First in Series Following a Very Long Journey to the Northwest~

 

Everything seems larger, when you head West. 
This barn, the electrical towers, all done with HDRish editing, just because I thought it would be fun ;)
 

The husby and me and our 2 Long Coat German Shepherds returned Tuesday evening, after a 17 day journey to the Northwest.
We traveled through 9 states and drove 6,344 miles.
We had made plans for this journey some 11 months before and many of our reservations were made a month in advance and many of those could not be canceled, without a charge following 30 days.
These next few weeks, I will be sharing this journey with you. 
We had much joy, even though we were locked out of the National Parks. 
I had my dream of the past 43 years, of going to the Hoh Rain Forest blocked at the gates, and the SHUTDOWN made me weep, for it was all so stupid!
All that we could do, is move forward each day and challenge ourselves to look for the beauty on this side of the gates, whish was not at all difficult to do...oh such beauty!
We saw immense beauty every day, we witnessed tragedy at it's peak for ranchers, which I will also share later.

 

 

Remember to double click on the image, to view a larger slide show of the images shared

I am linking up with Mary for:
"Mosaic Monday"

at: 

 http://dearlittleredhouse.blogspot.

 

and

 

 

I am linking up with Stewart at:

   Wild Bird Wednesday
        (http://paying-ready-attention-gallery.blogspot.com.au/)

  

 

 

 

We raced to get our expedited Passports in time for the journey, since we thought, well if we cannot get into Glacier, we can go to Waterton, Canada and the park there...along with getting all of the paperwork completed for traveling with the dogs there. 
It was a costly endeavor and even that venture failed, when we got into an awful snow storm, and headed back to our lodge. 
In the end, we said, just stay healthy, and we can plan for next year. 
I will never ask the husby to take us to Washington again though...for it was really far and too difficult a road for him. 
I guess that I shall never see the Hoh Rain Forest, yet I can continue to dream about what it might have been like to view it~

 

 

An Eastern Red-tailed Hawk, and the colours of Autumn as we head West, a bit different from the colours in Kentucky~
 

 

Two Eastern Red-tailed Hawks, almost seemed to be having a conversation~
 

 

The further West one drives, the closer the clouds seem to be to the earth...magnificent~
 

Common Grackles fly over us~
 

 

The grain fields were so amazing~
 

 

 

 

We had so far to go, around 500 miles per day, while on the road and I could not ask the husby to stop often. 
Thus said, most all of my photo images were taken through the passenger side, with window up, traveling from 70 to 75 mph. 
I am thankful to have a steady hand and excellent vision~
 White Pelicans over Iowa~

 

 

I love how many Raptors use different perches to hunt from. 
This one was on a Catholic church sign~
 

There is a special place that we stop every year, at the Iowa and South Dakota border. 
We love seeing the migrating Monarchs, but this year, even though we saw a few flying across the Interstates, they had already left the scene. 
They thrive on and near the Milkweed plants and so I used the beauty of their exploding pods to remember them by for this season~

OK and this was certainly a funny perch for this Red-tailed Hawk. 
 I said to the husby, wonder if this was a male, or a female on the OB/GYN sign...
Have a great day, a great week. 
We are so happy to be back home, just in time, for the freeze of the season to begin~