Grand Mesa Lakes 1

Friday the dogs and I went up to Grand Mesa.  At 11,332 ft is the largest flat topped mountain in the World!! So that's why I went up and to see the fall colors...I visited  once already this year and took the road to Land's End to enjoy all the wonderful wildflowers...I didn't make it to lakes that day... I took the switchback road down so I had been wanting to return...so just in time for the fall colors some of it has already gone past peak.   

We got an early start and was up there by 9:00 AM.  It was quiet and I was able to pull over or slow down when I wanted to stick my camera out the window as I often do!   

there was no shortage of fall color 

So the plan was to take a couple short hikes, have a picnic lunch and spend the whole day up here...the easy hike to Land of Lakes viewpoint is one I enjoy...it's paved!

If you're tall enough you can see 7 lakes from this view point...they need to build a tower for us shorter people...I did get a good view of Island Lake by climbing up on a boulder.

I don't know if they call the island Wizard Island or not but it sure reminds me of Wizard Island in Crater Lake, Oregon.  I wanted to drive down to Island Lake so back to the road...more trees in technicolor 

The road down to the lake is quite narrow! Good thing Mom wasn't with me, she hates this type road...I've hauled down a plenty of them while she closes her eyes and hangs onto the door!

Cost me $6 to park in the day use area or in one of the campgrounds as long as no one is in it you can park in a spot and have a picnic, spend the day etc, that's a good policy, it was explained to me by the guy in charge. 

Saw 2 marmots on the way this one posed nice for me...

Island Lake

I took a short walk by the lake....then we left Island Lake and drove farther on Hwy 65 to the Visitors Center and the road to Ward Lake.  I didn't stop at the VC the lot was full....so I kept going..my sis and I hiked around Ward Lake a couple years ago when I was out here...nice hike! But today the weather was a factor...Even though this table had a hole burned in it I sat here to have my picnic lunch and admire the lake...got the dogs out and prepared to settle down and eat our lunch..in the next site over from us was a herd of cattle!

Ward Lake

I am not a fan of Cattle Grazing on Public Lands, it's an environmental disaster...and in my opinion it should be stopped! 

When all of a sudden it started to hail...I barely got the dogs and my food back in the van before it hit...now look at our picnic table!!

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And it got Cold!  The mountains are so unpredictable...soon as it stopped we drove up to the Campground Entrance...

This is cute...

This is not...

I don't know what happened but I figure he took this curve too fast with the slick road after the hail storm..hope no one was hurt...

too bad, this is scary 

I think I need to split this up too long!! Part II coming up. 

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

Nebraska to Home!

I'm ready to wrap up these posts and this one will do that! I have enjoyed reporting back what I found OUT THERE in NC, VA, W.VA, and PA in my 2 weeks prior to Annie's Surgery then back to TN, KY, IN, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, the Northern Lake Superior area of Ontario Canada, Minnesota, North and South Dakota, and now a quick ride through Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, TN, NC and back Home in SC!!! 

For me one of the highlights was the 3 days I got to spend with my sister in TN at our family cemetery decoration! There is no place on Earth more special to me than where my family is...and that is what makes me turn around and come back home.  I sure miss her now she is back at her home and we await the next time we get to be together.

roadside NE

The morning spent in Valentine, NE was chilly at 38 degrees,  I was only one mile out of town so made the decision to do a coffee and  biscuit at McDonald's!  

 I stopped to have a tire looked at in a Mr Tyre shop it was locally owned and operated and they suggested I put my spare on as the belt had broken in one of my front tires.  I had already purchased one new tire back in Williston, ND, wonder why they didn't catch that broken belt? SO the vibration I had been feeling was immediately gone when they switched the tire...SO Happy as I could not stand that vibration for 1700 miles!! 

 After my early Mr Tyre visit, and back on the road I spotted Valentine National Wildlife Refuge! OH have to at least make a quick stop.  So U-Turn!

took a short hike up this path armed on both sides with prickly things!

the white crowned sparrows were loving it..

I took a drive down one of the dirt roads in the refuge across a cattle gate to a few ponds..



some pied billed grebe, mallard, and red winged black bird was around, but not interested in my camera however these cows liked it a lot!

some Euro Starlings taking a ride on the windmill...

while these northern rough winged swallows were totally interested in this digger!

And a Great Blue Heron was almost hidden the grass

flushed mallards

It was close to lunch time so we had it here and then split! 

3 wood ducks for our lunch viewing pleasure

I stayed on Hwy 83 south down to 92/2 then onto I-80 East and exited onto Hwy 14 

Here I stopped for the night just shy of the Kansas line in Superior, NE and stayed in their Municipal park free! There was electric and water! Big mature trees each site paved really nice, all you have to do is put your name in a registry book...There is a train right beside the park...so be prepared. 

Superior NE Municipal  Park 

On the morning of Sept. 27th  it was back on 14 South into Kansas  I thought of driving the 35 miles to Smith Center since I had read about it in Belle Fourche, as being the original center of the USA, but that would mean a round trip of 66 miles...so maybe some other time?

So kept going on hwy 14 S....and then onto I-70 East bound.

Right thru the heartlands.....It was harvest time in NE and Kansas...

the dusty combines were hard at work and the trucks full of grain made tracks to the bins...I could feel the urgency as the wind chilled the air telling me to go home and telling them to get that crop in!

I stopped alongside a sunflower field full of Red Winged Blackbirds...

It was a hard day of driving!! I stopped only for gas, restroom and to eat and ended up in Columbia Missouri at a state park called Graham Cave for my second day of heading home.  $12, it had a nice shower house...and that night I blew up my DVD player! I think it was one of those issues of over charging the battery...2 loud pops some yukky electrical burn smell and it was toast! I tossed it in the trash can--I'm still looking for the perfect replacement. They now make a 10" screen on portable DVD players with a 5 hrs on one charge

Back on I-70 I breezed thru Kansas City...and it took me for ever to get through St. Louis, its a solid 60 mins of heavy traffic 

with Wilma keeping me straight I remembered why I had stopped using I-70 as an East/West route! So in the city I have to get on I-55 S for a short while then I-64 E, then South on I-57 to I-24 East

I did snap this one of the St Louis Gateway Arch!

 then Finally onto I-40 East at Nashville.  Seemed like I finally took a long breath once Nashville was in my rear view.  I always just want to get through Nashville and have never wanted to stop and see the sites in ...small towns ...YES!

After another hard day of driving I stopped in Crossville, TN, 

Crossville mural

not far from where I was born, appropriately since the next day was my birthday! 

Crossville Theatre

I stayed in the Cumberland Mtn State park, had electric, showers and all $18 kind of high...if it hadnt been so cool I'd have done the Walmart, but I sure needed that little electric heater to keep me warm all night.

Next day by 4 pm I was at Home!! Mom recalled how she had paid Dr Rhinehart $30 to deliver me 63 yrs ago on this day..I  photographed the Dr's grave when my sis and I were near here just a few weeks back when I started my solo journey...my circle was complete! 

I had a fantastic journey! I added 7 new birds to my life list, I forgot to mention the Merlin I saw on my way to the Writing Rock, I got one fuzzy shot if it..add to that the Ruffed Grouse, Swainson's Thrush, Franklin's Gull, Black Backed Woodpecker, Vesper Sparrow, Yellow Headed Blackbird, and actually the Green Pheasant makes 8 as I'm counting it as separate from the ring neck since it has NO rings!  

My list is my just for me list I'm not necessarily PC so I count it. 

                    Soon I will be back to posting in real time, I hope! My next post is about our Beach Trip!

 

PEACE

Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.

Labor day wrap up....

I have not been blogging as much as I had hoped there seems to be little time to be alone while visiting with family...But here goes a wrap up, sort of, for the past few days...Last Thursday we were invited to a Garden Party and private concert down in Palisades...the guitarist, songwriter Ellen Stapenhorst entertained us as we sipped brown ale and enjoyed the cool shade trees in the yard. If you enjoy original folk music then please check out her CD and if you're in the area she does private concerts!

mom front and center

What fun!! SO mellow!  So y'all know Im the Middle child...and Im staying at my older sis's house my younger sis has a home here too where she plans to retire to in a couple years... she flew in to join us for the Labor day weekend, and you probably also know as younger women we 3 sisters backpacked 14 days or so of the Appalachian Trail, so we had to go see A Walk in the Woods with Robert Redford and Nick Noltie it was a fun film made more so by our own knowledge of what its like to be on the trail backpacking. Later we sat on the back deck of sis's house as seen here from a long distance away.

sis's house on the hill

 and watched the rain storm come over...

rain on the horizon

Saturday we went to the Fruit-growers Reservoir above Delta, CO to look for birds, it turned out hot so we saw very little and what we did see was on the opposite bank of the water so no good photos...western grebes and white pelican were abundant. It is a beautiful spot. and in the right season it is filled with all sorts of waterfowl and I heard sand hill cranes come by too I have looked all along my journey and so far not one CRANE have I seen...they must be in Canada right now...

Fruit Growers Res.

THE drive down to Delta was magnificent...we took Hwy 65 it goes thru this wonderful canyon...I found and named this arch  DixxeLand Arch in DeBeque Canyon where I would love to live!

DixxeLand Arch! Ha!

I mean check out this area is so Old and Ancient
the rock is amazing!!

Spire rock on DeBeque Canyon Cutoff Road

painted rocks in DeBeque Canyon

we took the scenic route up and over Grand Mesa  up to 11, 333 ft..the higher we went the colder it got...

hwy 65 as seen from the Grand Mesa

There was color on some of the Aspens! And we ran into some freezing rain and mist up on the tip top..

Flame color on Grand Mesa 11, 333 ft

Then Lucky ME we went back next day and hiked around Ward Lake up in the  Land of Lakes area on the Grand Mesa 

the hike around is about 2.5 miles, we made it a loop by including the road into the cabin rental and campground 

we saw some cute critters and a few nice birds too!! 

Mule deer seen in the town of Mesa

Golden Mantle Squirrel 

white crowned sparrow

We picnicked up on the Land of Lakes overlook so many lakes can be seen from this viewpoint...Please excuse my flat hair it was a "cool need a hoody on your head" day so I pushed it back just for this horrid photo! But it is what it is...Pig tails and all!

Today Im off to Glenwood Springs to have a broken tooth repaired....and I plan to head out on my solo journey Thursday if the tooth is okay and the weather is good!!

Hope all of you are doing good I've tried to visit while Im at my sis with Internet, hope to update when I can from the road!! My first planned stop is Dinosaur National Monument I'll use my Senior Access Pass for the first time!! SO far this senior citizen thing is pretty cool!!

PEACE

Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.