Yellowstone National Park is extraordinary and well organized for maximum enjoyment. I took 250 pictures. It was basically impossible to take a bad picture today. Here’s a little start for you.
Crazy-happy photographer:
Old Faithful, with some people’s heads to show you how big this geyser is when it blows:
My husband on his birthday trip:
Bison:
Non-selfie shot:
Nature’s pot of flowers:
This is a heads up for June. There’s a huge giveaway happening at Romance Reviews. I’m participating, giving away a print copy of Love Caters All. Lots of authors are giving away prizes and the top prize is $100.
What lies beyond the last exit to Sparks, Nevada, down that inviting four-lane freeway known as Interstate 80?
Big beautiful skies.
This is Battle Mountain Nevada, well the gas station anyway:
Rain was trying to come down. A few drops found our windshield.
There are interesting towns I never knew existed like Mote, Dumphly, and Green Saddle Ranch in Pahrump Nevada (where you can buy 3 acres of land for 10 thousand dollars, according to a sign by the road). I thought of a character who might do that and park an RV on the land, so she can drive off to get stuff, or a character who might dig a well, build a septic tank, and set up solar power. One would have to separate the well from the septic…but there’s a real sense of freedom out here and pretty views. I looked it up and you can also just buy a house there for not too much.
We passed a place that smelled like onions just beyond Fernley. Why do they process onions there? Well I did find out from the good old Internet that Olam Spices and Vegetables dehydrates onions there from May to December. Who knew? I don’t think onions are grown here, just dehydrated.
We saw a lithium processing plant near Fernley too, in salt flats that I thought only existed in Utah. The salt flats are part of the Great Basin. We also passed the exit for Great Basin National Park. Now that’s on my list of places to visit.
I was surprised to see streams, a river (Humboldt River), and standing water (the water was in Pumpernickel Valley, a close neighbor of Rye Patch), an amazing abandoned mill from 1892 that was used to process tungsten and other metals in a ghost town called Toulon. Near there, way off in the distance, there were clumps of trees hugging the base of the mountains and what looked like buildings in those trees.
There is mining, lots of mining, and some grazing. Those cattle work hard for their grass. There are two prisons around which it is illegal to hitchhike.
In Elko Nevada, too tired to explore, I did noticed a nice courthouse, a store for mining supplies, an airport with a long runway, and a bail bonds service.
Nevada is an intriguing place. I’d like to explore more of the towns in this harsh but beautiful environment.
How are you? I’m trying to get back to blogging. Where has the time gone?
I haven’t been out walking and taking photos, due to a sore foot, but I thought I’d make some paintings out of pictures I’ve shown you recently. These are all farm related, from Rancho San Antonio. I’m so glad they preserved some of the old buildings.
I love farms. I know I romanticize them. I wouldn’t last a day on a real farm.
I think this is someone’s house, not necessarily historic, though it is in the park. I like the simple style.
Maybe in some corner of my soul, I long for a simpler time.
The next one is officially historic. This was the home of the foreman. Deer Hollow Farm was a homestead owned by the Grants in the 1800s, sold in 1937. The original structure was a one room house, then they added on one more room. I can imagine living here and decorating the interior with antiques. The inside has been restored and filled with artifacts.
Here’s the old barn. I stopped the painting a bit before it was finished, just for fun. I kind of liked the smudged effect.
Have a great Friday or Saturday as the case may be!
Sorry for the long quiet spell! Things have been hectic in my household, and I have a deadline. Those are my excuses, but not to worry, starting next week, I’m going to post some amazing travel photos, live from the field. I can’t wait.
Today I want to let you know about the start of a book review blog tour. You can comment and be eligible to win a copy of Love Caters All.
The first blog stop is today on Unabridged Anna. I love that blog name. She did a great review there.
I wanted to share this view of the south San Francisco bay area as seen from the trail in Rancho San Antonio. I really think it is like looking out a window.
Two hikers were watching this snake cross the path. I started taking pictures. My husband later said that he was impressed that I’m not afraid of snakes. I said, “Yes I am!” He said for someone afraid of snakes I was pretty close. But I thought the snake was moving really slowly and I could easily get out of the way if it turned on me. He said it wasn’t venomous; if it had been, he wouldn’t have let me get that close. Then he explained striking range and the speed with which a snake can strike. Since I can’t tell a venomous snake from a non-venomous one, I’m going to start giving them a wider berth. I’m also keeping my eyes peeled for any snakes lurking on the sides. It’s a good idea to stay alert.
There was a happy ending for me though. I snapped several pictures.
Later we passed this deer, who was even closer to the trail than she is in this picture. Just nibbling away…so sweet. I love their eyes.
We took a different route back and passed by this historic farm. I heard a really loud bellow and was wondering if it was a steer, but it didn’t really sound like a moo. We found out soon enough.
When this pig came out of the shed, I was startled because he was really looking at me with my camera. He seemed intelligent and not too happy with me. I remember reading in the Encyclopedia (remember those?) that pigs are pretty smart, smarter than horses.
The bleating was coming from these sweet goats.
This squirrel was eating something fabulous by the artichoke plant. He started to run when I came closer for the photo.
I don’t know if you remember, but I said I’d take some pictures of the thistles at Rancho San Antonio Open Space Preserve next time I went out.
I just loaded the pictures onto my computer, and I was very excited to see them.
Nature is such an artist.
I was commenting to my husband today that as soon as we get out of the car and start walking at this park, I start smiling.
The sounds of all the birds, the fresh air, the fragrances of the trees and flowers as you cross the bridge over the creek, and the wide open vistas, are very uplifting.
I do love my DSLR.
It’s not heavy, just bulky. I’ve started carrying it, even on hikes. I alternated, one day I used the Panasonic, and the next I brought the Sony. They’re like good friends.
I captured a shot of that exotic flower I mentioned the other day.
Have a wonderful weekend!
That is fog coming over the western hills, a phenomenon very typical here. That fog extends out to the coast. Sometimes it comes over the valley where I live as high clouds that give us nice cool mornings. The clouds retreat by noon, leaving us with hot, sunny, dry afternoons. The coast near here will be socked in with fog all day, meantime. That’s why I love living here in the valley.
The fog hovers over those hills and feeds water to those trees. Some trees along the ridgeline, not this particular ridge line, but other ridges closer to the ocean, create their own rain by an adaptation that has their needles pulling water out of the fog. I’m told there is mud and sometimes running water below those pines even though, under other types of trees in the same vicinity, the ground is dry.
The trails in Rancho San Antonio lead up through those forests. There are little running creeks, wild turkeys, the occasional deer, and even mountain lion. There is also a petting farm nestled in the woods in the flat area accessible to children. They have calves and lambs I think. I’ve definitely heard roosters crowing.
The park is crowded every day. It is extremely popular for walking. We passed a few people today up on the mountain trails who were all looking at the wildflowers. There were purple ones and yellow ones and one exotic looking cream and lavender poppy shaped flower. Thistles were in crazy bloom in the exposed dry areas.
There are always remote-plane hobbyists on the bluff. I happened to catch one of the planes while it was landed. The pilot was quite handy with the maneuvers, evoking some wows from my husband.
I missed the moves because I was trying to get a nice shot of a bird. Wildlife is so hard to photograph! Why do the critters always move right when I’m just about to get focused? It must be personal.
I always love looking at this little farm house up on the hill. It is very far away, but I zoomed in a lot. I’ll also show a shot without the zoom so you can see where it was in relation to where I was standing.
Today there was a couple walking down the street. I thought that was nice.
Here is the distant shot. The little farmhouse is hard to see in both photos. It’s to the left of the big cluster of trees on the right, pretty much at the top of the hill.
I like to imagine what it would be like to live up there all alone with all that open space. They probably have a view of the bay, which is on the other side of that hill.
This was my favorite photo from my walk yesterday, shot with my phone (and doctored in Photoshop).
I like the little puddle. I didn’t know it was there until I looked at the picture!
I also really like the silvery hills. I thought maybe I should crop it a bit differently to bring out the parts I like more. I removed the levels layer and de-saturated it a bit, in order to de-emphasize the grass.
My 30 day free trial of Photoshop is up today. I have to decide if I’m going to pay for it or go back to Photoshop Elements. I am leaning toward the latter. I loved my Photoshop class, but I think I might be able to do a lot of the same things in Elements. I’m going to experiment with Elements and see what I can do!
Have a great day.
Nicci Carrera 