June 3 – June 7, 2020. I may have found my favorite flower. The columbine. When we were in Bryce Canyon we saw the Blue Columbine, which I thought was very pretty and definitely unique. But while we at Great Basin I spotted a red one, and became intrigued. Probably the first time I ever …read more
June 7 – June 9, 2020. “Oops”, thought Craig Breedlove. “The braking chutes won’t deploy. ‘Spirit’ and I are in for a rough stop.” It was October 15, 1964, at Bonneville Salt Flats. Craig, driving the ‘Spirit of America’, had just iced the world land speed record on his second pass at 526 MPH. ‘Spirit of …read more
June 2 – June 5, 2020. John C. Fremont called it the “Great Basin” in 1844. His father-in-law, Missouri Senator Thomas Benton, had gotten him the job. In May 1843 Fremont led a party of 39 men west on the Oregon Trail. Reaching what is now Nevada, they turned south to explore and map. They …read more
May 28 – June 2, 2020. I’m pretty sure most people go to Bryce Canyon specifically to see the rocks. And really, they should, the rocks are stunning. But we had lots of wonderful surprises at Bryce that weren’t rocks. The abundance of wildflowers was one of them. At first, I thought all wildflowers at …read more
May 27 – June 2, 2020. Bryce Canyon National Park is full of interesting birds, beautiful flowers, adorable critters, and oh yeah – lotsa amazing rocks! Although we have been to Utah many times we had never visited Bryce since the park is at such a high elevation it has alway been cold in the …read more
May 13 – May 24, 2020. Wildflowers are becoming the bane of my existence. Perhaps you think this is a surprising thing for me to say. But there are new ones everywhere we go. Some days I spot most of the flowers but on other days, Greg has the eagle eye. And I feel compelled …read more
May 13 – May 24, 2020. I got lost in the woods alone. This was annoying. Not just because I was lost but because by becoming lost I ended up not avoiding the very thing I was trying to avoid when I became lost. No worries, obviously I found my way in the end. We …read more
Since Greg and I have started traveling we have found that we are not always in control of what comes next. So many things have changed oupr path since we broke ties with living in just one location. House sitting, a broken van, a broken boat, and even a joking remark (which led to Greg …read more
Ninety-six desert blooms. This how many wildflowers, and blooming bushes, trees, and cactus I have photographed and identified the last couple of months in Arizona. (There are 30 or more we haven’t IDed yet and yes, there will be a Just Wildflowers 2.) When I started out photographing wildflowers way back at Buenos Aires NWR …read more
May 6 – May 12, 2020. The first surprise of the day was the naked man. We were walking down a disused road deep in the forest at about 6:30 in the morning when we saw him. From a distance, I thought he wore odd colored clothing – kind of flesh-colored. But as we got …read more