She has a story to tell

When we worked in Kansas City, each morning we'd get up at the butt crack of dawn, which for the record, for me is around 5:15 a.m., get ourselves around and head out the door around 6:15 so we'd be to work before 8.

It was a long ride. We needed entertained.

Entertainment came in the form of a radio host called "Johnny Dare". Some of you locals probably have heard of him. He's described as a shock jock, but really, he's just more like a teenage boy in a 41 year old's body.

Anyway, he goes on vacation and comes back to tell an interesting story. He had taken his dog Barger and himself, along with his Jeep and drove west. He is in Utah if I remember correctly and photographing rock formations when he stumbles upon a rattle snake. He uses his tripod and a rock wall to "jump" over the snake, dog in arms.

But for me, that wasn't the interesting part of the story. The most interesting part, was how he told that they just drove and took photos.

I instantly started thinking about what an adventure that could be. Setting out due west with no real "plan". Taking photos of what life presents you along the way. That has stuck with me for several years.

So when we went to S. Dakota, one of the things that really fascinated me were the animals. As you know, I love me some chickens, and I have this unusual cow fetish. Apparently other people have noticed this. But what I don't see enough of, is the wild.

It all started innocent enough.



We were driving into Devils Monument, and I spotted a deer. I wanted to take a few pics so we stopped where we weren't supposed to. I got out and slowly started walking, thinking that they would bolt any second. But that didn't happen. I creeped closer and closer, shooting off a photo ever 15 seconds.



Adrenaline.

I had gotten closer to a wild deer, and gotten the best photos of one I ever have in my life.

I just wanted to sit down in the grass and watch her and the sun sparkle off of her whiskers.


But alas, we were in trouble. We had stopped in a no stopping area. Oops. Otherwise, they were pretty ok with me being out in the park, harassing the "locals"

We saw the prairie dogs, and again, I got out, getting closer and closer. They make hilarious warning noises. What you can't see is when they throw their arms in the air and scream *eeeeeEEEE!*

I kept wondering if my face was going to get ate off, but I lucked out.



The next day, we went to Custer State Park. It's well known for it's herds of buffalo.

Now, to be honest, the buffalo is one of the few animals I'm really really scared of. It's a funny story of when my ex and I were at a drive through animal park in Branson. As we crossed a tiny "bridge", a buffalo was a foot from my side of the door. We crept by him, but apparently it ticked him off so he head butted our car! I screamed! I peed my pants a little and wanted my mommy. (ok not that last part)

It left only a small dent, but I did get a chuckle out of telling people the dent was put there by a buffalo.

Since then, I've been a little paranoid.

Forgive me.

Even that didn't stop me. I wanted to get some real Americana, up close shots.

I didn't even die in the process!



Throughout the park we saw other critters:

Pronghorn antelope

Wild turkey (what you don't see is the wild deer that was messing with the turkey!)

We missed the burros and I'm sure many other critters.

Later, we saw some wild bunnies:

I want to kiss his face.




But I'm kind glad I missed this:

Whew. I'm pretty cool with that.


Where am I going with this?

Well a couple weeks ago, I talked about a sign, and how I felt like I'd been given a sign. That sign was this trip. No, it wasn't a rattlesnake sign (thank God), it was a sign that I should be doing something else.

Don't get your panties in a twist. I'm not giving up blogging, or photography, or even weddings. I like shooting people, but I realized that I LOVE shooting animals and nature and the great outside! While I was there, I really wanted to just sit for hours and watch and photograph, but I couldn't because I had an impatient glass man with me, and well, I don't really blame them. Watching me photograph a deer for 3 hours probably would get boring no?

My mind wandered back to the story of Johnny, taking his camera and his adventure across the country. The plans started to form in my head and before I got home, I was talking about a second trip.

Alone.

Me, a long lens, my jeep, (probably a pistol), and an adventure.

I just feel like something is missing, like I have a story I need to tell. Like a sabbatical of some sort.

The tentative plans are already in the works. Well, the plans in my head anyway. Nothing is concrete but I'm feeling like next summer I'll be traveling west again looking for a story. I don't know what that story is, and I don't know how it will be told. Will it be just some blogging? Will it be a private book? or will it be something bigger?

I don't know the answers to any of those questions yet, but when I do, you'll be the first to know.

South Dakota - Day three

Good lord, yes, I'm STILL talking about SD.
I'm almost done. I swear.

I couldn't NOT share more photos tho. It's what I do.


When we went to Devil's Tower, we stopped outside of the park to take a few shots. A woman noticed our Missouri license plates and since she was from KC, she started talking to us. While I'm off shooting some flowers or some such, She tells Gene about a local drive through animal park and convinces Gene it's a MUST SEE.

This was one thing he was very excited about.

The next day, it was the first thing we did. Although I do prefer my animals au natural, he enjoyed getting to see the animals up close and personal. Oh, and despite them telling you not to through down your window, I did anyway cuz you know, I needed a good shot!

I swear, it's not just a dog. It's a wolf.

A rare white buffalo. I thought they were protected??

The elusive and rare, "raccoon". Oh, I'm on quite familiar terms with the rascal racoon.

But mainly there are bears.

Lots of them.




The best part, was the baby bear cubs. Aww.. I want one!

"Ok, watch me, put your right foot in, then your right foot out. Then put your right foot in and shake it all about."

"Huh, what is 'right'? What is foot?"

"Oh oh, can I play?"

"I know the hokey pokey."

"Pwease"

"Now listen here, I said right foot! RIGHT FOOT!"

"See, dis is mah right foots!"



I want a bear.

Oh we're getting a bear.


I know that Gene would give it a 5 out of 5 stars for getting to see lots of animals, and getting to be a bit lazy about it in the process. (sorry dear). I however give it about a 2.5 stars. Three stars because I like to see things as they live in nature. It reminds me of Teddy Roosevelt, and how the teddy bear kinda got started. Teddy Roosevelt refused to shoot an old injured bear tied to a tree by his hunting mates ... for sport. He said it was unsportsman like.

To me, it's kinda the same thing, only with a camera instead of a gun. Like shooting fish in a barrel, you can't miss. What's the sport in that eh?

They lost another half a star when I found out that they "claim" they own the copyright to my photos. I didn't find this out until after I'd already paid them to go inside. Technically, they don't own the copyright, I do. I always will. However, they do own property rights and neither of us could make money off of said images without permission from the other. A stalemate as you will.

This is why I've chosen not to name the park, and also why I've chosen to put my wartermark in ugly spots on the photos. Hmmpft. So there.

Would I go again? Probably not. Would Gene? Probably not either.

Now later, I'll show you some REAL animal shots!

South Dakota - Day 2 (part two)

Now before we can really get into where we went, you have to watch these 2 short video clips:










No, I'm not a big close encounters cultish fan, we just thought it was cool, and wanted to see it. In fact, it ended up being one of our favorite places on the trip, and we didn't plan on going there until we got all the way to SD.



WARNING:
This post might be educational.

Sorry kids!

This place? It's Devil's Tower National Monument.

It played an important role in the Sci-Fi thriller, "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" back in 1977. Of course, I'm just going on rumors as I wasn't born until many, many, MANY years later. Did I mention many?

is a monolithic volcanic neck located in the Black Hills near Hulett and Sundance in northeastern Wyoming. It rises dramatically 1,267 feet above the surrounding terrain.

Geologists agree that Devils Tower was formed by the intrusion of igneous material. Theories have suggested that Devils Tower is a volcanic plug or that it is the neck of an extinct volcano. Devils Tower did not visibly protrude out of the landscape until the overlying sedimentary rocks eroded away. As the elements wore down the softer sandstones and shales, the more resistant igneous rock making up the tower survived the erosional forces. As a result, the gray columns of Devils Tower began to appear as an isolated mass above the landscape. In theory, at some point in the future, Devil's Tower will be nothing more than a large pile of rock due to continued erosion.

According to the Kiowa, seven little girls went out to play and were spotted by several giant bears, who began to chase them. In an effort to escape the bears, the girls climbed atop a rock, fell to their knees and prayed to Great Spirit to save them. Hearing their prayers, the Great Spirit made the rock to rise from the ground towards the Heavens so that the bears could not reach the girls. The bears, in an effort to climb the rock, left deep claw marks in the sides which had become too steep to climb. (Those are the marks which appear today on the sides of Devils Tower.) When the girls reached the sky, they were turned into the star constellation the Pleiades.

Which if you look, is not what exactly is depicted on the painting above, but the story that goes with the brochure that the National Park Service distributes.

The tower is held sacred by many Native American cultures. You'll see many prayer ribbons and bundles, leave them alone. In fact, stay on the trails, period. You're on sacred ground.






Something else fascinating there, rock climbing!

Add this to the list of things I will probably never accomplish. Many rock climbers that day. We sat and watched a team of three for about 1/2 hour. There are many established and documented climbing routes covering every side of the tower, ascending the various vertical cracks and columns of the rock. The difficulty of these routes vary greatly, ranging from relatively easy to some of the hardest in the world. All climbers are required to register with a park ranger before and after attempting a climb.


But who blames them, look at the view:

And:

We stayed for quite some time. Several hours. Explored around, sat and watched the birds, the climbers, just people. Marveled at this huge formation.

Definitely worth the trip.

Now, do you feel educated?

Still awake?

hello, anyone?

South Dakota - Day two - (part one, subsection C)

I feel the need to split my Day #2 in SD into two posts. Mainly because the later part of the day I took so many pictures.

Wait. Let's be fair. I always take a lot of pictures. However, on this day, I took 591 photos. This is a lot for even me.

Digital is my friend.

We picked this day to go westward bound and knew we had a lot of ground to cover. Along our route, we went through the world famous Sturgis, SD. Home of the annual bike fest and all around orneriness.

Sturgis isn't really a super beautiful town. I'm sorry Sturgis, just calling it like it is. The parts I saw look like they had been rode hard and put up wet. Probably because it had been rode hard and put up wet. This is downtown. Now imagine this place with thousands of bikers and shennigans.

You know what, I think I've already seen enough. lol.

We also passed through Spearfish, which my mom always said how much she LOVED. Sadly it was a Sunday, so pretty much everything was closed. I didn't even take a photo. Sorry Spearfish. I'm sure you are a lovely town.

It took us a bit, but after being distracted by cute (closed) shops, we finally found the Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway, and added a couple hours onto our trip, but it was worth it.

Bridal Veil Falls are just along the highway, there's a little turn out, but you have to cross through traffic to get closer. Which duh, I did. Fortunately, there's not a lot of traffic.

There's also not a lot of hiking on my part. Spearfish search and rescue thanks me.



Just down the road, there's some more falls, actually, quite close to where Dances With Wolves was shot.

Roughlock Falls. It was a little more user friendly. No dodging Toyota Corollas or packs of motorcycles here.

It was a great photo opportunity, and where I started my "too many photos" portion of the day. I couldn't help it! I needed to practice my flowy/streamy/looking waterfall photos.



At the base of the falls is a small dam, which makes a small "lake" area. Back here at home we call them ponds.

There was an awesome walkway, that we could cross and get right up close to the water, which made for a few fun photos.

I think he's happy. I can't be sure.
It kinda looks like a happy face.


Off we went again, and we ate our lunch in the shadow of this rocky ridge:

It was kinda hard to get to, as it was next to a small lake (a real lake this time). We took a cooler with us and ate lunch out of the cooler ever day. I figured we saved around $150 doing this. On the other hand, Tanner is officially tired of sandwiches.

Sorry Tanner. Sandwiches are your life.
forever and ever amen.

Shortly after lunch, we hit Wyoming.
someone wouldn't get out of my shot, so some random person's head is in my picture. Forever and ever amen.

More pics from that afternoon, hopefully THIS afternoon. I still feel like cold clammy ass today, and I'm planning a trip to the chiro. My neck hurts and when it hurts, all of me feels like crap. blah.