We Went for a Drive

We went for a drive one day to see the progress on the Payson Temple and ended up by the mines up past Elberta.  We would have probably kept going till Delta but didn’t have enough gas and there weren’t any gas stations.  I think that area is really pretty and I liked these silos or whatever they are out in the middle of this big golden field. 

Payson Lakes

 

No, I haven’t posted on here in a very long time.  We went to the annual family reunion this week at Payson Lakes.  I didn’t take a lot of non-people photos, but here are some. 

Also, I had big plans to take some fabulous photos of the stars but didn’t pay attention to the fact that it was going to be almost the full moon and so the stars were scarce.  I was up at 3:30 the first night and the moon was down at that point, but it was SO COLD and I didn’t want to dig through my stuff to get it set up and I wasn’t dressed for the cold.  So, I’ll just have to wait to do that.  It isn’t like I don’t live close to areas where I can good, clear views of the night sky.

I did try the second night to get a picture of the full moon.  I haven’t really done it before and tried many settings with all of them failed results.  Yesterday when we got home, I found the best settings online and so last night took some just from my front yard around midnight (while some crazies were sleeping in their car in front of my house but I didn’t know they were in there until this morning…long story…)  There was a lot more light and I didn’t have anything to silhouette or frame it.  So, here are my two (one a huge fail) and one so-so decent, just moon shots.  Then I completely cheated and Photoshopped them together, including the enlarged size of the moon.  Hey.  So the fake image is what I had imagined when I started to shoot while camping.  I guess this is how we learn, right!  I may drive up – or out - somewhere tonight and try to get a better, for real, almost-a-full-moon shot. 

Flaming Gorge

 

These are from the 24th of July weekend.  I was taking a photography class and we were going to be able to get a free panorama print at the end.  I thought this would be cool.  But, as much as I liked them, I decided to do the panorama of Zachy with his equipment, Redefining Spina Bifida. 

After driving this road multiple times a day when we lived in the area, it because rather monotonous and I stopped appreciating the beauty surrounding us.  It is really pretty, and it’s sad to see how charred the area remains so many years after a major forest fire. 

These were are snapped while we were driving.

Jenny Lake Hike to Hidden Falls

This is in Grand Teton National Park.  We went on this small hike in June.  There was still snow in some places!

Here are some of the natural elements of our hike.  It is so pretty up there!

 

Spring and Rain

I snapped these after it rained a couple of weeks ago and I hadn’t planted my flowers yet.  Now the Lily is dead.  I really do kill flowers.  At least I got some pictures while it was still pretty!

This isn’t a great photo, but I loved how the water had pooled in this petunia and not fallen out like most of the others.

Fall Beauty at Mom and Dad’s

The leaves were beautiful when we went out for our pumpkin picking.  Here are a few pictures of their beautiful yard and some of the surrounding fields.  I love to be out in the open areas. 

  

 

 

 

 

    

 

Clouds and the Return of the Sunsets

We have had some amazing sunsets lately and with some of them, I’ve been lucky to catch them before they fade.  Some are probably contributed to fires and smoke, but some, the cloud formations and the lighting are just amazing.

Carlos knows the names of these clouds….I think they are called mountain waves and are actually very dangerous to fly in because of the high wind speeds which cause them to form these shapes.

 

This was the sun the evening of the Herriman Fire:

 

 

Wow.  And Lucky. That’s all I can say here:

 

 

And this was last night’s sunset.  I just wish I didn’t have the power lines in so many of the pictures!