Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Ahhh morning

Three things you may or may not know about me...

I am NOT a morning person.

I am a nature lover.

I love to take pictures

This of course means that I love to take pictures of nature. Problem being, one of the best times for viewing wildlife, as well capturing nature in glorious light, is very early in the morning, not exactly my favorite time of day. Luckily for me I have early birds in my life who will roust me out bed for an adventure now and then. As much as my natural night owl hates to admit it, after a wee bit of coffee clears cobwebs from my head, I end up enjoying the early morning hours, as that time of day often offers up amazing experiences.

A week ago for instance, we decided to return from Bear Lake in the morning before work, which being about a 2.5 hour drive meant leaving at the crack of dawn. We left Clare's cabin just as the suns rays began to paint the wildfire smoke filled skies in shades of pink. A good sized animal scurried across the dirt road before us. It dropped over the road edge out of site as we discussed what it might be. A racoon? A large marmot? Neither seemed right, but as though he wanted to answer our question his(her's?) head popped back over the road into the spotlight of our headlights. He took a step, then stood up and looked at us as though he was just as curious about us as we were about him. We had a staring contest for a minute then he turned tail and ambled back down the hill. A badger!!! I've always wanted to see one, and he was my first. Squeeee! If only my camera was not in the back of the car. *sigh*, it was probably too dark anyway. As we pulled away, in the shadows some deer moved alongside the road, and we headed off along the pink framed lake then up out of the valley and onto the open range where we were greeted by a beautiful Wyoming sunrise, and along the way saw some Sandhill Cranes, more deer, and even a few antelope in the distance.

Maybe this early morning thing is not so bad....

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