Days 15 - 18 - It's Willamette, Dammit!

The "a" in Willamette is flat, making it easy for this Jersey boy to remember. Ar-y-gun is a bit more difficult, but we have been trying. We arrived in Salem and checked into the downtown Grand Hotel, which offers so much more for the same price as the typical highway motel. Our first morning, we walked around the city for awhile, noting in particular how unlike North Carolina there were no demonstrations going on at the State Capitol and that the legislature was working together on a "grand bargain" budget deal.

Oregon State Capitol in Salem

Our daughter Melissa and son-in-law David drove down from Seattle to join us for a tour of the Willamette Valley. With record heat out here hitting 90, we made it a point to get in some early birding at a wetlands on the edge of Corvallis. Several Wrentits added to Phil's life list, and the Marsh Wrens put on a show.

Marsh Wren

Corvallis is a university town and probably the "greenest" city in America. The city's rose garden was in full bloom, too. This is pinot noir country, and we stopped for some tasting and a relaxed lunch at Left Coast Cellars north of Corvallis. Most of the wineries create only small batches for local distribution, so we don't see these labels back home. The winery grounds also provided nice views of a Bullock's Oriole and an Acorn Woodpecker. Phil was happy.

Acorn Woodpecker

Left Coast Wine Tasters

Further north, we stopped at the small, bustling community of McMinnville to sample some more wine and gather fresh fruit at the farmer's market. Berries are in season! Yum.

It was interesting to compare Salem and Winston-Salem. Salem has about 150,000 people, thousands fewer than Winston. The downtown area is much larger, not even counting the Capitol grounds, and there is more vehicular traffic. We also noticed there were downtown department stores - Nordstrom, Penney's, Kohl's, Ross's - with free public parking garages. Could there be a connection, city council members? Lots of wide bikeways, greenways, parks, too. And, Christo's offered some of the best pizza we've tasted in a long time.

On Saturday morning, it was time to head to Seattle where we will spend some more time with the kids. However, we detoured to see the Pacific Ocean at the town of Seaside. Lewis and Clark ended their western journey here, so we had finally completed the Oregon Trail.

Lewis and Clark 2013

It was a crystal clear day, and the beach at low-tide was about a quarter-mile out to the surf. We walked in the sand as Phil tried to identify gulls - Westerns? Glaucous-winged? California?

Seaside Beach

Western Gull

We then headed north, crossing the Columbia River near its mouth at Astoria and taking a scenic route through southern Washington. Lots of birds in the Columbia River area, including several Bald Eagles. After a stop for a dockside lunch in Olympia, we passed a sunlit Mt. Rainier and reached hot Seattle by late afternoon.

Columbia River at Astoria

We will be in Seattle for five days, and it looks like lots of heat in a city with few air conditioners.

Days 13 and 14 - Along the Oregon Trail

It was June 12th, when we were at the start of the Oregon Trail in Independence, Missouri. After our detour through Utah and Arizona, we finally got back on the trail in Idaho after departing Salt Lake City early on June 23. We prepared for the trail ride by stopping at C. J.'s Restaurant in Elwood, Utah, for a great country breakfast, then headed north to Idaho. We traveled along I-84, which basically follows the trail route west to the Oregon border. Of course, we traveled at the 75 mph speed limit, so moved much faster than the 10 miles or so a day of the early pioneers. We also saw something the pioneers did not: lots of Idaho famous potato plants.

Idaho Famous Potatoes

The pioneers crossed the Snake River around Glenn's Ferry, Idaho. We actually crossed it several times, stopping to check out the river canyon at Twin Falls. In the photo, you may be able to see the falls in the background.

Snake River Canyon

We had been undecided about which route to take when we reached Oregon: follow I-84 along the Columbia River valley or cut directly west through the middle of the state. Because the Idaho leg took less time than expected and with birding opportunities in mind, we pushed directly west through the high desert of eastern Oregon. The road actually was quite scenic following the Malheur river around the hills and through the sagebrush. We stopped for the evening in the small town of Burns, but some desert rain deterred us from making a 30-mile detour to Malheur Wildlife Refuge.

The next day, the morning ride took us past three Golden Eagles and on to the mountain resort town of Sisters. Fellow Forsyth Auduboner Shelley Rutkin had recommended Sisters as an excellent birding area, so Phil had brought along a map of local bird hotspots. The sisters actually are three mountains in the area.

Two of the Three Sisters

The first location we checked was in the Deshutes National Forest, and the Oregon Birding Trail "promised" Northern Goshawk and White-headed Woodpecker. When a hawk flew in front of the car on a narrow dirt road, Phil was quite excited, but the bird turned out to be merely the Goshawk's smaller cousin, a Cooper's Hawk. And no woodpecker at this spot either, although he did find Green-tailed Towhee, Cassin's Vireo, Western Wood-Pewee and Black-capped Chickadee. Never give up if your a birder, though. As we drove into the second stop, a woodpecker flew to a tree just in front of the car. Sure enough it was a White-headed Woodpecker, which Phil could add to his life list.

White-headed Woodpecker

Phil also added some other trip birds at this site, including a male Calliope Hummingbird - smaller than an eastern Ruby-throated - and a Steller's Jay. There also were numerous California Quail walking on and across the road seemingly chasing their own head ornaments. One pair had at least 8 chicks that must have been out of the nest only a day or two. Can you find the one in the second photo?

California Quail

Where's the Quail Chick?

From Sisters, we literally drove downhill for 125 miles, stopping only briefly to check out the Detroit Lake Dam and Reservoir. An Osprey was patrolling the waters, but one of the local fisherman had beaten him to about a dozen Rainbow Trout. We thought about going home with him.

Detroit Lake

An hour later, we were in the state capital of Salem, where we will meet up with our daughter and son-in-law at the very nice Grand Hotel for a few days before heading to their home in Seattle.

Days 10 through 12 - Zion National Park and Salt Lake City

On June 20, we took a last look at Grand Canyon, filled our gas tank and traveled up to Zion National Park in southern Utah. Most of the drive was not through parkland, but it still had its share of picturesque buttes, mesas, mountains and stream valleys. What was really great about the route was coming in the east gate of Zion. We were greeted by white cliffs dotted with junipers and other small trees before we entered the main part of the park through the mile-long Mt. Carmel Tunnel. In the late 1920s, the tunnel was drilled and blasted through a large sandstone mountain, and here is what you see when you come out the other side.

Mt. Carmel Tunnel Is in Here

We checked in at our motel in Springdale near the south entrance then waited before the heat and the crowds to subside before returning to the park in the late afternoon. Over millions of years, the Virgin River has cut through the sandstone to form Zion Canyon. In summer months, much of the drive along the canyon floor is accessible only via a park shuttle. We were going to be here two more days, so we just took the shuttle to the end of the road to help plan our attack.

Upon reaching the Temple of Sinawava up-canyon, we still had enough daylight to take the easy Riverside Walk, listening to Yellow Warblers singing in the Cottonwoods and watching for Mule Deer. We also watched hikers returning from their hike up "The Narrows" along the riverbed-looked like fun although we never got to try it. We got back to Springdale in time for excellent Mexican food and beer at the Bit and Spur.

Virgin River Narrows

As at Arches and Grand Canyon, the strategy is to go early, take a break in mid-day and return later in the afternoon. On Friday, we took the shuttle to Zion Lodge and hiked the popular Emerald Pools Trail. This takes you up to a canyon a series of pools and waterfalls (dripping in summer). Lots of birds were singing, too, including more Yellow Warblers, Juniper Titmice (or is it titmouses?), Plumbeous Vireo and the western subspecies of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers.

Waterfall at Lower Emerald Pool

We made it to the middle pool but surrendered to the steep climb to the upper pool and returned down hill along another trail to the Grotto picnic area. We passed probably 200 people going up hill, so our timing could not have been better. During our lunch, we watched Black-headed Grosbeaks, Canyon Wrens and a Western Wood-Pewee move around the area.

Black-headed Grosbeak

Mormon settlers named the area Zion, and along with other early visitors gave biblical names to many of the peaks. The Court of Patriarchs seems quite apt, with three peaks being called Abraham Isaac and Jacob. At another stop, the face of a flat-topped Altar of Sacrifice is colored with the blood red of an iron compound.One final stop before our rest period was at the Human History Museum, but these juvenile Western Kingbirds stole the show.

Western Kingbird Infants

Laundry chores kept us from getting back to the park until Saturday morning, Before exploring another area of the park, we went up the canyon one more time, stopping at Weeping Rock to see the water coming out of the cliffs and to get a good look at the Great White Throne.

The Great White Throne

Most park visitors never take the Kolob Reservoir Road up to Lava Point. The road is west of the canyon and goes in and out of the park as it climbs uphill.  Lava Point is quite different from the sandstone rock canyon. It is a lava-rock plateau nearly 8000 feet above sea level and offers a view of the back side of the sandstone peaks of Zion Canyon. The habitat also is quite different, with berry bushes and other shrubby plants enclosed by tall Ponderosa Pines. This proved to be one of the birdiest places on our trip so far, with Audubon's and Black-throated Gray Warblers, Green-tailed Towhees, Townsend's Solitaires and several other species. We continued on to the reservoir, where we watched a couple of Eared Grebes in their breeding plumage of cinnamon and black.

Green-tailed Towhee

The evening was spent relaxing with some local brews and listening to some good live music by an odd mix of musicians - grungy looking guitar player, nicely dressed vocalist and a music student dressed who warmed up with a little Tchaikovsky. Hey, son Andy, remind you of anyone?

Sunday morning, we headed toward Salt Lake City to visit with our niece Elizabeth and her family. Fortunately, another seldom-visited part of Zion was on the way. Just off of I-15 is Kolob Canyon. Just when you think you have seen everything the park has to offer, you find something else just as beautiful.

Kolob Canyon

Elizabeth is a daughter of Mary's brother Tom, and she lives in Salt Lake with her husband Jared Walters and their children, Sophie and Natalie. Because of the distance from our east coast home, we had not seen them for nine years when Sophie was a baby and long before Natalie was born. As we were getting to know Natalie a little bit, there was a knock at the door and Elizabeth's brother Edwin entered. What a treat to get Edwin, too, who lives nearby outside of Provo. We had not seen him since 1996. Needless to say, he was not quite as we remembered him, reminding us of his father in younger days. Much thanks to the two girls for giving up their room to give us a place to crash.

 Mary with Edwin and Elizabeth

Mary, Elizabeth and Natalie

Tomorrow: along the Oregon Trail.

Days 8 and 9 - Grand Canyon Sweet

What an experience to wake up in the morning to the sound of Brewer's Blackbirds outside our window, step out and look at one of the wonders of the natural world less than a hundred feet away! Incidentally, the Brewer's are the "trash" birds of Grand Canyon Village. The weather was hot and breezy, but the skies were cloudless and that made for great viewing along the Canyon's South Rim.

Grand Morning

Our strategy was to do our hiking early. Then we would find some shade or maybe even take a nap during the heat of the afternoon, before venturing out again around 4 p.m. Note from Mary: who do you think took a nap; it wasn't me. The free shuttle system also was a great way to get around from vista to vista when we started to drag a bit.

For our first morning, we chose to walk along the south rim from Bright Angel Lodge west to Maricopa Point. That was only about 3 miles total out and back, but at our birding pace the easy walk along a paved trail took most of the morning. Since you already have seen a couple of canyon views, here are a couple of photos of other things we saw. Jealous yet?

California Condor

 Western Tanager

Back near our starting point, we checked out the Colter-designed studio of photogaphers Emery and Ellsworth Kolb. Ellsworth was quite a daredevil, and an exhibit included 100-year-old video of their canyon antics. After a break, a ranger led us on a short walk and shared some of the history about the Native Americans of the area. In late afternoon, we took the shuttle to Hermit's Rest, about 6.5 miles west of Maricopa Point, walked back a mile to the next overlook and then returned via shuttle to the village for dinner.

Kolb Studio

These old folks were not up to walking to the floor of the canyon. It is a day down and a day back, anyway. However, we wanted a taste of going below the rim, so we set out down the Bright Angel Trail, which does go all the way down to a green oasis called Indian Garden and the Colorado River. Our goal was to make it the first mile to the second of two tunnels along the path, and we are happy to report that we achieved that goal and made it back up to the top. Along the way, we kept thinking of Grofe's "Grand Canyon Suite" and the children's book, Brighty of the Grand Canyon.

Down Bright Angel Trail

Grand Canyon Suite - Live

We still had some of the relatively cool morning remaining, so we hopped on the shuttle again - this time headed east. We visited several more overlooks that gave us views of the South Kaibob trail below the rim and the Colorado River below. The antics of young people on the edge of the cliffs disturbed us quite a bit, though.

Colorado River Bridge near Phantom Ranch

We also stopped at the geology museum, but we still find the ages of canyon formation too complex to really get a handle on it.  An outstanding meal with a view at the Bright Angel Lodge Arizona Room capped another extraordinary day.

Tomorrow its on to the third of our southwest trio of parks - Zion.

Day 7 - The Navajo Nation

Most of today was spent traveling from Moab, Utah to the Grand Canyon. After the rocks of Arches, we traveled south on U.S. 191 and discovered that the southeast corner of Utah was suprisingly verdant. Not North Carolina mind you, but we saw crops and actual grass that livestock could eat. This rapidly changed, however, when we reached the Navajo Reservation in Arizona. We made a wise decision to ignore our GPS and take one of those dotted scenic roads, which took us through the town of Mexican Hat and Monument Valley. If you are a fan of Tony Hillerman novels, you will be familiar with this area and its culture.

The Mexican Hat

Monument Valley has a Navajo welcome center, craft shops and a tribal park. In the 1930s, a local white couple took photos of the valley to Hollywood and sold director John Ford  on the area as a film location. "Stagecoach" in 1939 was the first of several Ford westerns to be filmed here. Later movies, such as "Thelma and Louise" also were partly filmed here. I am sure you can recall stagecoaches and outlaws riding past a monument like this:

John Wayne Must Be Here Somewhere

We found some nice pottery and earrings in the stores and headed through the rest of the valley. Once the monuments faded away, it was a pretty hot and dull drive until we reached the eastern end of Grand Canyon National Park at Desert View. There we had our first look at the big hole in the ground and appreciated the watchtower that architect Mary Colter designed for the Santa Fe Railroad. A Peregrine Falcon flyby was a nice touch. We need to learn more about Mary. She innovatively designed several of the buildings in the park and certainly was a woman ahead of her time more than 100 years ago.

Desert View Watchtower

Some of Phil's recent reading was apropos of this trip. Of course, Down the Unknown had been picked as background reading, as it tells the story of John Wesley Powell's 1869 journey down the Colorado and through the canyon. It was an amazing adventure, largely because they had no idea what they were doing and still most of them survived. The connection of a Theodore Roosevelt biography was a surprise, though. It turns out that a friend and officer who died at San Juan Hill was Bucky O'Neill, and we are staying in his Bucky Lodge that is part of the Bright Angel Lodge.

No photo of the falcon, so you birders will have to settle for this Monument Valley Say's Phoebe:

Say's Phoebe

Today we saw some of the South Rim at the east end and in the village. Over the next two days, we will explore as much as we can, no doubt.

Day 6 - Arches National Park

Wow! This place is unbelievable. The orange arches are far better than McD's golden ones. It is difficult to get a grasp of the geology involved. We learned that 29 inland sea incursions left a huge bed of salt, which creates an unstable bed for the rock above. This causes shifting, that combined with wind and water, wears away the sandstone to create these magnificent formations.

 Arches National Park

We started our tour of the park early in the morning, beginning with a nice walk in the cool shade of the Park Avenue section, so named because it reminded someone of a city skyline. There are not actually any arches in this section, but the massive red and orange walls surrounding a small canyon are awesome in the morning light. For fellow birders, we enjoyed watching several Rock Wrens hopping about on the rocks and a pair of Prairie Falcons soaring along the face of one of the buttes.

Park Avenue

A stop at the Courthouse section revealed the first, albeit small, arch and an intriguing formation called the Three Gossips. They could just as easily be three wise men for religious folks or three witches for lovers of The Scottish Play.

The Three Gossips

Down the road, we reached Balanced Rock and close by the Windows section of the park. The latter has two large arches, plus a third called Turret Arch. Then it was on to Delicate Arch, which is the picture on Utah license plates. It is a long walk up to the arch and the trailhead parking lot was full, so we settled for a more distant but still wonderful view. At this point, it was getting hot, so after a picnic lunch, we headed back to our motel and the swimming pool.

Delicate Arch

After some Father's Day brews at a Moab microbrewery, we headed out to the park again in the relative cool of the evening. One of the least publicized arches turned out to be one of the best. Sand Dune arch is hidden in the middle of larger rock formations, and you have to walk through a narrow passage of red sand to get there. It was like walking into Jordan's Petra - remember Indiana Jones?

Sand Dune Arch

About an hour before dusk, we finally made it out to Devil's Garden and hiked out to Landscape Arch. This arch showed the constant change that goes on here, when a huge section fell from it in 1992. It is still amazing, as was the setting sun streaming through another nearby arch. As we headed back to the parking area, this Black-throated Sparrow offered a nice pose.

Black-throated Sparrow

With little light pollution, we anticipated that the stargazing opportunities would be outstanding. It took a long time for the sky to get dark - after 10 p.m.  - but the wait was worthwhile.

Arches Sunset

Tired after a long day, we headed back to Moab to rest up for our journey to the Grand Canyon. Could that be any better than Arches? Happy Father's Day to me.

Day 5 - Over the Mountains, Through the Desert

Today was pretty much an in-between travel day, as it took us most of the day to travel from Denver to Moab, Utah, just outside Arches National Park. Unlike Kansas and Colorado's front range, however, today's scenery was extraordinary and made picture perfect by a clear blue sky. No wonder that it took about 8.5 hours to make the 5.5-hour drive.

Our little Honda made it up the steep Rocky Mountain stretches of I-70, mostly in the slow lane, as we passed Breckenridge, Aspen and several of the other ski resorts. We took a pause to breathe in the vista of Dillon Reservoir near Silverthorne.

Phil at Silverthorne

Then we plunged downhill on the west side of the steepest mountains to Glenwood Canyon. If you Carolinians  are impressed by the Linville Viaduct on the Blue Ridge Parkway, you need to check out the interstate highway through Glenwood. It truly is an engineering marvel, and the scenery is quite something, too. Unfortunately, a Western Tanager, Red-shafted Northern Flicker and Plumbeous Vireo declined to get close enough for photos, but the first one certainly is a "wow" bird!

Glenwood Canyon

West of the canyon, the geography is high desert. We ate lunch and ran a couple of errands in Grand Junction. This is supposed to be a great retirement destination, but no thanks. We really did not see much here except mall sprawl. However, the roadside scenery was beautiful, complete with a Bald Eagle perched along the Colorado River and a statuesque Pronghorn Antelope. We finally made it to Utah for our third new life state, along with Missouri and Kansas.

 Welcome to Utah!

We arrived in Moab in time for a late afternoon swim at the motel, and then enjoyed a delicious dinner at the hilltop Sunset Grill thanks to our daughter Melissa's spot-on recommendation. Great trout and prime rib, plus a view of the red-rocked La Sal plateau. The view set the stage for our tour through Arches National Park in the morning.

Day 4 - Cheyenne Bottoms to Denver

We spent our third night in Hays, home of Fort Hays State University in central Kansas. Can't say there is much else there; it's flat and dry, but as one local told us, "at least you can spot the tornadoes coming from a long way." Early the next morning we backtracked through Russell, home of Bob Dole the Viagra pitchman, then 30 miles south to Cheyenne Bottoms.

Cheyenne Bottoms

The Bottoms is a natural depression that creates a wet habitat for migratory waterfowl along the central flyway during spring. Water levels are managed for hunters and wildlife viewers, but drought for the past two years has left little water remaining at this time of year. The only waterfowl we saw were two male Mallards and a number of Killdeer. At the west entrance to the refuge, we were greeted in song by a Western Kingbird and some sex-crazed Killdeer.

Western Kingbird

Just a few yards down the road, we heard Common Yellowthroats and Red-winged Blackbirds singing, then a call new to us. However, it was easy to recognize the "dck-sis-sis" as the voice of a Dicksissel. After seeing only one ever, we soon saw a couple of dozen during the drive. What a beautiful bird with rust on the wings and face markings of gray and yellow.

Dicksissel

At the Kansas Wetland Education Center, a ranger pointed us to a nearby Prairie Dog town. The little mammals were cute, but our real target was a Burrowing Owl, and sure enough one was sitting in the middle of the village. This was a new U.S. bird for Phil, although not for Mary who had seen one in Florida years ago. With conditions so dry, we did not see a lot of species, but the drive still had some nice rewards.

It was a long, hot drive to our next destination: Denver, Colorado. How the pioneers endured it on foot for weeks is beyond us. This Eastern Meadowlark gave us some relief at a rest area, however. I thought it was a Western, since it was in Colorado outside out of Sibley's summer range. The
white malar stripe behind the lower bill indicates otherwise.

Eastern Meadowlark

In Denver, it was great to catch up with our nephew Dan and his wife Rebecca. Their 1910 home is charming and the pop out from the back opened up the beautiful kitchen and dining room so an extra room could be added at the back. We even loved the cute garage! The neighborhood charms, as well, with a park only moments from their front door.

Mary with Dan Amidon

Rebecca rules the kitchen and produced a lovely meal. So lucky for us that their trip East to PA and NJ with the Amidon-Willson crew was scheduled to occur the next day. The last visit with these two was at their wedding in Pittsburgh in May of 2009. Wish we could have visited longer but, new adventures ahead!

Tomorrow, its off to the desert.