 – The Redwoods, Part II

Yesterday I posted a picture collage from the Lady Bird Johnson Redwood Grove near Orick, California. Today’s collage is also from that beautiful spot but the images are more detailed with close-ups of the fantastic bark and burls that characterize these beautiful beings.  ❧

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Image #242 – Humboldt grass

Humboldt grass

 

No, not that kind of grass. I’m talking about the wild grasses that grow in this part of the world. They are quite lovely and there are SO many of them. Here is just a small representation.  Enjoy. ❧

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Image #241 – Trinidad and Its Beautiful Flowers

Western Wildflowers

 

There are so many beautiful flowers here. I wanted to present many of them at once, just as they have been presented to my eye. There will be more…

In the upper right corner are two of my BFFs — Tango and Bunny. ❧

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Image #236 – Wild Horses

Image #236(1)

Near Green River, Wyoming there is a road called Wild Horse Scenic Loop. The Wyoming Travel and Tourism website describes it this way:

Here, on the mesa-like summit of White Mountain, the Pilot Butte Wild Horse Scenic Loop Tour skitters roughly 23 miles along good, gravel-base roads. Travel this route and along the way you gain not only many chances to spy roans, blacks, paints, appaloosas and sorrels, but panoramic views of the Wyoming Range to the west, the Wind River Range to the northeast and the Uinta Range to the south.

The website also notes that there are 800-1000 wild horses on the 392,000 acre White Mountain Management Area.  I only traveled about half of the loop but I did see some horses, about 6 or 8.  It is comforting to know that horses run free in parts of this country.  Quite naturally they are a little skittish of humans but I was able to get close enough to snap a picture of this young one. ❧

Image #236

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Image #234 – Blown Away

 

Wind blown farm in central Kansas
Wind blown farm in central Kansas

 

 

The entire country has suffered from this latest bout of “weather”.  It should actually be WEATHER!!!!  So many died in Arkansas from the tornados and who can say how many others died in isolated, small incidents. There were times on Monday when I thought my van was going to be pushed right off the road. I have no doubt that some were.

I had hoped to leisurely tour Kansas and take pictures of the new season. Fields were plowed everywhere which made the dust all the more prevalent in 40-50mph winds.  Pictures were often out of the question. At one point I stopped but could not open the door!! It was a sustained gust and eventually subsided but it removed any interest I had in venturing outside.

I managed a few shots. This one show the grasses bowing before the wind and the light gave the scene an odd, Andrew Wyeth look. Clever stuff, grasses.  They can bend right down to the ground, as these did, and be back proud and tall the next day.  There’s a lot to learn from grasses.  One thing is for sure, both the grasses and the humans are ready for the winds to stop. ❧

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Thunderstorms in Kansas

Tango and I are in Salina, Kansas tonight.  It has been a long short day.  I had hoped to visit the Eisenhower Museum in Abilene but the weather had other ideas. About two hours into our drive we encountered this: DSCN1810 That’s my iPad propped up on the car dashboard showing the thunder cell that descended on us as we entered Kansas City, Missouri. We were under the red section at the time. Being from Florida I thought I knew about thunderstorms but this Missouri thunderstorm was incredible. Hard, blinding rain that did not move on nearly fast enough.  I pulled off the road and parked in a hotel parking lot where I sat for almost an hour, eventually stretching out for a nap.

After the rain the winds began and have continued all day. The van, with its cargo carrier on top, was a prime target for wind gusts.  It made for an interesting day.  I was glad that I had planned a short day of driving but disappointed that I did not get to see Ike’s museum. By the time we reached Abilene it was after 4 and the museum closed at 4:45.

Still, the day was not a loss. The heartland is so beautiful right now. The vast fields are lush and green. Coming out of Topeka the road descends into the plains and for as far as you can see the countryside is a patchwork of green and brown. The winds kicked up quite a bit of dust, giving the view a hazy look that made it all the lovelier.

Tango was quite distressed and disoriented with the wind. He was not a happy camper.  The sun finally emerged and I pulled into a rest stop that was nestled into some hills. Here we were protected from the wind for a while and we sat in the sun under the redbud tree watching the traffic go by.

Tango in Kansas

 

 

…traffic that included two very large trains. It had been a long while since I had see a train but to see two in a short period time only accentuated the fact that I was in a different place.

Tomorrow we will press on to Denver. The winds are forecast to continue and a planned photo shoot on backroads in Kansas seems less appealing. I’m certain I could not live on the plains. Much too gritty for me. ❧

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Image #232 – Kentucky Splendor

Image #232

I’ve completed the first leg of my cross-country trip and I am safely arrived in Columbia, Missouri.  This morning I awoke in Oak Grove, KY, just outside of Ft. Campbell. During the night a storm had passed through and everything was wet and gray. Fortunately the storm was moving east and I was headed west.  The gray skies disappeared after about an hour of driving and the rest of the day was splendid. The spring colors are everywhere, an endless paraded of pinks, mauves, and whites with backgrounds of soft green or coral colored buds.

Yellow mustard plants are everywhere but nowhere as exquisite as this field that I passed not long after entering Interstate 24West.  Farmers plant mustard for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it is harvested, other times it is plowed back into the earth, a sort of green manure.  I do not know the intent of this farmer but I am grateful to have seen his crop in full bloom. It reminded me of another spring, 24 years ago, when Robert and I were in Italy. We traveled from Rome to Florence by train and along the way there was acre after acre of mustard plant in full bloom, painting the hills in broad swarths of happy yellow.  All the world celebrates spring. ❧

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