Exploring the midwest

Ralph and I are embarking on a weeklong trip to Utah. We flew into Las Vegas and arrived a half an hour  earlier than expected which was nice as it gave us time to get our rented vehicle.   We arrived at our hotel in Boulder City (Hoover Dam Lodge and Casino).  It was late by the time we got there. We had approximately 3 hours of sleep before leaving for "Death Valley" which was in California. What an amazing place to visit. We got to Zabriskie point just as the sun was starting to come up. Wouldn't you know it, I tripped and went flying because I misjudged a step. Thankfully my camera didn't sustain any damage. My leg had a few scrapes and bruises though. When I went to set up my tripod we discovered that the center column was in backwards making it unusable. What a way to start lol.  Since you are working with a short time duration, I couldn't fix it and had to make due without it.  The sunrise was beautiful and we got some nice shots. We went from there to the Devils Golf course which was very interesting with how the salt made all these large mounds. Pretty cool. The temperature was getting hotter as the morning progressed. From there we went to the Bad Water basin where we could walk out and explore the ocean floor with all salt upon it (referred to as salt flats). It is 260 feet below sea level. It was really getting hot and windy as we walked out.  We didn't stay long and paid attention to all the warning signs about the heat and not to venture too far.  Our next stop was the visitor center where we exchanged our daily pass for a season pass. This pass can be used in all the National Parks in the USA for a year and costs $80 whereas the individual entrance fee's are $35 daily. It's a pretty good deal we thought. From there we headed towards the Mesquite Sand dunes which were in Stovepipe Wells. Wow, it was windy and hot and amazingly beautiful. We even saw some dirt devils swirling around and the sand dunes were so beautiful.  You really need a full day to photograph them but we only had about an hour.  At this point it was noon which was our planned time to leave but we were just having too much fun and we decided to extend it so that we could see a bit more. We drove to an area called the Artist Pallet. The mountains have an amazing array of colours ranging from greens, reds, purples, pinks etc. It was very beautiful. 

You really need a couple of days to appreciate the true beauty of Death Valley.  Below are a few pictures to give you an idea of some of things we saw.  

After another couple of hours we started our drive to Utah. We were craving a coffee but had to wait till we got to Las Vegas before we could get one (2.5 hours). We had a double shot as we felt the need to have lots of caffeine to keep ourselves awake.  It sure tasted good. We drove through mountains all the way to Cedar City.  We were happy to get there and looked forward to a long sleep.  What a great way to start our vacation. 

Homeward bound - April 1-4, 2024

Well it's hard to believe that our vacation is over.  John and Grace left for home yesterday and I got up early to wish Lawrence and Teresa a safe trip. They were on the road early and planned to drive to Grove City. We took our time and enjoyed a light breakfast and watched our last sunrise.  It sure was a beauty.

We left for the Outer Banks of North Carolina just before 8:00 and arrived in the Alligator Wildlife Refuge at around 1:30. We were so surprised and disappointed as we didn't see any birds at all. We went to the visitor Center to confirm that we were looking in the right area and went back a second time to check again. 

While driving around we did observe this heron sitting on the side of the road so we stopped to photograph it.  We needed something to show for our adventure lol.

After a couple of hours we gave up and decided to return to our hotel and go out for dinner.  We were disappointed again to discover that there were only 3 restaurants near the hotel and they were all closed. Lol. What a day.  It's a good thing we had made lunch for a couple of days.  Sandwiches for dinner had to suffice.

Tuesday we decided to drive to Pea Island which also has a wildlife refuge. Along the way we planned to stop and photograph some of the Wisteria that was growing.  It was absolutely incredible how much we saw along the highway.  The woods were full of the blossoms and it was like looking at a sea of purple and lavender colours.  It felt like we were driving through a Fairy Tale.  You have to see it to get a better appreciation of what it looked like.

Driving onto Pea Island which is part of the Outer Banks in North Carolina, we saw that there was more opportunity to see some birds and also some beautiful beaches.  Our first stop was at the Lighthouse.  It was pretty busy there so we didn't stay long but it was nice to see it.

We then went across the road to check out the beach and sand dunes.  We thought it might be a nice place to take our "Christmas Photo".

Not sure this is going to be our Christmas photo lol

Is the camera working??

It was a beautiful sandy beach which we decided to return to after going to see what birds we could capture at the Wildlife Refuge.

We hiked through the Refuge but didn't see a lot of birds.  I guess we were expecting an abundance of them migrating.  It was still a nice walk though and a beautiful area.

We enjoyed our time at the Refuge.  It was interesting to see some of the turtles that were there are well.  Some of them were really large and another was very colourful.

Our next stop was at another Lighthouse that was no longer working but it sat on a beautiful beach and was really enjoyable for a walk. Its been a relaxing day so far. The Lighthouse reminded me of the movie Nights in Rodanthe.  At first sight it was very picturesque and pretty to see.

We saw more shore birds and thousands of cormorants flying which was pretty crazy. A large percentage of them flew to the bridge and landed on the bridge pylons. The bridge is very long and has many of these. We enjoyed time at the beach and also walked along the dunes. It's a beautiful area. 

We continued on and stopped at the first beach where we had taken our Christmas pictures.  There were plenty of willets there and they were fun to watch.  We also saw some people riding their horses along the beach.  Ralph asked if we could photograph them and they later asked if he would send them some of the shots that he had taken.   We enjoyed a nice snack while we were there and made plans for dinner.

We drove back into Nags Head where we thought we would find a nice restaurant for our final evening in North Carolina.  I guess because it's off season, restaurants were mostly closed until dinner time (if they were open at all).  Since we were still early, we went to Janets Pier for a short walk and then went to a local bar for a glass of wine and beer (to kill some time).  It was a pretty rowdy place, but we got to talking to one of the locals and he shared the name of a really good restaurant to visit. After our drinks, we headed over to  another area where we had observed an Osprey nest and sat there for a while waiting for the restaurant to open.  We got some great shots of the Osprey together.

We finished our day with a lovely dinner at Oscars in Nags Head. The seafood was amazing and the ambiance was really nice as well. It was a great day.  

The following morning we headed north and drove to Grove City where we spent the night.  We had rain for almost the entire drive.  Very similar weather that we had when driving south to Myrtle Beach. Travelling the last leg of our journey went smoothly and we were home just after noon.  It was a great 3 months and we look forward to going back next winter.