Map of the Whole Trip

We were up earlier than need be Monday morning and soon on our way to the airport.  Checking in the car was no problem.  The checker was surprise by the mileage--about 3,000 miles--until he looked at how long we had had the car.  Our flights were uneventful, even shorter because we had the Jet Stream in our favor.  My car was making a funny sound when we first started off but it gradually went away.  It may have been the tires sitting in the hot sun for twenty days.  we arrive home--Jiggity jig--at about 11:00pm.

A Jack Rabbit

After leaving the park, we put our hotel address in the GPS.  The next thing we know is we are heading down dirt roads through mighty desolate areas.  Our only companions were an occasional cow or horse, a few deer and this jack rabbit.  We were on the dirt roads for about eighteen miles.

Looking Back at the Park

"Teeter" Rock

I named this one myself.

White Thistle

Flowing Rocks

Rock Climbers

Morning Glory Spire

Two Panaranic Views

A Passage Way

Prickly Pear Blooming

Another View

The Elephant

Views

A Size Perspective

Note the size of the blue-shirted yahoo beast in relationship to the rock.

Camp Rock

Many of the rock formations had names.

Entering the Park

It was very rugged, all dirt roads.

City of Rocks National Reserve

This park is very remote, near the border with Utah.

On Our Way Again

Sunday morning and we were on our way to City of Rocks National Reserve.  Nancy got a few shots along the way.

Saturday, July 1, Map

Self Heal

This was outside the visitor center at the bridge.  We had an "interesting" experience when we got back to the hotel after dinner.  Our key (plastic card) would not work in the door.  After several alternative attempts with new keys, our very young maintenance man decided the door battery was dead.  The only problem was that it could only be replaced from the inside.  Together we were about to use a special wire and string to open the door from the inside.  The first battery he brought up would not fit.  Eventually, after almost an hour, the door was finally fixed and we could settle in.

Looking East

Trip Trop, Who's That Crossing My Bridge

The Canyon Looking West of the Bridge

Somewhere along this canyon Evel Knievel attempted to jump back in 1974.  Eddie Braun actually did make the jump last year.

Perrine Bridge

A few miles west of Shoshone Falls is this bridge, which was built in 1976.  There are other falls in between but we couldn't see them.

Shoshone Falls

 
These falls are 45 feet higher than Niagara at 212 feet.

A Butte

This butte was right above the falls.

Honey Locus Tree

Take a close look at the thorns in the first shot.  There two to three inches long--and mighty sharp.

The Canyon

This is the Snake River Canyon at the Shoshone Falls.

Grain Elevators

We had lunch in Twin Falls at a one hundred year old diner.  These grain elevators were right in front of where we parked the car.

One of Many Wind Farms

We passed wind farms periodically along our journey, but on this day we passed many more, plus we passed a huge solar farm.

The Snake River

A Pelican and Cormorants

A Pelican on the River

When we left the visitor center, we headed to a couple of the overlooks.  On the way we saw this pelican on the river.

Beaver Skull

I didn't realize that I took a picture of the modern beaver skull instead of the pre-historic one.  The point of this display was to indicate a species that adapted to the changing environment.  The horse, on the other hand, migrated, while the mammoth became extinct, i.e., adapt, move or die.

A Fetal Equus Fossil

The fossil confused the scientists until they realized that it was of a fetus.

The Hagerman Horse

This is Equus simplicidens or the Hagerman horse.

An Artist's Rendition

This is an artist's rendering of what he imaged the Pliocene look like in this area.  There used to be a huge lake in this area.