My Crazy Life

Amazing Yellowstone

We have been in Yellowstone the last week.....it is beyond amazing......if you have never been there....you really need to make a trip......this park was the first National Park......it has geysers....animals.....gorgeous mountains......lakes.....rivers....streams......waterfalls - of course, if you aren't in to any of that then go ahead and stay home.  We encountered bison, baby bison, elk, bull elk, black bears with cubs, grizzly bears with cubs, moutain goats, rams, deer, bald eagles, osprey, whooping crane, moose with a baby......

All of it was just amazing and it even made it more so since we shared it with Shari, Scott and Madison (their black lab)....they both have an eye for seeing animals.....I'm sure that he got some incredible pictures....can't wait to see them!  Here are a few that I snapped off.....

this is Madison....

Artist Paint Pot

 Baby Bison...

 Flicker Woodpecker

 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

Yellowstone

Noticed this last night out of our hotel window....we didn't get any rain but they did a few miles away....and it made for a gorgeous sunset

this was definitely gone by the time we got ready to leave the next morning and we had blue skies again...with those beautiful puffy white clouds and as we rounded a corner....we were greeted by these guys....big horn sheep....never did figure out what they were eating in the middle of the road but it was fantastic that we got to see them....they are usually pretty elusive.

Then we were in Jackson Hole, Wyoming with the Grand Tetons towering over us.....what a sight....the pictures don't even come close to doing it justice.

and this is a sight that we don't EVER see in AZ and really makes the pictures of Jenny Lake look a LOT different then the pictures that I took a couple of years ago.

a whole lake frozen.....it is still gorgeous but still amazing to us that a whole lake is frozen.....

 
 
 
 
  

 

Pinedale Wyoming

Headed to Pinedale today.....no snow just beautiful blue skies.....can't ask for anything better....except for maybe a few animals along the way....and we weren't disappointed....

okay if we had come upon this empty....we would have thought Bald Eagle nest definitely....and if the sign wouldn't have been there....we would have thought Canadian Geese.....anyone want to guess what these birds are?  Here is a sign........

Then we saw the backbone of the West.....Cowboys.....and believe me they were real Cowboys....not just dressed up for a trail ride

then a little while later we saw these guys.....

Looks like this is starting out to be a great trip to see animals.....tomorrow we are headed to Yellowstone.....
 
 

5-14-10 Evergreen - Craig

Finally have some internet that might stay up for a while!!!  Our trip was pretty uneventful from Evergreen to Craig....we had some snow...a little rain and whole bunch of sunshine.....got into the little town...not a whole bunch happening....but the 4-Wheeling that we did unintentionally.....trying to get to the hotel....and if you want to stay at a fairly inexpensive hotel with a LOT of nice stuff...full breakfast...really nice rooms....Hampton Inn - this place rocks.....

5-13-10 Evergreen -

Woke up to the fact that it had stopped snowing....YEAH!!!!  Tanya came over and picked us up and took us around.....we went to breakfast first at this cute little place called the Wildflower Cafe.....they had HUGE pancakes....and really good food.....here is a picture of the quaint little town of Evergreen

Downtown Evergreen!  And here is Tanya and I......

 she drove us around and showed us all of Evergreen....the town is so gorgeous....with all those trees and the snow just added a little something....we went to her house and I got to meet her pugs Gizmo and Madeleine...and see how they are going to change their house.....and Tanya even took John past the golf course.....

Tanya's deers even showed up while we were there

it was a great visit but definitely too short.....we might just have to go back in maybe July to visit again and ride the bike this time.  We needed to head to our next desitination so we said good-bye....and we started out...with it snowing again....we actually got out of it about an hour later and Craig, CO doesn't have a drop of snow in the sky or the ground....lets just hope that Yellowstone is the same.
 
 
  

5-12-10 Grand Junction to Evergreen

We left Grand Junction this morning headed for my girl Tanya in Evergreen, CO.......just so wanted to get there as fast as we could....I mean come on...we were running I-70 all the way.....we knew we would have some trouble getting through the rock slide but other than that clear sailing......well not so much

 

We stopped in Glenwood Springs for a quick lunch....we thought......I think we found the slowest moving Wendy's in the WORLD.......okay....so back on the freeway and Evergreen bound.....little slow down when they took us to one lane through the slide.....not even a back-up on the freeway.....and then we encountered this

and we traveled in this all the way to Evergreen......there was a HUGE Wal-Mart....across from our hotel and we couldn't even see it.....

here is what it looked like out of our hotel window.....

but it didn't keep me from seeing Tanya......

we went to dinner...met Wells and Logan....really sweet kids....and Holmes - which I really enjoyed talking with......the restaurant that we went to had several different meats...elk, deer, rabbit and rattlesnake....they had an appetizer of Rabbit & Rattlesnake Sausage - Holmes ordered this....I had my reservations of even trying it....but I went ahead and took the plunge....and it was really really GOOD....yes it is true...I actually ate rattlesnake and rabbit....the rabbit is what I was worried about.....

and then I had this for dinner.....

Stuffed Shrimp....YUM!

Tanya and I got to spend some real quality time together since Holmes volunteered to take John back to the hotel and the kids home.....it was wonderful!
 
 
 
 
 

 

5-11-10 Capitol Reef

Headed out this morning...destination Grand Junction, Colorado.....we went via Highway 12 out of Escalante....which takes us through some amazing countryside again....the lower half of Utah - you could spend a couple of weeks here and not see everything there is to see.....

as you can see it was a tad windy and just a little cold - or so we thought.....we would find out that this was not even close to being cold....I believe it was in the neighborhood of about 58 here.....

and we moved down Highway 12.....until the weather started looking a little bit...um should we say.....different.  And by the time we reached the 9600' summit.....it was looking a lot like winter......

but by the time we made it to Capitol Reef....it was back to being pretty gorgeous again.....

and here are a couple others......

I LOVED this tree.....it is so gnarly looking....I would love to know how old the tree is.

We are now in Grand Junction, Colorado and tomorrow I can't wait....get to see my BFF Tanya...headed to Evergreen......it will be so good to see her....it has been almost 6 months.....
 
 
 
 
 
  

5-10-10 Bryce

We left this morning for a little trip North.....our first stop was Bryce National Park....now we have been here several times.....and it NEVER disappoints.....the place just has some amazing rock formations.....we stayed in Escalante so we ran around Bryce before we got to the motel.....it was late in the day and QUITE windy....but still spectacular all the same....

We spotted our first wildlife just outside of Phoenix....a lone antelope on the side of the road....looks like it will be a great day for animals...and sure enough....we saw several more deer along the way...including this guy and this bunch of ladies

 

We had some fun inside one of the arches going into Bryce

and no the car did NOT hit me...or even honk for that matter.....

Then we got to Bryce

 

Love me some HooDoos.....after going to Inspiration, Sunrise, Sunset and a couple of other points we headed towards the motel.....had some dinner....chicken alfredo for me - delish....ribs for John....not so much....so he finished mine off since the bowl that I got was HUGE!!!!  Went back to our little room at Circle D and called it a night.....
 
 
 
 
 

 

Guess it has been a while.....

Several things have happened in the last couple of weeks.....my training is still going on.....need to get registered at GCC so I can start running on a treadmill.....the heat will be taking over soon!  Will probably do that after we come back from Yellowstone. 

Went to a crop this weekend.....spent 3 days with my gal pals Ann and Christa......we hung out at the hotel...scrapped our fingers to bone.....stayed up til the wee hours of the morning.....anyone for going to bed at 5:00 a.m.......yeah crazy stuff.....the crop was through Scrap Happy Sisters and to help raise money for the 3-Day Breast Cancer walk.....I believe that they raised about $1,600.00 - not too bad....for a weekend!!!  They had all kinds of awesome things to bid on that were of the scrappy kind.  Plan on doing this again next year definitely 

Our biggest news though is that we found a sweet little girl at the Maricopa County Animal Shelter which is unfortunately a kill shelter but we went on April 24th and grab this sweet baby....

 Her story was that someone found her running around an apartment complex and kept her for a week and then turned her into the animal shelter....don't really know how you could give this cute little thing up but we are ever so thankful that they did.  We still aren't over losing our Lil Bubba Joe but Maggie May is definitely helping in the healing process right now.  They told us that she was 2 years old but we visited the our vet on Friday and he doesn't think that she is much more than a year old....and we have a tendency to agree with him....she is full of spit and vinegar....she loves to play and she loves to cuddle as well.....we had her groomed today and this is what she looks like now......

so now we can see those beautiful big brown eyes of hers......