Sunday Stills – Favorite Landscape – 01.31.21

Posted on February 6, 2021 by

31 Comments

The feature image is the Old Yellowstone Trail in Montana. It is a beautiful drive on a dirt road that we travelled every day on our way to Yellowstone. To give up the extra 15-20 minutes off the main highway to take in the beauty this land had to offer was a real treat. Please take a look at this post on this road less traveled if you haven’t seen it.

My favorite landscapes is somewhere between the mountains and the beach. I am featuring several photos from our trip to Yellowstone and Grand Tetons in September, 2019. It was our last major vacation before the pandemic restricted us to stay in Florida.

This post is in response to TERRI WEBSTER SCHRANDT Sunday Stills challenge. The theme this week is Favorite Landscape. One of my favorite things to photograph besides birds is a great scenic landscape.

Yellowstone

Paradise Gateway Bed & Breakfast

  • Moon peeking over the other side of an incoming storm at Paradise Gateway Bed and Breakfast.
  • Paddling the Yellowstone River in Montana.

While staying at the highly recommended Paradise Gateway Bed & Breakfast in Emigrant, Montana, the owner took us to the boat ramp about 10 driving miles up the road, where we were dropped us off for a day of paddling the Yellowstone River. We were unfamiliar with this winding river as this was our first journey in our inflatable kayak. It took 6 hours, over 12 miles to get back to the bed and breakfast. WHAT A RIDE!!! Link to this story is here. We spent 4 days at this location going into the north entrance of Yellowstone National Park located in Gardiner, Montana. The photo on the left is where we docked the kayak after our paddle.

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone is a full day experience. Maybe more days depending on your hiking level. In this area, you will experience Artist Point where the Brink of the Lower Falls is located and on the other side, the Upper Falls. We visited the overlooks and hiked down into the Lower Falls. It was a moderate to difficult hike, especially on the way back up. So worth the trip down if your health allows for it. More on that day trip is here.

Yellowstone Geyser Basin

On our way to see Old Faithful, we passed the Geyser Basin and was going to stop, however it was quite crowded and we were limited on time. Three days later, we ended up on a impromptu visit on our last day in Yellowstone coming from the back side of the Grand Tetons through Idaho and once again into Wyoming. We had stayed in Jackson for two days, but did not explore what the western town had to offer. We needed more time. The “Living in the Moment” blog from our last day in Yellowstone is here.

Grand Tetons

Wooden Log Bench looking out over String Lake in Grand Tetons National Park. I sat there for a while taking in the beauty. The bench was hard, but comfortable and a nice place to rest before trekking on along the trail. The water was a clear blue-green and sparkled. It was a beautiful day, on my birthday. We cooked pesto-pasta on our hiking stove and enjoyed the birds around us for a hot meal picnic. See the original “Living in the Moment” blog here.

On our second day to Grand Tetons, we paddled String Lake in our Sea Eagle inflatable kayak that we brought with us on the flight from Florida. Another perfect day in Grand Teton National Park. The original “Living in the Moment” post is here if you missed it. There is a video of Frank taken a dip in the frigid water. He was layered up but it gave me brain freeze just to watch him do it.

Landscape of the Grand Teton Mountain Range taken from the historic Mormon Row District.
Grand Teton Mountain Range taken from the historic Mormon Row District.

Targhee Mountains

View of the Targhee Mountain range in Idaho on the back side of Grand Teton.

Once we had completed our two days in Jackson, Wyoming, we drove through the pass to Victor, Idaho where we stayed two days at Dreamcatcher Bed & Breakfast.

Landscapes outside of Las Vegas

Sunset in the Sierra Nevada Mountains outside of the Las Vegas Strip.

Spending time in Las Vegas is one of my favorite past times. I love going to the casino for a day or two to play in a Texas Hold Em’ tournament, but the best part of Las Vegas is all the beauty surrounding it in every direction. There is something to do whether you go north, south, east or west of the strip. The beauty of the natural landscape as far as the eye can see is quite breathtaking.

View of the desert from Henderson Birding Preserve just southeast of the Las Vegas strip.

View of the boardwalk at the Henderson Birding Preserve southwest of the Las Vegas strip. There is something so appealing about the desert until there is a sand storm which we got caught in a few miles from this location the day before. We ended up eating our picnic lunch in the van while in the parking lot of the grocery store. A perfect example of adapting and overcoming. The USMC taught me that!

Beach

Dunes and sunset at Little Talbot Island State Park, Jacksonville, Florida.
  • Little Talbot Island State Park. The forces of nature.
  • Glorious Sunset

Little Talbot Island State Park is our favorite beach. Frank took me to this beach on our first date weekend. Yes, weekend! I drove 3 1/2 hours from Tampa to meet him in person after talking to him on the phone for 3 weeks. We met on a dating site called Plenty of Fish. We both loved nature, birds and photography. That was it for me…I was hooked.

Category: #desert, beach, mountains, nature, photo challenge, photography, reflection, sunset, travel, Uncategorized, water, weatherTags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

31 Comments on “Sunday Stills – Favorite Landscape – 01.31.21”

  3. How amazing to meet your love on that dating app, Lisa! My hubby and I “re” met on Facebook and didn’t know until then that we lived within 60 miles of each other.
    Your landscapes and tour of the west are incredible! You capture peaceful moments of contemplation and the huge variety of what variety the NPs have to offer. I get excited seeing Yellowstone and the Tetons, knowing they are not terribly far from us now. Thanks for the inspiration and for sharing!

    Liked by 2 people

    • Thank you Terri. I relive that vacation as often as I can. We can’t wait to go back. It was quite magical having the kayak there and putting in when we felt like getting it out, airing it up and just hitting the water.
      The internet brings people together like nothing ever has before. See how I met you and can’t wait until we can meet in person. Unfortunately, like so many other things, the internet is dangerous with bad people. It’s still better than going to a bar. LOL! 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

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