November 2016 – Page 5

On the Road to Mesa Verde

There are two relatively straightforward ways to get home from Broomfield — through Missoula or through Salt Lake City. On this trip we decided that we would try something new and visit several national parks I’ve been wanting to visit for years. Unfortunately, it meant driving 4,000 miles to do so.

Instead of heading northwest, we headed southwest to Mesa Verde National Park in the southwest corner of Colorado. Luckily, Tyson and Jen had already visited that part of the state and directed us to the most scenic route.

I couldn’t resist stopping and photographing this huge statue of Jesus (?) overlooking what appeared to be a monastery whose name I managed to forget in the next week and a half.

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I doubt I would have noticed it a tall if the scenery hadn’t been so beautiful.

We had a long ways to go to Mesa Verde, but I couldn’t resist pulling over and taking pictures along the way. This shot foreshadowed what we were soon to see in Grand Canyon.

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If there hadn’t been a substantial fence, I don’t think I would have dared taking this shot with high winds buffeting me.

We drove a few more miles before I had to get another shot to emphasize just how rugged these cliffs were.

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After eight hours of driving, I was ready to stop when we got to Durango. Luckily, we found a delightful restaurant called the Himalayan Kitchen. If it had been a little nearer Mesa Verde, I think we would have returned a second night, the food was that good.

Instead, early the next morning we headed out to Mesa Verde for two delightful days. I loved everything, including the architecture of the park buildings.

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It seemed almost as much part of the land as the Ancestral Pueblo cliff houses.

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Unfortunately, a lot of the park, including Spruce Tree House, was closed for the season or for repairs while we were there. Even the campground we stayed in was slated to close the next day.

Even with partial closure, we had two hectic days trying to see as much as we could. Durango’s Himalayan Kitchen

Birding with Jen and the Kids

Although I went birding with Logan two other days, we only got to spend one day birding with Jen and the kids. Jen picked a refuge that looked like it had great potential, but the “wetlands” weren’t wet and there weren’t many birds.

Just as we were about to give up, Jen noticed a White Pelican

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fly by, and, being a big Pelican fan, she decided we should drive down to the other end of the lake and see if we could get some better shots.

I had my doubts, thinking they would probably fly off when the five of us showed up, but I was wrong. We did get some nice shots of them.

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Although I didn’t remember to get one of Logan’s shots, Sidney and Zoe wanted to use my camera so I let them take most of the shots. Though neither was interested enough to look through the shots on my computer back at home and identify which they took, these last two shots were taken by one or the other.

Some of the closest Pelicans did take off as we watched them,

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but a larger group ignored us and went about herding fish together so they could catch them easier.

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Once again, all it took was “one good bird” to make for a fun day.

Magpies and Doves

Though we spent longer in Broomfield Colorado visiting Tyson’s family than anywhere else on our three-week vacation, I ended up with less pictures there than anywhere else.

Part of that was intentional. I learned long ago not to photograph kids playing soccer because I end up missing much of the game. Nor did I photograph Sydney’s mile race. The camera makes me an observer and not a participant, and I prefer to be part of the game when grandkids are playing.

Unfortunately, despite birding two different days with Logan, I also saw less birds on this trip than I’m used to seeing in Colorado. Still, I got a few shots I liked, like this Mourning Dove,

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whose brownish feathers served as the perfect camouflage in the dry fields.

Obviously the Magpie

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doesn’t rely on camouflage to survive since its colors stood out against the brown grass.

I’ve often seen Magpies flashing across the road, but this is the first time I’ve managed to capture the pattern of the white feathers in the wing.

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Apparently Magpies are as unappreciated in Colorado as crows are in Tacoma, but since I seldom see them I like watching them even more than I like watching my neighborhood crows.

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The Grand Tetons

Though I’ll admit I took too many dull pictures of a white wolf chewing on a bone in deep grass and of bison chewing grass that I’ve since deleted, I took more shots of the Grand Tetons than anything else on our visit to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons.

Most of these shots consist of three different exposures which were then joined with three or four other sets of multiple exposures into a single picture. All of them look better if you click on them and enlarge them to their largest size, which is still considerably smaller than the originals.

I’m always amazed when the Tetons emerge from a barren, high-desert countryside.

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