An Elephant Petroglyphs

I am always fascinated by the writing on the walls left by ancient civilization. As we made our way around the ruins in the Chaco Culture National Historical Park, we were all in awe of the buildings and the history of the people who call this place home.


We found out about this place years ago from a old hippie told Donnie and Marge that this was the place to go while heading to the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest. Boy, were we glad that we went.


Marge and I enjoyed checking out the hugh piece of petrified wood. Of course, seeing the wonder of the Painted Desert was a sight to behold.


All in all, it was a great day for sight seeing and enjoy each other company. The best part was seeing the elephant petroglyph.

Fox and Chipmunk

You know that my vacation is not complete unless I get one chipmunk picture. So here it is with the help of my cousin Marge. She was the one who spotted him.

What he is eating is a surprise to me. I thought that they only eat nuts, berries and bugs. Yet, here he is eating what looks like a wing of a bird. I know he could not have killed the bird. This is one for the books for me. I need to investigate more about the eating habits of a chipmunk.


He was not the only cool sighting we had today. Just like the day before, my cousin Donnie's eyes spotted these kits driving down the road. There was a third kit as well. It was fun watching them all playing on the hay.

We did a lot of sight seeing and spotted many hawks, birds and visited some ruins, which I will talk about in some later blog. Today getting to see my chipmunk and enjoying the playfulness of the kits made my day complete.

Through Donnie's Eyes

My eyes do not see as well as they use to. That is why I have been depending on my camera to see what I can not. Getting older and having cataracts has made it harder to see things. I wish that I could see things through my cousin Donnie's eyes.

Every time we go on vacation, it is Donnie that seems to spot the impossible. Today for example, we were heading down the freeway at 80 miles per mile, when he spotted this owl in the tree along side the road.

When we backed up to get in a better position to get some pictures, I still had a hard time finding the owl in the tree. Through out the whole trip, he kept spotting birds after birds. I am so glad for his eyes.

It is always like this on each vacation. Donnie, Marge and my husband see it all. It is through Donnie's eyes we get to see the most. I can not wait until tomorrow to see more through his eyes.

Another Rest Stop Shot.

This was our second day of spending time driving for over ten hours to get to our second destination. Sitting here in a hotel in Selina, Kansas, I looked over the few pictures that I took. There was not much action at the rest stops this time.

When I do make my way around to stretch my legs, I searched out each tree hoping to find anything. As I started to walk back to the car, this mocking bird flew up. I could see that he had something in his mouth.

A friend from the photo group that I belong to, lent me his camera. It reaches much farther than my Canon. Today, I was glad for this feature. Without it, I could not have gotten this close up shot.


This is the best shot that I would have been able to get with my other camera. At the same rest stop, I was able to get this shot of a baby robin as well.



Tomorrow, we will start our sight seeing part of the vacation. Today, I am content to enjoy another rest stop shot.

Rest Stop Surprise

On our first day of vacation we spend most of it traveling in the car. There is not must time for picture taking. The only time we get out of the car, is to stop at rest stops to take care of business.

When we get out, I take my camera with me, because you never know what might show up even at a rest stop. Some of my favorite pictures through out the many years of vacations has been at rest stops.

While we were leaving the welcome center in Pennsylvania, my cousin spotted something unusual fling. There were three of them. It took a few minutes for us to realize that they were sandhill cranes. This was a nice surprise.

So now it has started. This vacation has already proven to be a great opportunity to captures cool sightings like this rest stop surprise.

Squirrel Balance

This squirrel sure must have some great balance. I watched as he slowly made his way to the tip of the branch to get the new growth. After he was able to pluck off his piece of morsel, he balanced on his two back legs and proceeded to devour every last bit.

I find these days that it has become hard to balance all the things that life is throwing at me. Between work, family and outside pressures, I find that my balance has a lot to be desire. At any moment, I feel that falling is inevitable.

One thing I did notice about this feat that the squirrel found so easy to achieve was, that he put all his focus on just doing one thing. He was not worrying about all the other things going on around him. Getting that juicy piece of vegetation was his focus and reward.

If I could be like this squirrel and learn to focus my efforts on one thing at a time, I would also enjoy the rewards. With the help of family, friends and most of all God, I will be able to balance my life.

Owl Sighting

Well, I finally got my owl sighting. I have been hearing about this owl for many years. Other friends and birding buddies have had the pleasure of catching her on film.

Even my youngest birding buddy was able to video her with the camera I gave him last summer. He has done more with that camera in the short time he has had it, than I ever did for the many years I owned it.



I had signed up to go on a nature walk at Harford Glen. I was going there anyway, so why not go with the group. That was one of my best decision. We saw many new and exciting things. I learn about the plants and other critters. The owl was the highlight of the whole journey.



I went back there the next day. There was no owl sighting. But, I did see other birds and took more time to look and enjoy the critters and plants.