Summer Escapades

I'll start off with our little trip to Balanced Rock and Shoshone Falls.  

Balanced Rock is located south of Buhl in the Salmon Falls Creek Canyon, near Twin Falls.  This wonder of nature stands over 48 feet tall and weighs 40 tons.  The rock was carved out by the wind and balances on a base that is only 3 feet by 17 inches.  Isn't nature amazing?

Shoshone Falls is also just outside of Twin Falls and is known as the Niagara of the West.  At 212 feet, the falls are actually taller than Niagara.  They are best viewed during the spring before irrigation diversion of the Snake River significantly diminishes water flow over the falls.  We didn't get to see them at peak flow, but they were still amazing to behold. 

On a different trip this summer, we camped at Lower Mesa Falls.  We visited Mesa Falls last year, but the power of these waterfalls never fails to impress me.

On our way back home through Island Park, we took a small hike to Sheep Falls.  I was able to get a unsuspecting bystander to take a picture of the whole family (me included--I don't tend to make it in the photos too often).  I just love waterfalls.  They are awesome!

This is a large field of wild flowers just off the main highway through Island Park.  When we were dating, Jason brought me to this awesome field and we hung out here for a while (long enough for him to work up the guts to bust out, for the first time, the three big words).  We hadn't been able to find the field again until just this year...it's hard to find when it's not in bloom.

Our next trip was back to Yellowstone for a quick up and back in one day.  Well, we picked the right day because we got to see all kinds of wildlife that most Yellowstone goers never get to see.  For example, bears....we saw a black bear from quite a distance away.  And this little grizzly, you see below, was less than 100 yards away from me at one point (Luckily, I had the road and a whole string of cars between us).  The adrenaline was surely flowing when he looked right up at me to pose for his photo shoot.

This guy was way up on the side of a cliff just past Mammoth Hot Springs that ran practically straight up.  I really have no idea how animals with hooves can climb rocks like that...you'd be hard pressed to get me to attempt to scale that rock wall.  Crazy.

There's a bald eagle nesting area not too far from the west entrance.  You're not supposed to stop your car or get out, so I caught this one out the car window as we drove by.  I don't think I'll ever tire of looking for and taking pictures of these majestic birds.  They are truly exceptional.