memorial day 2010

we invited some friends to join us for memorial day weekend- neil to fish with steve & molly to go on photo safari with me. we all went to fairfield friday evening, had a nice chicken gorgonzola pizza at soldier mountain brewpub & headed back.

molly & i got up early to catch the sunrise over the marsh. and a beautiful sight it was too!

the birdsong is amazing. i tried to make a video, but all i got was wind, so you'll have to imagine instead- are blackbirds (redwinged & yellow headed), geese, sandhill cranes, coots, mallards, bitterns, stilts, cinnamon teal and many other feathered creatures all singing their heads off.

the camas, a wildflower that was a food staple for the indians (and a main cause of the bannock war of 1878, when the indians discovered hogs feeding on their important food source), is starting to bloom on the prairie. as you can see, the soldier mountains have fresh snow and the contrast is beautiful.

after a few hours of photo safari in the freezing windy cold, we headed back to the house to warm up & plan the next adventure. steve & neil were getting ready to go fishing.

they headed out to meet some folks and spend some time on the south fork of the boise & molly & i wandered off in the car. there are all sorts of farm and ranch roads that i've been curious to check out, so that's what we did- headed out on a road that runs south out of the marsh (monument road) and into the hills.

this is what we found  shortly thereafter

we kept going, ran into some cattlemen rounding up their animals on horseback (i stayed in the car to keep the dogs calm, molly got some photos). kept driving and found a sign marking the beginning of the king hill wilderness study area. (which none of the 4 of us has ever heard of.) beautiful country-

headed home, had a good dinner & planned sunday's adventure. the guys had a decent shake out day on the river, though it was none too warm & a bit windy..... we were all hoping for a balmier sunday.

headed out a bit later sunday. you can see the difference in the weather.

these guys were hanging out in the marsh they were amazingly good sports about letting molly get their photo. (photo by molly o'leary, thanks for letting me use it!)

we headed out on a different farm road toward castle rock, looping around and coming back up on the other side of the valley on another farm road. i could post a bunch of photos, but am trying to restrain myself.

i do want to share these birds (again courtsey of molly).

western tanager

mountain bluebird

sandhill cranes (back to my photos)

there are wildflowers blooming everywhere- this is a white-rayed mule's ear

 

neil & molly headed back sunday evening (the weather was nicer on the river, but there was no love from the fishies). steve and i took a drive this morning. we took some farm roads back from the marsh and saw this gal in a field. steve noticed the baby as we drove by.

baby is pretty tiny- what a cool thing to see! and she did settle down and we drove off so as not to bother them.

and back to town to go through hundreds of photos and kick myself for not doing a better job of focusing or paying more attention to exposure.... but there's always next weekend! when steve needs to get some work done on the house for a change....... ;)

spring on the prairie

woo hoo! back in fairfield

 it's spring- things are greening up

 and there's more water on the marsh

which means great bird watching

 yellow headed blackbirds- females

  

and the showier males

stilts

 sandhill cranes

meadowlarks

barn swallows

hawks (this is a swainson's)

in the fields, a litter of fox kits

oh, and we got work done too- cleaned & steve got baseboards painted & down in much of upstairs. those photos aren't nearly as much fun tho!

Day 2 in Utah

 

Yeah, I know, I'm a little late in posting this.  Been back home all of one day and by now we've been through 4 full days of tooling around the Torrey Utah area.  First things first.  Great chow at a restuarant by the name of something Diablo.  Google it.  Here are some shots of the food.  Food was even better than the presentation.

First up is rattlesnake appetizer.  Not just some old farm raised snake either.  This is free range rattler.  Yes siree folks, this poor slooow slithering son of a snake got caught out on the ranges of west Texas at the annual rattlesnake roundup.  It's for real, I saw it on t.v., the roundup part I write of.

Next up is the entree'.  Our next table neighbors were such good sports and got with the spirit of having fun with food, that they requested Marianne take a picture of their food as well.  The couple on the other side of us were not as entertained.  They quickly finished up and moved on out of the premise.  Must be hell to be retired and uptight.

Lamb above and Ribs for me.  That's right, ribs with sweet potato, veges and flash fried string hashbrowns topped with red beet strings coming up out of the center of this meat delight. I had the privilige of previewing these two nights prior, so I knew I was getting a winner.  Different presentation though.

Carnage, yes, good, don't leave any bone un-gnawed carnage. 

Still room for dessert. Actually this is a photo of two deserts.  The mammoth chocolate wedge of fattness is hiding the cheese cake.  This has to be maybe say, oh about, a 12 mile hike through the desert kind of dessert.  I think we might of covered 5 miles before this meal.  So that makes it a 7 mile hike deficit.  If I dream about hiking, biking and running, will it help?

O.K., I know it's weird to have a photo of a bathroom, but since when have you seen a wall full of devil masks in a bathroom.  I used to think it was weird just to see a chair in a bathroom.  Like who is going to sit in a chair across from you while you do your biz?  At least this one sits to the side.  Storage? What you don't have a back room to put your extra chair?  I know you want to put your purse on it, but it's the mens room.  Actually it was an either or b room.  So back to the masks.  They each had a tongue coming out of the mouth and most we're turned to the side.  Strange, very strange.  Guess I need to get educated on this little fact.  Anyway the food was outstanding, service great and the margaritas spot on.  Cafe Diablo.  Google it.

Well it's late, I should be in bed so that I get to work by 6:30 like a good emplyee, so we'll just have to wait until another evening for me to load (translate Marianne upload scenic photos) to this blogosphere thing and then we'll get to see some fun, vast. mind blowing country.  No we weren't smoking rabbit brush (our 80+ years old neighbor mentioned doing that when they were young) have no idea what that's about and don't plan on finding out.

Night.

Vacation in UUUUTah

On vacation in the state of mormonism, Utah.  Capitol Reef National Park to be more specific.  So now then we plan to make this a major photo expedition.  The first thing I was able to capture was a tourist in the infamous "Ed Pants".  Now these aren't just any style of pants.  The beauty of the pant is that the legs zip off and become shorts.  Originally they appeared to be available only in a basic lightweight nylon type material.  But I discovered on Friday, as I searched for a second pair for myself in STP, they now come in many materials and some of them are quite high tech.  High tech to the tune of $135.00 a pair. Ouch, better help me fly up the trail for that price.  They don't.  Ed pants pictured below.

Next quest will be to catch someone with the legs actually off!  Well someone over 60 with them off.  The 30 somethings don't count.  They seem to run around in shorts most of the time anyway.  Them and Marianne.

First stop was Chimney Rock.  Stand by for photo torture.

Next up is a 3 plus mile hike up and around behind that tall rock structure behind us.

And we made it up top and there it is.  See the parking lot way down there?

Layers, upon layers.  Soft, for a rock I guess. 

And another large rock structure.  Below are faces in the dirt.  The red dirt.  It looked like rock, but is dirt.
Joe Dirt.  Perhaps too close.  Next photo please.

See them now?

Not so much like faces, eh?  Country doesn't get much moisture.  Guess that is obvious, due to the lack of vegetation.

Down the road and a quick trip into the visitor center. Then

back in the car on the road and into this canyon, which they wisely warn you with signs that you should not proceed if it looks like it is going to rain.  Good strong rain and the car is now a submersible.  Good news is if it doesn't get stuck between rocks it might eventually flush out at the highway many miles downstream.  Actually they have gates that they can lock and close.  Guess that may not be so fun if you be on the downstream side of the gate.

Cool striped rock wall.  There were a lot of these in various places.

More stripes and the toilet.  This is I think at the Cassidy trail head.  As in Butch Cassidy.  Yes that is it.  I think if you click on the photo, it will enlarge and then you can read what we read.  Nice.

Bet you can read this now.

This was one of the coolest trails I have ever hiked.  Just close enough to the edge for great views and the use of the rock that is laying about makes for nice steps.

WOW!  How did I get by Marianne so fast?  Must be magic.  There are those that say the area has magical powers.  Not wearing Ed pants, so can't be that.

A trail shot.  More coming.

Long way to the bottom. Right.

Another trail shot.  Lots of rock to work with.

Self painted rock.

And finally we get to see the arch, hole, whatever it's called that somone named after Butch Cassidy. My feet are tired by now, we're going on 5+ miles for the day.  My feet like 3 or less unless it has to do with a bike.

HEY!  Turn around!  Windy, eh.

Thats it. 

This is the view looking in almost the opposite direction.  No lack of rock, huh.

One final trail shot.  I figure they had some college kids muscle these into place.  Any of us that have built anything can appreciate this and if you've ever played with rock.  Doesn't seem like work to me, so it is fun to do on small projects, rock that is.  When you set it correctly it is a real feeling of accomplishment because it is solid and looks like it will last forever.

That's it for day one.  Did have an amusing thought about all of the tourists camped at the old polygamist mormon settlement down by the Fremont river.  What if some of these people are looking for a real mormon?  You know I can imagine a tourist walking up to someone they think is a mormon and asking them, "Hey are you a Mormon?  Cool! Can I get a photo of you?  Where are your wives?"  You know some people may not have ever seen one and want to get a photo of one.  Maybe Sunday I'll get a photo of a tourist looking for a real Mormon.  :)