Friday, October 31, 2014

Buffalo Bill Scenic Byway - Wapiti Valley

 
Trail Town in Cody Wyoming going back toward Yellowstone we stopped at Old Trail Town ...
 
The old town is a treat to see and great for photos even from the outside looking in.
We also saw the original motorized RV nearby
A little outside of town on 14 we began to see some lovely and rugged terrain...
... huge hills or small mountains were all around...
... on goth sides of the highway.
Sharyn liked this boulder that had reshaped a tree...
...I liked the spires rising out of the ground...
... and Jilly loved just being in this part of the country.
We all liked the Big Boy in the canyon ...
...and this strange home. "The rambling log structure, with its undulating staircases, umpteen balconies and fun-house warren of half-finished rooms, has for nearly 30 years loomed over the Buffalo Bill Cody Scenic Byway, inspiring stories."
The rock faces along the Wapiti Valley are great reminding me of Arched National Park without the arches...
... but with plenty of inspiring views...
... like these formations...
... or something that looks like the Great Wall of China...
... or the Hill Fort in Alwar.
It all is like magic pottery of the gods...
...shaped like familiar historic cities...
... waiting to be discovered...
... or to unlock some meaning in the images formed.
We found a herd of pronghorns on the west side of Buffalo Bill Reservoir ...
... slowly grazing close to the road...
... and we finally got spotted...
... and not wanting to disturb them took one last picture of the Reservoir and called it a day.


9/1/2014 A Quick Drive through Yellowstone to Cody

Our plans had changed a bit so Yellowstone National Park was a blur as we drove through with only a few stops to see hot springs or geysers or mud pots...

... but it was nice although not what we usually see.
Just outside the park on the road to Cody we stopped at a viewpoint and caught a Common Merganser scooting quickly across a lake ...
... and a great view of the surrounding forest ...
... that would be a perfect place for my Plein Air Painter friends...
... with the lake on one side and a superb mountain on the other
Fortutune did smile on us when Jill spotted this mama moos and we stopped for a picture and ...
... also got a picture of her young child.
It was a pleasant surprise great to see these beautiful animals so close and for quite a long time.

Quote of the Day ~ "Every creature is better alive than dead, men and moose and pine trees, and he who understands it aright will rather preserve its life than destroy it." ~ Henry David Thoreau

Thursday, October 30, 2014

9/1/2014 The Tetons and I get poetic *lol*

One of my favorite places in the Tetons is the Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration and the view...
... from inside the church of the Tetons.
There is something special about these mountains...
... the jagged giants of rock and snow and green strips of flora...
... with graceful clear water...
... and green trees.
You can watch the water flow down ...
... and form streams and rivers...
... and stop to admire the majesty of this great park...
... of peaks ...
... and wonderful wildlife.
Canyons that seem to reach infinity...
... where even tiny creatures thrive...
... in rugged terrain...
... that takes your breath away ...
...as you stand so close to nature's power and grace.
Even in Autumn you can see the winter that follows...
... creeping in in white touches on the mountains...
...and even look back to Spring and summer's green...
...and be a part of the great park...
and it's glacier covered crevices.
Western art is everywhere around you but you can't help but know what inspired the early cowboys...
... when you look across a field at the splendor ...
... and enormity of this place...
...and imagine the big horn sheep or bear or mountain lions that surely exist in the heights of the mountains.
I could take a thousand images of the Tetons and still not capture everything ...
... there is to see...
... like the rippling rock sentinels along this ridge.
I look at what I captured here and wonder what season it is ...
... when I can see two seasons from one vantage point ...
... ore even all four and a bit of the movie Shane with a modern twist.
It occurs to me you can't really capture the Tetons ...
... it is the Tetons that capture me ...
...surrounding me ...
... with a living legacy of mankind...
... and a true Garden of Eden.

Quote of the Day ~ "There can be nothing in the world more beautiful than the Yosemite, the groves of the giant sequoias and redwoods, the Canyon of the Colorado, the Canyon of the Yellowstone, the Three Tetons; and our people should see to it that they are preserved for their children and their children's children forever, with their majestic beauty all unmarred." ~ Theodore Roosevelt

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