Back in September, I went to Chicago with shimmeringstar1 Here are some pictures from that trip.


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Someone driving along Highway 51 east of Stillwater was dragging a muffler. This created sparks which ignited several wildfires along the highway. Everything is tinder dry here since it hasn't really rained since May. Temperatures were 110+ yesterday, with moderate winds. Fire departments from all over the state came to fight the fires, but it was ( Read more... )

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My birthday weekend at Osage Hills was very relaxing. Cabin #1 was perfect; far enough away from all the other cabins that we had a great deal of privacy, but very close to several nice hiking trails. It drizzled and rained most of Saturday, so we only got one hike in, but the weather was great Thursday evening, Friday, and Sunday.

We put out bird ( Read more... )

It has been a very strange gardening year. Of course, there was the terrible drought and heat that killed lots of things, including established trees. Kate and I gave up watering the vegetable garden in August. Since the heat broke in October, we've gotten some rain. Not enough to officially break the drought, but enough to do weird things to ( Read more... )

Back to Utah:

We left one day after volunteering at Best Friends to do some sightseeing. We asked several people if they would recommend Zion National Park or Bryce Canyon, and they all recommended Zion. So, we went to see Zion. I'm glad we did, because it was spectacular. Honestly, pictures can't do it justice.


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Getting back to the Utah trip.... Coral Pink Sand Dunes is a unique place in Utah. High winds are funneled up a narrow valley and scour the surrounding pink sandstone cliffs into loose grains, forming dunes on the valley floor. It is an ATV and dune-buggy paradise, but it also features some rare and unusual plant and animal life. One species of ( Read more... )

One of the main entrances to Canyonlands National Park is just a few mile north of Arches, on the opposite side of the road. We visited Canyonlands the day after Arches. Before our trip, we heard a couple of people express the opinion that Arches was a much more beautiful park than Canyonlands, so we weren't sure what to expect.

Admittedly, the ( Read more... )

From Santa Fe, NM, we had a long, but beautiful, drive to Moab, Utah, cutting through the southwest corner of Colorado. We took scenic highways and enjoyed the mountains and the blooming wildflowers. We had reservations in a small, family-run hotel in Moab called the Apache Motel. When we finally arrived after 10pm at night, the main office was ( Read more... )