22 June 2017 - Fantasy Canyon and other adventures

Several years ago I ran across an article about Fantasy Canyon and it has been on my must-go-there list ever since. The route I took was 207 miles and should have been just under 4 hours.  I could have shaved some time off of that but I not only wanted to go through Vernal,  I also added quite a few stops along the way following my habitual mode of traveling which involves I wonder where that road goes--and taking it. 

Since I had no time-table, no obligations, I could wander at will and stop for photos of anything that caught my fancy. Those of you that have been following along already know that just about everything catches my fancy. Whether it's 50s motel signs, yard art, figural signs, ranch signs--you name it--I'll want to stop for a photograph. This was a perfect day for self-indulgence.

It has been hot here in the Salt Lake Valley, and hotter still in the south and east of Utah. I decided to go today because: 1) it was the day after the solstice so I had a very long day and 2) a cold front had come through and the high was supposed to be in the low 80s instead of the high 90s.  It seemed like a good plan at the time. Ha. I will say it was 101 degrees when I arrived at Fantasy Canyon. 

Yet another reason to pick this as a travel day was because it was the dark of the moon. Out in the wilderness with no hint of city lights I saw stars! The Milky Way stretched across the sky. You could see the Andromeda Nebula with your naked eye. And the stars were magnificent. Constellations glowed against the twinkling backdrop. It was magical. I lay on the ground gazing up until I couldn't focus anymore. Truly, is there anything more spectactular than a clear night and a dark sky? 

But back to the road trip. We'll start with the I Brake for Everything category and signage is near the top of that list.  I was thinking that on my return trip home I could catch many of these neon signs all lit up!  Foiled. I ended up taking a different route back. 


Here are some of my favorites. In addition to old motel signs, I am always on the lookout for vintage theater and bowling alley signs. These are classics. I liked that the Lazy K Ranch boasts free TV and air conditioning. You have to wonder how many years ago that was added to the sign. The cycle shop sign used to belong to a long gone trading post, but thankfully they only changed the name and left the sign intact. 

Figural signs are another brake stomper. Vernal was full of them. What could make you feel more welcome than a pink dinosaur? 

I think the big girl says it all, but if you are looking for a motel with a swimming pool, could you pass this one up?                                                                                         This next big guy is pretty famous for being decorated for every holiday and seasonal event. In this case the rodeo is coming up.  

  

Maybe lassoing a T-Rex is one of the main events. You never know. Look at the car in the background. It makes you realize just how big that straw hat is and wonder who wove that? 

I also enjoyed the larger than life Indians. 

The last part of the journey found the road winding through high plateaus and flat dusty oil fields. The landscape was fascinating with its layers of colored rock. Fantasy Canyon is very small, but definitely worth the trip. The formations are intricate, beautiful and stunning.  

Other fun stuff on this trip?  Prairie dogs! Probably saw close to 100 in about three miles. 

Wild horses!  By now it was getting very close to dusk so the photos aren't as clear as I would like, but the colors on these horses are not anything like you normally see.  I am enamored with the gray colt with the brown mane and the one with the gray and white mane. So interesting!

Seriously!  What is better than a road trip?  So much to see. Now if the day was only longer . . .

        

7 May 2017 - It isn't just about the birds

I recently went to the St. George area with some friends. We are currently in the third stage of migration and the warblers are heading north. In four days we saw 143 species of birds, which was wonderful, but it is all the other stuff that makes trips like this so perfect. Growing up, our house was surrounded by acres of sage brush and scrub oak. As kids, my sibs and I would catch tarantulas, lizards, snakes and horny toads. At twilight we would lie on the grass and count bats. All that wild county and its inhabitants have  disappeared beneath the ever growing urban sprawl. 

One of my favorite moments on this trip was the horny toads. I can't even tell you the last time I saw a horny toad. (For all you purists, yes, it really is called a horned lizard, but old habits are hard to break.)  I had forgotten what sweet faces they have. We saw a couple desert horned lizards which are very white compared to the grayer ones I was familiar with. Great protective coloration. Their diet consists mainly of ants. As people move further into the desert, the first thing they do is kill the ants, which deprives them of their food source. I hope we don't deprive them into extinction.

So many lizards! Striped whiptails, leopard lizards, fence lizards, side-blotched lizards are a few of the ones we saw. 

Toads! We found both the Woodhouse toad and the Arizona toad which is now on the endangered list. The Arizona toad below was a first sighting for me. 

Along with the toads we also found tadpoles. 

Of course there were the ubiquitous rabbits and squirrels. I liked how the early morning sun shining through the rabbit's ears illuminated the blood vessels.

Bighorn sheep are always a treat. Saw about 27 of them, but all does and kids.  

This is a Uintah Chipmunk.

The desert was gorgeous. Many plants were blooming, although some of the ones I had hoped to see were already done. The rest made up for it. The Sand verbena (abronia fragrans) was in full bloom. I thought it smelled like fresh sawdust with a slight sweetness. Everyone else thought I was nuts. 

Loved this desert four o'clock! (mirabilis multiflora)  Great color and blooms all summer. Subdued in the shade...

and glorious in the sun.

Indigo bush--beautiful! Adds a cooling effect to the hot desert landscape.

Desert marigold

The cholla has an interesting pollination process. When an insect lands in the flower, the pollen laden stamen close up around the bee and coats it in pollen.  It is sort of like watching a venus fly trap close on a bug. Here you can see a cholla flower with all the little stamens standing up straight. 

There is an insect underneath all the stamens. See how they have all leaned into the center of the flower?



Next, another flower where the bee has just landed and the stamens are starting to move.

We wandered through a huge field of barrel cactus and ran across a tiny little corky pincushion cactus. 

The spines on some of the barrel cacti were deep pink to rosy red. Nice contrast.  The tiny little corky pincushion is about two inches across.















It was interesting how often cactus tended to grow up through other plants.  It made for interesting combinations. 

The Utah State Flower is the Sego Lily which flowers in white, cream, pink, purple and yellow. Again, I haven't seen one of these in ages, so it was a great find. 

All this is just the tip of the iceberg. The landscapes were spectacular, too. My pals have found a tiny bit of shade under a joshua tree. 

The low western sun really illuminated these red hills over the lake. Gorgeous country. 

Utah. Truly amazing no matter where you are standing. 

Note below. Sometimes this program drives me crazy.  I set the type size and it shows up quite small no matter what I do. Operator error? Maybe. Maybe not. Grump.