September 9, 2009 Great Day at Grand Teton

Such a wonderful day! Cold at wake up, but warmed up throughout the day until we reached the mid 70's this evening. As you'll see, not a cloud in the sky!

Not only that, we got to see more wildlife than almost any other day I can remember. In addition to the wildlife below, we saw, but could not get a good shot at, a Golden Eagle soaring, a small herd of Pronghorn, White Pelicans (though there are a couple in the pictures below), and a chipmunk outside our window at the Jenny Lake Lodge where we had lunch.

Here's why we are so excited:

Juvenile Osprey surveying the scene.

Coyote looking back at the photographer lady.

Really tough shot to get but look carefully. There is a Moose mother and her calf there!

WOLF!

Trumpeter Swan family revisited.

Not all that awed us moved. Look at some of the beauty that surrounded us today!

Tetons across the Oxbow.

Tetons across Jackson Lake as seen from the deck at the Jackson Lake Lodge.

Tetons reflected in Jackson Lake - from the Jackson Lake Dam.

Mt. Moran in the morning sun.

Getting closer to the Tetons!

Tetons across Jenny Lake.

The Big Ones. Grand Teton on left and Mt. Owen on right.

While MMG was concentrating on the big picture, I looked at some of the little stuff.

Flowers on the deck of the Jackson Lake Lodge.

Flyaway ready emulate its name.

Yes, you can go to church in the Grand Teton NP. The church only holds fifty persons, there is no organ or piano, the service very short (we were told).

The Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration.

On the upside, this is the view from every pew........

Amen!

And we still found time to visit the Moose, WY, post office to check on when the mail is delivered, go to Jackson for shopping (Coldwater Creek, Albertsons Grocery, and Smiths Grocery), and stop by and check out the Gros Ventre (French words that are not pronounceable by Americans) Campground for next time.

I haven't been told what the plan for tomorrow is, but I'll bet it involves picture taking......

Love to all,

MMG and DDG

September 8, 2009 Salt Lake City to Grand Teton NP

For the map fiends -- I-15 north from Salt Lake City to US89 at Brigham City. US89 all the way to Grand Teton NP. 301 miles.

Most of US89 is mostly two lane with passing lanes provided on the uphills and there are many of those as US89 goes right through the mountains over high passes. A part of the road is designated as a National Scenic Byway, click here. Needless to say, the scenery was great!

The downside of taking US89 was that, other than when we were on the Scenic Byway, we had to go through what seemed like dozens of small towns, each with its own idea of the proper speed.....but the scenery made up for that!

Here are a couple of examples:

20 mile long Bear Lake. Blue, eh?

Why it is Blue. (click to enlarge)

Rafters on the Snake River.

Not all the scenery was beautiful!

The approach to the Grand Teton NP from the south is through Jackson, WY. As we left Jackson and drove along the east edge of the Park, we were struck once again by how magnificent the Teton Range is when seen up close. We'll have pictures of the mountains for you tomorrow.

As soon as we got settled in our campground, MMG was anxious to get out looking for wildlife to photograph. So at 6:30, off we went. It paid off with these:

A family of Trumpeter Swans on the Snake River.

A Bull Elk checking us out! What a rack!

Do you think this is my best side?

MMG only let me come home when it got too dark to take pictures any more.

Also when the sun went down, we found that we ain't in Kansas anymore, Toto. The last 10 days in Grand Junction and Salt Lake City the daily highs were in the mid 90's with overnight lows near 70. The low here tonight is predicted to be 26! For the next week, the highs are supposed to be in the mid-70's and the lows in the mid-30's.

We are planning to stay here until Monday when we'll head on up to Glacier NP, assuming the Going-to-the-Sun Highway hasn't been snow closed!

Until tomorrow!

MMG and DDG

September 7, 2009 Salt lake City

Laundry in the morning.

Lunch in the moho after laundry.

Shopping in a great downtown outdoor mall in SLC. Large Labor Day shopping crowd. Fun to see lots of young people.

Sorry, no pictures.

Tomorrow, on the the Grand Tetons.

MMG and DDG

September 6, 2009 Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge

MMG, also know as the PelicanLady, is smiling to night! We drove about 60 miles north of Salt lake City today, then 15 miles west on a mostly washboard dirt road to reach the 12 mile circular dirt road that wanders through the wetlands that compose the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.

Among the hundreds of birds that migrate through the refuge we saw these -- White Pelicans, of course, the PelicanLady's favorite:






Of course we also saw many other birds, among them:

White Faced Ibis

Great White Egret

Grebe

Cormorant

After spending much of the day at the Refuge, we drove through Logan, UT, home of Utah State University, on the way back to the moho. Utah is proud of its great trout fishing as can be seen by this "medium" fly on display in Logan.

I was going to send you one, but export from Utah is prohibited as these flies are too big for the trout in other states!

One more day in Salt Lake City, then on to the Tetons!

Stay Well.

MMG and DDG

September 5, 2009 Salt Lake City and the Nebo Loop

Today we took a ride down south of SLC to travel the Nebo Loop. As its website says, " this route has breathtaking views of the Wasatch Range and 11,877-foot Mt. Nebo, its tallest mountain."

Please be sure to click on the Wasatch Range link, then go to the bottom of the page where there is a panoramic picture of the Wasatch Range as seen from Salt Lake City. Use the slider at the bottom of the picture to see it all.

Our good luck with the weather ran out and we were in and out of showers, some heavy, all day. Also, the low pressure system helped concentrate the LA fires smoke and the usual SLC smog in the valley and made it difficult to see the scenery.

Here's an example:

But there were breaks in the rain and smog such as this:

and this:
And this:
And this:
And this chance to see the last remnant of last year's snows:

But the high point of the day was the visit here:

To see the Siamese fish:

Tomorrow is supposed to clear up and we'll do better for you.

Love to all.

MMG and DDG

September 4, 2009 Grand Junction, CO to Salt Lake City, UT

This isn't the shortest route between GJ and SLC, but it sure is the most awesome. I-70 west from GJ to Saline, UT, then US50 north and west to I-15 north to SLC. 357 miles.

What sets this route apart is the San Rafael Reef and San Rafael Swell which lie across I-70 starting about 5 miles west of Green River, UT, continuing for about 50 miles. There are numerous "View Areas", also known as "Rest Areas", along the route so you can get off the Interstate and marvel.

The pictures will tell it better than I can:

First view of the San Rafael reef.

Getting Closer.

San Rafael Reef about to swallow a Triple Trailer Semi.

Now it's our turn to go through the REEF!

Now onto the "Swell"

View Area Canyon.

San Rafael Swell Buttes.

Proud Mary of the Black Canyon.

Examples of Unusual "Erosions" as my friend George calls them:

The San Rafael Swell has its own "Painted Desert"!


And, finally, for perspective, a picture of the picture taker:


One other strange occurrence today. As we were traveling north on I-15, I became aware of a small plane coming head-on down the Interstate right in my face! The design looked like it might be a home built with swoopy wings and winglets for better control. I became concerned that the pilot was in trouble and looking for a landing on the Interstate.

At the last minute, the plane arrested its descent and moved over the median. By then I had realized that the plane was a remote control plane of the size and configuration of the "drones" we read about being used in Iraq and Afghanistan! The ones used over there are controlled via satellite by "pilots" in Omaha, NE. I wonder who was controlling this one!

We'll be staying in SLC at least until Monday, taking in the local sights.

More tomorrow.

MMG and DDG

September 3, 2009 Grand Mesa and the Land's End Observatory

Last Spring MMG and I took a day trip over the Grand Mesa Scenic and Historical Byway to the southeast of Grand junction, CO. While the altitude of Grand Junction is around 4500 feet, the top of Grand Mesa ranges from 10,000 to 11,000 feet.

The attraction to DDG is that on the road to the top of Grand Mesa there are spectacular views back down into the Colorado River valley/canyon to the east of Grand Junction while once on top of the mesa, the view to the south and west of the Gunnison River Canyon are equally awesome.

As a comparison of the respective altitudes shows, the view from the mesa down to either of the rivers is more than a mile. Because the canyons are so wide, the view is not much at all like the Grand Canyon, but the scope is similar.

On the Spring trip we wanted to go to the Land's End Observation point some 12 miles of dirt road to the west of the main road through Grand Mesa but were foiled by unmelted snow banks.

Not today. After a dusty, bumpy ride we were rewarded by a view west from the rim of the mesa into and over the Gunnison River Canyon. On a clear day, this view would stretch some 70 to 100 miles to the west and nearly 100 miles from south to north, including the junction of the Gunnison River with the Colorado River, the Grand Junction.

This picture gives a little history on the building of the Observatory:


We had our picnic lunch on a convenient bench on the back of the Observatory an found that we were not the only sightseers there:


It has recently been suggested that the reason that I am enamored of long and wide views is that as a (voluntarily) grounded former pilot I like to think I'm seeing the view from the cockpit without having to constantly scan for other aircraft and worry about the eventual landing. May be some truth in that.

In any event, you can imagine our disappointment to find that the view was severely restricted by the smoke from the Los Angeles fire that has been blown into this area! The following picture is the best we could get:


We found that the road down from the Observatory into the Gunnison River Canyon was a real treat -- 18 more miles of hairpin turns on a mostly dirt road! You can see it in this picture:


Despite the disappointment caused by the LA smoke, we had a nice day and will keep this ride on our "next time" list!

Tomorrow we're finally getting underway on our trip. First stop, Salt Lake City!

Our Best to you all.

MMG and DDG