Monthly Archives: June 2025

From Utah to Tahoe

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We arrived in Salt Lake City on a Monday. Both rain and sunshine accompanied us on the drive from Moab to Salt Lake. If you want to read about our adventures in Moab, check out Moving On to Moab.

The first stop in Salt Lake City was City Creek Canyon and Nature Preserve for a morning walk/run and a little birding. We found the trail and parked right next to the capitol building. Actually, we parked first and then found the trail. A new bird sighting for me there: a Blue Lazuli chirping away, high in a tree.

Did you notice the statue of Massasoit at the capitol? Apparently the one that stands in Plymouth, Massachusetts, is the original, but a copy was made to stand in Salt Lake in recognition of the Utah artist who sculpted it.

We stayed at a campground in Salt Lake City that night and headed for Great Salt Lake State Park the next day. We visited the southern shore of the lake, so I can’t speak to any other part of it. But it smelled a lot like a beach at low tide! It was there I learned that some blackbirds come with yellow heads! Who knew?! There were a lot of swallows flying around, too, but totally eluding my camera.

In one of the photos above, you can see a large island out in the lake. This is Antelope Island which is apparently inhabited by a variety of wildlife—including bison! I found that fascinating. Anyway, back on the salt-dusted shore there was a good-sized salt pile in one spot. I would’ve taken a picture of it, but didn’t feel like waiting for the woman who was using it as her own personal photo-shoot venue to finish up.

As we left the lake on the way to our next camping destination, we passed vast white fields. It looked like snow, but was actually more salt. The Bonneville Salt Flats. The whole area was once covered by a much larger lake—Lake Bonneville. But the Great Salt Lake is all that’s left of it, The salt flats also happen to be the site of world land-speed record runs. Interesting, but no, we decided against trying to set any records with our van. 🙂

The following day, we broke up the long drive by stopping at Rosewood Nature Study Area in Reno, Nevada. The heat was mostly bearable and we enjoyed the area very much. Mark went for a run and I set out on the nature trail. I saw a pair of marmots and several different birds.

Although the pictures are a bit fuzzy, the bird with the long pink neck is an American Avocet and the black and white one with the long pink legs is a Black-necked Stilt. There are also two different large white birds pictured. The one with black legs is probably a Great Egret and the one with the bill that seems heavier than its entire head is, of course, an American White Pelican. We’ve also seen a half dozen different types of swallows on our trip. They’re impossible for me to photograph in flight, but every once in a while one will land. The one pictured above appears to be a Barn Swallow. There may have been a few Cliff Swallows flying around, too.

We stayed at a KOA campground near Reno that night. As we sat in our Yeti chairs under the awning, enjoying the breeze and the occasional raindrop, we didn’t realize what was about to happen. Thunder rumbled. Lightning split the sky. And the rain came down! Mark got soaked trying to get the awning safely stowed. Meanwhile rain swept into the van through the dropped screen at the sliding door. Frantically grabbing a stack of towels and rags, we started mopping the river of water spreading across the van floor. Thunder and lightning crashed and the campground’s power went out. What a mess! But, as they say, there’s always a rainbow after the storm. Even a double one sometimes.

Our goal the following day was to catch a glimpse of Lake Tahoe while we were in Nevada. After searching for the closest access point while also looking for someplace to walk/run, we found the Lam Watah Historic Trail in Rabe Meadows. This lovely path led us right to the shore of beautiful blue Lake Tahoe. And again, I found more birds! Can you match the bird names to the photos? I saw a Barn Swallow, a Wilson’s Snipe, a Stellar’s Jay, a Red-breasted Sapsucker, a Western Wood-pewee, a Violet-green Swallow, a Red-shafted Northern Flicker, a Goldfinch, plus a few others.

What a beautiful day we had walking along the trail in Stateline, Nevada. The next day, we crossed the border into California. Yay!

More adventures to come!

P.S. For those of you who’ve been following our trip, you know we’d been lugging around the bench seat that Titan Vans removed for us in Colorado. Well, I decided to post it on Craig’s List while we were in Salt Lake City. And we got a hit. Someone in Southern California was interested. More on that later…

Moving On to Moab

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We left Colorado on a Friday. You can read about our adventures there in Hello, Colorado!

After driving to a peak elevation of eleven thousand feet on our way from Denver to Silt, Colorado, we camped there for our last night in the Centennial State. The Colorado River ran behind the campground and I found some wildlife along the riverside path. I think the Belted Kingfisher was a first for me.

We entered Utah the following day, arriving at our campsite in Moab just after lunch.

It was early enough in the day that we decided to spend the afternoon at Arches National Park. Unfortunately, we weren’t paying close attention to the fact that, on top of the high elevation, it was also almost one hundred degrees outside. So, while we enjoyed most of the visit to Arches, the hike up to Delicate Arch did me in. Evidently, I wasn’t as hydrated as I thought I was. Yikes!

Mark finished the trek to Delicate Arch without me, but found that his phone battery was dead when he got there. So, no photos. Oh, well. Here are some of the other sights we did manage to see and photograph. It was hard to choose among all the photos of huge red rock formations, but hopefully these give you a sense of the immensity of the landscape.

The heat continued the next day. We were still feeling the effects of our afternoon at Arches, so after a run/birdwatching stroll at Lions Park and Bike Path Trail we spent a leisurely day walking through downtown Moab. The Black-headed Grosbeak I saw on the trail was a first for me. And lunch at Trailhead Public House and Eatery was delicious.

On our third day in Moab, we stopped at Lions Park again for a walk/run. I saw the Black-headed Grosbeak again and, for the first time, a Western Kingbird.

After that, we ventured past Arches National Park to Canyonlands National Park. The sights there were breathtaking! Maybe even better than Arches?

On the way back from Canyonlands, we stopped at Dead Horse Point State Park which had been recommended to us by more than one person. Apparently it’s a well-known movie location site. (Thelma & Lousie, Mission Impossible,…) We were told we should stay for a memorable sunset, but the clouds had moved in and we were ready move on. Our last stop for the day was Moab Brewery where Mark (mostly) enjoyed a beer and a couple of appetizers.

We visited Lions Park Trailhead one last time the next morning for a walk/run and pulled out of Moab by lunchtime. On to Salt Lake City!

Hello, Colorado!

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Welcome back to our cross-country adventure! If you missed the first leg of the journey, you can read about it in Thought I’d Skip Gardening This Spring.

With our sights set on Colorado, we left Iowa and trekked across Nebraska. We stayed at a couple of Nebraska campgrounds along the way, gaining another hour as we entered Mountain Time. The plan was to stay with my father’s brother Donald for a few days, just outside of Denver, while our van was being serviced in Boulder. My Dad was finishing up a visit with them and was flying out the day we arrived. Before taking him to the airport mid-afternoon, they went golfing and out to lunch. We didn’t want to arrive to an empty house, so we stopped at Barr Lake State Park in Brighton, Colorado, for an early afternoon walk/run.

We spent close to four hours at Barr Lake. So many birds, so little time! Identifying them can be a challenge, but I did see a Western Kingbird and a Bullock’s Oriole for the first time. Actually, several of them.

We arrived at Donald and Valois’s in Centennial, Colorado, just before supper and spent a good deal of time and effort unloading all the essentials from our van in preparation for its service appointment. My cousin Diane and her husband, Pat, came by toting a bounty of leftovers from the weekend family feast for my father’s visit. We were well fed!

In the morning, we drove to Boulder to drop off the van at Titan Vans. Besides some maintenance services, we also asked them to remove a bench seat they’d installed in the original build. We hardly ever used it and wanted the precious storage space. (Anyone want a barely used seat?) We picked up a traffic-cone-orange Kia Kona at Enterprise Rental and stuffed it with more essentials from the van. Moving out of our van when we’re traveling is like packing for the trip all over again. It was hard to know what to leave behind.

Anyway, in our down-sized vehicle, we headed for the Bobolink Trailhead in Boulder for a run/walk.

The most notable part of our visit to the Bobolink Trailhead was when Mark found an obstacle in his path while on his run. A cow! Sorry, no photos.

After a stop at Whole Foods to pick up some lunch, we drove back toward Denver, stopping at Denver Botanic Gardens to meet up with cousins Donna and Barbara. The Gardens were Donna’s idea and what a perfect, sunny afternoon we had! When a brief shower did pass by, we ducked into the Tropical Conservatory full of exotic plants and a treehouse.

Here’s a small sampling of the multitude of gorgeous flowers we saw…

Well, maybe a few more…

After the Botanic Gardens, the four of us had dinner at a local Mexican restaurant. At dinner, Donna told us about a couple of young Great Horned Owls that lived in a tree along a walking path near her house. So, of course, we had to follow her home. First, we got a tour of her own home gardens, which were beautiful! Then, we took a walk in search of owls… And we found them! (Along with our first sighting of a Spotted Towhee.)

The following day was a quiet one. We planned to take a bike ride along a nearby trail, but my bike brakes weren’t cooperating. So, Mark biked while I took a nice walk around the neighborhood. The afternoon was spent preparing to get back on the road the next morning. Later, we met up with Mary and Ruth, friends who’d moved to Colorado from Massachusetts several years ago, for dinner in Denver. It was good to see them.

In the morning, cousin Michael and his wife, Lori, stopped by for coffee and a brief visit. And before we knew it, it was time to say goodbye. Donald and Valois had been the best hosts. We really enjoyed all their stories and the family history discussions. I’m sure they were ready for some alone time after all their company.

In Boulder, we picked up our van with it’s newly configured space, unpacked our rental car, and then drove back to Centennial to pick up our bikes and anything else that didn’t fit in the Kona. We said our final goodbyes and headed west to Utah.

Until next time, Colorado!