Foto Story Friday #58-- take a little 1900+mile trip day 2

From Casper we headed off toward Salt Lake across Wyoming. Upon study of the map we realized that we would be passing a few cool places.
First off we flew by Independence Rock. (Taken through the back window of the truck.) Do you know why they called this rock Independence? Well, we learned.... if the pioneers headed west arrived at the rock by July 4th they would make it to their destinations, be it Salt Lake or California, without hitting winter storms..
Just down the road from Independence Rock is a place called Martin's Cove. A group of Mormon hand-cart Pioneers hit the Rock on November 2 and thus had already experienced winter storms. They were met by a group of rescuers from Salt Lake and brought into the cove to rest and gain strength before pushing on to the valley.
They were starving and ill-prepared for the weather.
Pulling handcarts with their few possessions and often their sick.
There are monuments for those pioneers who didn't make it. Hundreds of them passed away at Martin's Cove and were buried in shallow graves.
They had to cross the Sweet Water river. Many said they simply could not cross another river. 4 young men and others carried many of them across the freezing water. There are monuments depicting the young men and their brave act. One really needs to spend a whole day at Martin's Cove. There is a lot to see and you can pull a hand cart out near the cove then walk in. One day we will come back and do a little trekking. Our Youth went there end of June for a 3 day trek. Cody was very impressed. (This photo was taken through a pair of binoculars. Thus the strange quality.)
This is Devils Gate. The Sweet Water River runs through it.
Close-up through the binoculars.
We continued on our journey to Salt Lake and pretty much followed the trail the pioneers took as they walked to the valley. We got there in a matter of hours and it took them weeks and weeks of hard physical labor to arrive. Along the way we saw a huge wind farm. We were impressed by how large these windmills are.
Some of the beauty we saw.
Finally we arrived in the city. We quickly changed and headed to the Salk Lake Temple for a session. Above we have Heather, David and Troy gazing up and the temple.
This is what you see when you arrive just before dark.
The reflection pool is very cool..... there were some kids playing in the water which caused this cool ripple effect.
One last look at the temple as we head back to our lodging.

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Join me next week for the continuing adventure.......

Foto Story Friday #57 --take a little 1900+ mile trip, day1

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

We took a little trip with our friends, David and Heather, to Salt Lake City.... but we went through South Dakota. Not strange you might say, but it is, if you happen to live in Eastern Montana. We made this a trip of firsts.
As we left town-- Eastern Montana.
Somewhere in South Dakota, we saw this line-up of fire trucks. I barely got them as we flew down the freeway at 80 mph.
Storms were rolling in.
This is a huge cemetery near Rapid City South Dakota.
Entering into Mount Rushmore National Monument. The bridge is very cool, but kinda hard to capture from the backseat with the rain coming down.
We sat in the truck waiting for the rain to let up, then made a break for it. the flags are pretty cool, lining the path up to Rushmore.
We bought some umbrellas and shortly thereafter it stopped raining!
The crying presidents.
Backed off a bit. ( I took tons of pictures so that I'd be sure to have the perfect one.....) I do like how the rain made streaks across their faces.
Thanks to Heather for snapping our picture to prove we'd been there.
How would you like to hang from this while chipping away at the mountain creating the monument? .... yeah not me either! :)
The last glimpse of Washington as we left.
Off on the next leg of our adventure. We were once again chasing storms. We hit this one smack dab in the middle!
It was coming down so hard that we were forced to pull over and wait it out for a bit. This is the view through the windshield.
Sorry about the quality, but we were driving again and this is all run off from the storm! There was even a little waterfall!
As we approached Casper, WY another storm was brewing. We spent the night and rested for the next days adventure..... stay tuned next week the story continues!

Foto Story Friday #56 -- the beauty that surrounds me

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

When my sister and our oldest niece were here, we went up the road into Makoshika State park to play photographer. She posted some great shots here. Following are two of the over a hundred that I took.
I just love the rings of color.
I love how those huge rocks balance for years on the small pillars of sandstone. Makoshika is kinda like Montana's secret.
Monday morning, Troy said:"Let's go for a drive. There's this cool old car out in the middle of nowhere that you can take pictures of." I'm always up for taking pictures. We loaded the little kids up after sending the big boys to the pool and headed out in the country. Only problem was that the cool old car was gone! Troy couldn't believe it. It had sat on that corner for many many years.... as in it was part of the directions to get to this farm or that one. So we continued on..... it was a good thing he was driving, or we might still be out there wandering the dirt roads!
We found this cool old church at the intersection of two roads.
This bumpy less traveled road takes you to a place called Johnson's Reservoir. Where after a short hike, you can fish. We stayed in the truck, it's snake season, ya know! :) (It continued on, but we turned around.)
Several turns later we came upon this old farmhouse.
Just down the road within sight is another old farmsted. I loved this house and took a few different angles on it. I love the dead tree in the front and the bright red brick chimney. But I really like it in sepia.
This is the front porch screen door and I love it, like a door into yesteryear. So many stories it could tell.
Hanging on a fencepost waiting to be picked up by the farmer/rancher was this roll of barbed wire.
Tuesday we took another road trip, this one east into North Dakota. (These last photos were all taken out of a moving vehicle cruising down the freeway at 75-80 mph.)
The North Dakota Badlands.
The Theodore Roosevelt National Park is right along this stretch of freeway. One day we will actually stop and check it out. Also this area is the National Grasslands. They have a big fence and the buffalo roam in it. This was the first time I had actually seen the buffalo there. (The National Bison Range is in western Montana, which I have been to several times.)
On the ride home we watched a storm roll in. The clouds were interesting to watch.
As we rolled across the MT border, the sun peaked through the clouds affording the above shot.
Shortly after-wards, it dumped big time on us!
This week I have seen beauty all around me in nature and man-made. Enjoy the beauty that surrounds you!

Foto Story Friday #55-- A ssssssslithering story

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

A few weeks back after one of my charges went home, I noticed a car parked by the side of my house. The people inside were throwing pens and pencils into my yard. This did not please me, so I snuck outside to spy on them with the camera. It is difficult to get a picture from around the corner of the house with out being noticed and they quickly sped off. I ran around the front and snapped a shot of the car as they left.
Coming back into the house Troy asked me if I could see anything in the yard that might have caught their attention. It looked like a rope had been dropped, so I went back out to take a look. I zoomed in on the "rope" only to find it was a snake! I don't know much about snakes, but I could tell it didn't have rattles and was not the right color for a rattler. I wasn't going to get any closer though!
Upon returning to the house I informed Troy that it was a snake in our yard. We've lived here for nearly 5 years and never had a snake in the yard. He was needing to leave for work, but took a quick look at the snake and decided to call the cops. (we have no animal control here). In the meantime, my other charge's mom and grandma arrived and I told them we had a snake. The grandma, being a farmer came over to check it out. She told us it was a bull snake and that it was dead. Probably it got hit by a car and sssssssslithered up into our yard to die. Since the cops were already called we left the snake alone. When they arrived to save me from a dead bull snake, the officer jumped out of his car fully armed. Robby was quite impressed that he came to remove a snake with a shotgun! They sent 2 officers (small town nothing to do!)
When they determined that the snake was, in fact dead, and a shovel would be more in order than an gun, they posed for a photo!
I had to get another shot with the gun in it! We all had a good laugh and a great story to tell.

(thanks for the comments last week -- sorry I didn't get around and read your stories, but I was enjoying time with my sister!)

Foto Story Friday #54 -- Visitors

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

This week we have visitors:
My nephew, Javin.....
My niece, Orissa...
They brought some fun things.... lenses to try out and play with. ( Taken with the 100 Macro)
My niece, Hosanna....
We tried out some night shots on a timer and a tripod. We were trying to catch lightening.
And my sister, Ryanne.
It's been fun to have them and they are staying until Tuesday.

Foto Story Friday #53 -- Stay Off The Sidewalks!

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

It's that time of year (round here) when you start to see the cars marked with yellow: STUDENT DRIVER signs! The summer Driver's Ed classes started May 18th. The first day in June the kids (70+) took to the roads.
June 5th we took a short drive to the driver's licensing office and Cody commenced to take the "written" test.
When he passed they took his picture and issued him a first phase license -- a learners permit.
As promised, I let him drive home. I was terrified! My heart beat faster and I was sure we would crash! I was positive that he would not stop at red lights or stop signs, I was certain that he could not make a smooth right or left hand turn, I was petrified he would not be aware of other drivers and we would wind up wrapped around a pole!
We made it home, and in one piece. He didn't hit the house when he pulled into the driveway either!
Wheewph!
We were home long enough for me to fall breathlessly into Troy's chest and relate how terrified I was! Then it was time for Troy to take the plunge and ride along to Cody's driver's ed class.
Troy makes sure to put on his seat belt!
And they are off....
He was SO excited that he forgot to bring his book to class, I had to run ....I mean drive... it over to him.
I called my mom, I had to tell her what a terrifying experience I had just had! All she said was "I did that 8 times". Hello! I needed sympathy!!!!! My baby boy, my first born, was behind the wheel of my suburban!
Whoever decided it was a good idea for teenagers to drive?! (OK, let's not even go to the 'you were a teen driver once...') I swear to you, when they issue your child a learners license, they should equip you, the parent, with a stack of those yellow: STUDENT DRIVER magnets for your car, seriously people should be warned!!!! There is a reason this vehicle is acting like a loose cannon!!!
I'd post a picture of my terrified face, but I was too busy holding on and trying not to scream to take a self portrait!
He's getting better, I think.... Troy rode on the freeway with him tonight (Wednesday) and lived to tell the tale! It's looking like we just might survive this experience ..... but June's not over yet!
P.S. Stay off the sidewalks! :)

Em and Scott-isms

5-8-09
Em: "Mom, are these ant seeds?"
Me: "Nope just yeast. It makes the bread grow."
Em: With a 'yeah that cleared up NOTHING' look on her face, "OK."

Later that night,
Scott: "I think my new hair will make me run faster and jump higher. I think I can jump right over Mom's head!"

5-11-09
Savanna: "Do you know that our school has a typewriter?"
Em: "Who is that?"
Savanna: "It's not a 'Who', it's a thing."

6-8-09
Em: "Mom, you should move Savanna's and my bunk bed upstairs to Scott's and my old room."
Me: "Nope, too much work."
Em to Savanna: "Let me tell you the bad news -- she said NO!"