We were awakened around 5am this morning by the coyotes howling and yipping to each other. We decided to get an early start so we got ready, took a few pics of the sunrise and headed into Wall.
Along the way, we saw some buffalo and a coyote...
...but I was most excited by this guy...
While I've had a few sightings of what I presumed to be Golden Eagles, I hadn't actually gotten a close enough look to confirm. Bill spotted this guy sitting atop an electric pole. He was REALLY big - it's hard to get a sense of how large he is in these pictures. I am awed by these birds and I was thrilled to finally get a chance to see one up close in the wild. It was quite a memorable experience.
We got into Wall and got gas at the Auto Livery :P and then headed to Wall Drug.
It's an interesting story... www.walldrug.com
After spending 3 hours in there nosing around and having breakfast, we finally headed back into the park.
We drove the park road and stopped at all the overlooks.
I spotted the Japanese guy that we had seen riding on Iron Mountain Road (Mt. Rushmore), on a section of Interstate 90, at the Wall Drug Store this morning, and now here at the overlook. We chatted with him - as much as we could. His English wasn't so great, but the gist of it is that he's traveling from Vancouver to New York by himself and camping the whole way. Wow.
I also spotted this little who was kind enough to wait for me to get the shot before hopping off...
The Boys were good and patiently waited for us at each stop...
By late afternoon, we made it to the visitor center. Naturally, we watched the video and bought the postcard and magnet. We did a short little hike that rewarded us with some nice views...
...and then we headed back to our campsite via Interior.
We let the Boys out to run...
(always watching where we walked...)
...and then watched as the sun left the valley behind for the night.
The stars were out in full force so we bundled up (okay, I "wore" my sleeping bag) and we sat on the picnic table gazing at the Milky Way. We saw some excellent meteors burn through the sky. The first one I saw was red - and it was seriously tight. The rest streaked white but there was one that burned through lower in the atmosphere causing it to look like it was just out of reach, and it left a bright and long burning tail of light in its wake. Beautiful! I love the stars out here.
Bill and I talked about how much East Coast "star gazing" sucks. No matter where you go on the coast, you will never be able to see the millions of stars that shine from horizon to horizon like you can out here. You can literally see them twinkle. The starry skies are one of the main reasons I love it out here so much. They're spectacular and I feel so small and insignificant when I gaze up into the shimmering sky. I sat and thought about Mom and about God's amazing Creation. It's a truly beautiful world. Being out here reminds me that one only needs to look past the man made stuff to see it.
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