I’m easily distracted by any photo op.
After riding the rails to Denver, Karen and I caught a cab to the Car Rental lot in Denver near the airport. As she inspected the car I caught a glimpse of a bunny face-off in the small patch of grass separating the lot exit from the street. I dropped my luggage and grabbed my camera – I no longer cared about what kind of car we would rent, or mileage, or color, or insurance, or anything else. My whole world revolved around capturing the images of those bunnies. The scuffle was short and I missed a chance to get the loser flipping backwards – but the victor hung out with me for a few shots.
Karen apparently turned around to ask me a question and discovered I was no where near the car – I heard her mutter something like “Where’d she go?” and snapped back to the present. We hopped in the car and drove the two blocks to the hotel – as Karen carried her luggage to our room I stayed in the parking lot attempting to get great shots of sparrows. I spotted something large on the roof – click – I got it!! Our wildlife adventure had begun!
Now I should clarify that this road trip was intended for us to visit as many National Parks and Monuments as possible – you see we belong to the ultra secret society of National Park Passport Stamp Collectors, we even have a secret handshake – more on that another time. Anyway, I was prepped and ready to go after those big captures, and Karen seemed eager to help me on my quest for amazing animal photos. My new ultra-fast focusing Olympus E-M5 had arrived 2 weeks before the trip. I had been practicing shooting crows with my long zoom in the back yard – I was loaded for bear – I mean really – I actually thought I might get to shoot a photo of a bear!
The next morning we headed north towards Scott’s Bluff in Nebraska. It’s along the path of the Oregon Trail. We had barely left Denver when Karen suddenly brought the car to a screeching halt – “Look!” she shouted ant pointed out my window. I grabbed my camera and caught this guy – nothing special and I never left the car – but he was actually wildlife living outside the city!
As we entered Nebraska and left the interstate we had more and more “in-car” shooting opportunities. After all we were our where the Deer and the Antelope play –
We arrived in Scott’s Bluff at 5:01 – and convinced the Ranger to let us use the stamp. Amazing shots of actual historical sites were all around us. The famous bluff that settlers saw as they left the last outpost of civilization on their way to Oregon was right there in front of us – I snapped a few, but saw a bunny and a robin and was once again distracted.
The next morning we headed towards Mt Rushmore. Along the way we passed through Hot Springs, South Dakota. There was a lovely waterfall overlooking main street – I wish I could show you a photo – instead I took these shots:
Actually I took about 40 shots trying to get that bee in focus – totally worth missing the waterfall shot!
Soon we were entering Wind Cave National Park. I have heard that there is a Cave of some size there, I can’t vouch for that but I do know that there are buffalo there in abundance.
I saw this one and had to jump out of the car to climb up a hill to get a better angle. He was just the tip of the iceberg. This guy was huge and right near the road – I never left the car for fear that he could trample me!
He actually tried to get into the car when Karen flipped a U and offered to let me shoot out her window – She didn’t think he was all that close until he was coming into her window!
We sped off and managed to get about 30 yards away from the beast when we discovered prairie dogs – I won’t bore you with the dozens of adorable photos I took while still only yards from the very large buffalo – here’s a single shot of one for perspective:
And a few more wild things we saw at Wind Cave:
As we left Wind Cave headed for another park with a hole in the ground I managed to capture this meadowlark on the park’s sign post.
We spent the next few hours touring caves and a huge carving of Crazy Horse – I was having withdrawal until we spotted this small herd of deer on the way out of Crazy Horse – BTW – that carving will be amazing once they get the horse done.
That evening we made it to Mount Rushmore. We saw a bunch of cars pulled over as we got close to the park. We were sure they were shooting a bear or a mountain goat so we pulled over – turns out it was just George Washington’s face – bummer.
We went to Mount Rushmore and saw the flag ceremony that night and returned in the morning to shoot in the daylight. What a patriotic experience – I was filled with national pride…and I got this shot!
We headed towards Wyoming and onto Devil’s Tower. Stunning! So many prairie dogs!
This one attacked Karen – lunged towards her and screeched while she was photographing another dog – these guys were camera hogs!
We jumped back over the Nebraska line to Agate Fossil Beds National Monument. We walked for a couple of miles and never saw any agates or fossils, but there was a bird bonanza!
From there we went to Fort Laramie, Wyoming were I saw no animals at all – not even a pony for the Pony Express. So we turned south to head to Rocky Mountain National Park.
We hit the park just before 5 so we only got to get one stamp. We thought we might drive to another station but we saw antlers below the roadside – I asked Karen to pull over and we hiked back up the road to find this little fellow:
Karen thought he wasn’t paying enough attention to us so she did some jumping jacks – this was his reaction:
We started back towards the next station when we saw this youngster on the roadside:
As I got close enough to see beyond the brush I found his pals.
At this point I told Karen I would rather take pictures of these guys than get a stamp – we both shot about a hundred shots of these guys and drove back to the main part of town to find a hotel. We found a cool little place next to the golf course and guess what we saw almost outside our room – a young bull watching the goose races!
If we were seeing this many animals outside the park I was sure that this park was going to be amazing, and it was. No historic buildings or markers. Just wildlife at every turn. So many elk we just quit stopping to shoot.
At the Ranger station we saw this guy – totally unafraid of us.
At the first few stops we saw lots of birds and chipmunks
When we climbed to Forest Park we got to see what a marmot looks like.
Here Karen gets her shot at one after being thwarted by a rude Chinese tourist.
As we approached the highest point on the loop around the park and the continental divide we saw no animals at all – lots of wind and snow, but apparently nothing hangs out any higher up than the marmots.
As we descended back to the meadows leading to the park exit we saw another grouping of elk. I thought it would be good to get them in their natural habitat instead of on a golf course – but as I got out of the car and started to cross the meadow I saw that these were no elk – holy cow! Moose!
I got to within about 40-50 feet and saw her head come up – I snapped about 5 shots and slowly backed away.
As we left the park I actually did get those last few shots of elk in their actual habitat –
Now I’m back home, back at work. I did hear a bird calling yesterday and ran outside with my camera – no dice. Something about being out on the road that gives me stealth. I guess it’s time to go back to still life.
the eff stop 
nice pics..cute animals. thank you for sharing..
Outstanding pictures, great blog!
brilliant blog!
Really nice pictures, I liked all of them and good story. I liked it good job!
Simply Amazing! Glad I found your blog!
Nature is always beautiful
Awesome pics! I didn’t know bison still survived — an amazing discovery! and the photo of that bee–pricelessly gorgeous! Thank you for taking the time to share your photos!
Reblogged this on Freelance Science Writing.
Great photos and story! Looking forward to more in the future.
Awesome shots! Those moments aren’t going to fade! Glad I stumbled by — you are giving me ideas for future trips!
Looooove the pictures…… the contrast between the bees and the purple flower is amazing ^_^ gives me inspiration! LOL
Nice pictures
Nice pics……..way to enjoy the vacations!!!!
Beautiful pictures ..cute animals..
I love the pictures of butterfly and bee. They are so natural
That fellow’s (the one with the antlers and chewing grass) reaction to your wife was hilarious! What an expression!
The photos are beautiful! My 8-year old brother enjoyed them as well! 🙂 He loves animals!
Beautiful pictures and animals
You can submit your blog to websites-blogs.com so the world can see
You have amazing pics, I love the ones of the birds. The make me want to go out and explore the national parks and my own backyard.
Reblogged this on 8BIT.
Really like the design of your blog, quite impressive.
Hello!
I love animals and you took some very impressive shots! I love the rabbits (especially the one laying down). I live close to a park with a good sized lake and those rabbits reminded me of the red hares we have here in Florida.
Great photos!! Love them! The owl is my favorite 🙂
Thanks – yes, the owl is a capture of a lifetime:)
That picture of that black + white + blue bird from the ranger station – I see that bird all the time in Warsaw, Poland. I’ve been looking for her everywhere, but, sadly, cannot find the name. Once, I had a bag of Whiskas on the back of my bicycle (which I use to feed stray cats) and I woke up one morning to find it on the floor with a hole and food scattered everywhere – courtesy of this bird.
Thanks – the rangers told me that bird was a black-billed magpie. They are pretty bold – your story takes the cake:)
Thank you for this. It’s been a rough day and as I sit in my tiny little office frustrated with all that is my life I was able to take a little mini vacation away from it all. The people walking by were probably wondering what exactly it was I was smiling at, but that’s ok. Ya’lls shots are so awesome that it is like I was just looking out the (nonexistant in my office) window. I live in the country so we get to see lots of wonderful wildlife but I do not get out of our area much to see some of the animals you shot. Great little break!!! Thanks again!!
Awwwwe – you just made my day! Thanks. I hope yours gets better 🙂
Oh gosh, what a beauty! I love animals and your photos really tell the story. Thanks so much for sharing your experience and for “making” my morning!
Blessings,
Reblogged this on Thruths's Blog.
Oh gosh I love the reaction after Karen did the jumping jacks! haha
Amazing photo’s u must have worked so hard to get such good photo’s. Love the rabbits! 🙂
Some really cute rabbits in the first pictures.
beautiful snaps
Wow, what an incredible trip you had! Love the photos of the prairie dogs, the marmot and the Black-billed Magpie. I’ll be heading to Jasper National Park in the Canadian Rockies this summer and hope to see some of the same wildlife there.
I had no idea there was such a thing as a National Park Passport…..I would have loved to have seen a picture of it with all of its stamps!
The Pics R Just Awesome
Quite nice photography. Looks like someone had a good time!
How beautiful the wild animals . Please save the wild animals
Thank you for sharing..cute pics..
Wonderful
Pics…..
Nice Posting. Nice Photography. Its really required for nature.
Be aware about your forest and Wild life. You must save this.
Very nice pictures, especially the birds!
all the pictures so nice…can you share more….
Nice pics and nice story really I loved this post because i love Birds and animals..
Thanks for sharing
I enjoyed your story line as much as the photos! Tk you for a late night laugh.
Reblogged this on monneydollar.
Wonderful shots!! good to see our little friends are still with us!
Awesome photos! LOVE the one of the close up of the bee on the flower…such a pretty shot!
Gorgeous, gorgeous, animal photographs! Totally worth being freshly pressed. And you captured some of the greatest expressions of those animals as well, right? I love how the four small deers were all looking at your camera in one of your photos – just as if they were posing for you. And I guess it’d be too long if I give comment on each impressive photo of yours.
Thanks so much. I got lucky on the deer, they stopped and looked at me before they ran off.
These are amazing photos! Oh and congrats on being freshly pressed 🙂
Oh, what fun! I love animals and photography.
Congrats on being freshly pressed … I love all your shots. The bird shots are fantastic and you managed to get a couple of really nice species too! God Bless Tom
Awesome pictures, great layout! I loved the book and the way you expressed the theme is excellent in your blog. Check out my content. No lovely pictures, but great words.
Great post thanks. I really enjoyed it very much.
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