Relax

The weekly photo challenge is Relax.

We went to Canyonlands in Utah. We wanted to drive down into the canyon and you can do that there but you have to have a 4 wheel drive vehicle. There are 2 parts of Canyonlands. First we went to the part by Moab, UT and then we went to the other side about 45 miles away. We drove down this dirt road there and stopped at a beautiful place surrounded by these mushroom shaped tall rocks. It surrounded us. We found a place to park and made our lunch and found a big rock to sit on and eat our sandwich. The sky was gray and it did start to rain toward the end of our lunch. It was so beautiful to sit there and feel the wind blow by and the little drops of rain hit our skin. It was wonderful. Such a great place, all alone eating our lunch on a rock. When we were done eating we packed up our stuff and left because the rain started to really come down.

We could not go far into the canyon on the south end because you need a permit to drive the road. You need a jeep to go further because they have giant rocks to drive over and quicksand you can get stuck in. I don’t think I would drive it even if I had the right vehicle to do that. On their website it says if you get stuck and need a tow, the cost is $1,000 just to have the tow truck come to you. We did go down the North side of the canyon by Moab. It was fun. I will have to write a post about that with pictures. It was beautiful too.

Weekly photo challenge: Nostalgia

The Weekly photo challenge is Nostalgia.

What better item for Nostalgia than an old steam engine train from 1923. We just got back from a vacation. We went to Durango, Colorado. We bought tickets to go on the coal steam train to Silverton, CO. It is an all day trip. The tracks are not as wide as regular train tracks.

The seats are smaller too so it is kind of uncomfortable to squeeze into that seat with someone for 7 hours. The train really rocks and lunges and it is hard to walk to the next car, the concession car. They sold a cup with a lid for all the refills you want for $8.50. The trick was walking from one car to the next with the drink in your hand. I needed to hang on so I pushed the drink into my sweatshirt pocket.

When you go to step on the ramp, the ramp shifts quickly from side to side and it scares me. It seemed like the concession car really rocked so it was really hard to stand while waiting to be waited on. I got hot chocolate, which tasted really good, but so hot. The second serving I got, the lady put a little ice in it for me. It was much better to drink.

The train had to stop a couple of times to fill up with water. This is the train stopped, filling up with water. The water was spilling over the sides of the train car.

We stopped at Silverton, CO for 2 and a half hours. We got there a little after noon. We walked around this old town. The streets are dirt and mud. They  only had 1 paved street. We found this old saloon, restaurant and went in and ate lunch. We had the best lunch ever in that  place.

I even walked up to engine and had my picture taken beside it. The thing spews out ash, when I got home I had chunks of ash in my hair. It was cold and raining so I bought a sweatshirt that said Silverton, CO and put it on over my t-shirt and then also had on a zip up sweatshirt. It is 9,000 feet high in Silverton.

It was a fun, but long day. When we got off the train for lunch, the conductor said that people that were taking the bus back could catch it at 3:oo pm. We didn’t know that you could take the bus back. I would have done that. The train goes 20 miles per hour. It is so slow.

 

Weekly photo challenge: Edge

The weekly photo challenge is Edge.

We went to Washington to the Olympic National Park . We drove over to the ocean side. It is covered with lots and lots of grey rocks and thousands of trees, big, huge trees have washed up all over the shore. The ocean is powerful, full of waves. The wind blows over you and gives you a chill. I sat of this big tree and took the picture. It was hard to walk over the millions of round, smooth rocks, all grey.

Then we drove over to the rain forest part. I took a picture of the river at the edge of the road. It was foggy and drizzling rain.

Weekly photo challenge : Face

The weekly photo challenge is Face. I picked the nearest one around….mine. I did have to add some light effects at the top, other wise it would be a blah photo.

Weekly photo challenge: Landscape

The weekly photo challenge is Landscape.

I love the landscape of Organ Pipe Monument in Arizona. It is a special place where only Organ pipe cactus grows. Here are a couple of pictures of that landscape.

 

 

Weekly photo challenge: half-light

The weekly photo challenge is Half-Light. Share a photo inspired by a poem, verse, song lyric or story.

Song from Annie. “The sun will come out tomorrow
Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow
There’ll be sun”

The song Let it snow.

Oh the weather outside is frightful
But the fire is so delightful
And since we’ve no place to go
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

Weekly photo challenge: Harmony

The Weekly photo challenge is Harmony.

Nature is in harmony to produce clouds upon clouds. Clouds build up and produce rain to provide the planet with water. Today the clouds built up and produced different swirls and shapes and then turned all grey and then it rained.

I took a couple of pictures of the clouds. Some looking like puffy pillows, some looking like waves in the air. They were changing constantly.

 

Weekly photo challenge: State of Mind

The Weekly photo challenge is State of Mind. This week, share an image where you see a particularly strong connection between what we see and what you felt as you pressed that shutter button on your camera or phone.

I was driving home one morning and saw an eagle in a tree. A big eagle. It was black with a white head and tail. I made a U-turn and parked my car and walked over closer to look at it. It was still sitting in the tree just looking around. It was so beautiful. I only had my little pocket camera so I took a few pictures. The zoom is not huge on the camera but I tried to get a good shot of it. Then people started stopping their cars and jumping out to take a picture with their camera phones. I hope they had a good zoom on them because he was a little too far to get a good picture. I was happy and in awe looking at this beautiful bird. It was so cold though, so I went and got back in my car and drove home. I am glad I got to see it and capture an image of it.

Weekly photo challenge: Life imitates Art

The Weekly photo challenge is Life imitates Art

The wild horses have started walking around the neighborhood again. I took a picture of them.  I then made an artistic picture of them.

Here is the original of them.

Weekly photo challenge: Vibrant

The Weekly photo challenge is Vibrant.

I just got these new bowls and I think the colors are vibrant.