Taking the Bad With the Good~

I am nearing the end of my vacation holiday journey made in September shares.  

I have one more to do next week and then it is on to other things.  

Thank you so much for those of you who have enjoyed the photographs these past few weeks, as well as the tales.  

I have a big tale this week too.  

A tale with a huge sigh and healthy price tag at the end of it!!!

Come along and let me tell you how this all came about~

Remember to double click on the first image, to view a larger slide show presentation after you have read the narratives~

I will be linking up with Judith for:

www.lavendercottagegardening.com

Mosaic Monday

&

Stewart for:

   http://paying-ready-attention-gallery.blogspot.com.au/

Wild Bird Wednesday

Old relics, just like me;) 

The caboose sits outside a museum in Missoula, Montana.  

I would imagine that what I am sharing below is some kind of old jail and stockade, and possibly a fort of some sort.

All were taken from the Interstate and there were no identifying signs anywhere~

As we were enjoying our drive East, we had arrived near Crow country near the Montana and Wyoming borders, when the husby saw this Golden Eagle in the middle of the median, eating carrion.  

We drove until we could get turned back around, as we wanted to try and get the Eagle to leave this very dangerous area.  

Where the bird was, it was only about 6' wide.

It took a bit of driving to get this done, but our mission was accomplished and it was daunting too.  

As the Eagle tried to gain flight from the tight area, diesel trucks and other vehicles were much too close, to the birds wingspan. 

 It did make it to safety though and the meal it left was now covered as well~

The mountains and fields, so majestic~

This Great Pyrenees had made it to an Interstate exit, slowed down and actually crossed the 4 lanes to get to the sheep in it's care across on the other side~

Pronghorn Antelopes doing their best to avoid the hunters after them~

There is just something intriguing to me, when I see the old ranching paths...it makes my mind wander on so many different levels~

I am very grateful that we had safe travels and that I had gotten many wonderful photographic memories to bring home and to share.  

However, we all know the feeling...just waiting for that National Geographic moment and this was my big chance...or so I thought. 

A Golden Eagle passed right in front of our car in Crow Indian country and Bill pulled over and I was quite excited!!!

Once I was out of the car, I simply stood in awe of what I was witnessing.  

A Golden Eagle soaring in the same current as a Red-tailed Hawk.  

It was absolutely amazing to observe this odd friendship, or at least acquaintances flying together, sometimes with bellies up and talons on the ready, just in case.

With camera in hand, I was clicking off the images in rapid shooting mode and as the two birds drifted closer and closer, I could just tell these were about to be my big ones.

I said to the husby can you see them, they are moving towards us.  

I just kept shooting the images, and actually got in the car before they were finished with their show, and we had a long way to go.

Once in the car, I looked at the viewfinder to see the images.  

Nothing, there was NOTHING there.  

All very bright white!!!

Going backwards 42 all bright white blanks and then I had 77 nice shots, but far in the distance...SIGH !

I know my camera shoppe number by heart and rang them up.  

They were clueless as to what had happened.

Once we returned home, I took the camera in and they felt the shutter might be ready to break.  

The 42  HUGE SIGH!!! images that were white had crazy numbers going all over the place.

The OVEREXPOSED images could not be recovered...

SO I got a new camera...a Nikon D 7000.  

Costly but working on learning all that it does.

The clerks decided to run the special card to see how many images I had taken with my Nikon D-90 the past going on 4 1/2 years.

The camera is rated for 100,000!

I had taken 460,906 images!

I was due a new camera~

In South Dakota, the roads turn a mauve pink~

We had no time left to stop at the Badlands National Park.  

I took these images as we drove past the entrance~

The land was changing quickly now.  

Fields of grain looked so beautiful~

Ha ha the truck above was hauling hay and a bale must have been unbound as the hay began to get all over the road and cars.  

Once we arrived home a couple of days later, the husby would find remnants in the car engine area~

Sunflowers grow in many areas of the Dakotas and surrounding states~

 Monarchs follow the same pathway, for hundreds of generations~

Hey moo cow, whatcha doing ;)

Power the old with the new, made fun for you, and one very muddy car~

Heading Home Through Wyoming and South Dakota~

This will be my final entry from our vacation journey last month, and I must admit, I am very thankful that we went, that we stayed with the plan, even with government Shutdown...
We had a wonderful time, even with all of the many obstacles and saw great beauty everywhere that we went. 
Thank you each and everyone, who has stuck this out with me, for I know these have been long shares, but I just had so much I wanted to show you.
I am just guessing that the birds flying above are possibly more of the White-winged Scoters, but I am fine with being corrected~

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/)
 

I will also be linking up with Sylvia at:

SkyWatch Friday

 

I invite you to check out more 'Skywatch Friday' posts from around the world at:

 

http://skyley.blogspot.com/

 

 

We drove from Southeastern Montana down into Wyoming and then South Dakota, on our last big leg, before returning home.

There were large Raptor nests like this everywhere out West...some are manmade, some are natural and some are built on platforms that man has placed in certain places~

 

 

Me with my puppy, oh my not such a puppy any longer. 
Silveit already weighs more than Meaka~
 

 

 

 

 

The land, the scenes everywhere you looked, were just stunning~
 

 

This was really sudden, taken through the closed car window and very far away, and yet...there it was a Golden Eagle. 
I had not seen any the entire journey, but when I saw this one, I knew what it was right away~
 

Blackbirds raiding plowed fields~
 

 

 

The land is so wide open, so pure in many ways...so much untouched by man's hand and I loved the sky touching earth feel that we got.
Some of the old homesteads and barns were relics and we also saw signs of other kinds of relics too, like this old caboose~
 

The sky in Wyoming just minutes before sunset and a small herd of Mule Deer, bidding us farewell, before we turned in for the evening~
 

 

Back in South Dakota again...and it was not as cold as when we had come through only 3 weeks before~

More Western Red-tailed Hawks along our route home...soon we would cross over into Eastern Red-tailed Hawk country~

I found the fields of spent Sunflowers absolutely glorious...the textures that I was able to capture, reminded me of beautiful Herringbone/Harris tweed~

 

 

We have now crossed over into Eastern Red-tailed Hawk country and that means we are closer to being home~

 

 

 

 

Fields of Indian Corn, reminded me of my beloved mother who always received a fresh bouquet from her cousin once a year~

 

Eastern Juvenile Red-tailed Hawk~

 

 

I have edited this Classic Diner with a touch of HDRish and it just seemed to shout out to me~

 

 

 

Loved this old church building and also edited a touch of HDR to it as well...

just for the fun of it~

 

 

This single image below...I have no idea why...but I just really liked it~

 

 

 

This barn was actually photographed in Iowa and that meant we had only 3 more states to cross through before being home again.

Thank you again for coming along~