This past week, I was the guest of Gina Ellis who organizes a quilting retreat every year. What a great location and a fabulous group of ladies. Thank you for all your suggestions regarding things to do, see, and places to go and how to get to them.
We arrived a day early and headed to Antelope Island to see the critters. Antelope Island sits in the middle of the Great Salt Lake and it is home to one of the largest bison herds together with a number of other animals, birds and wonderful views.
From the highest point on the island, Bison Point, looking west. Just give me an Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!
We saw many birds searching for a snack.
Got one.
We watched this hawk for 10 minutes.
Until he swooped down and was off with a mouse.
Some other birds we saw.
And, we did come across this fellow. Very appropriate seeing we were on Antelope Island.
A mule deer mom calling to her fawn.
I think she said “look to your right!”. It’s Wile E.
We saw him from a distance and an hour later, when driving back Joe said, “Let’s see if we can find that coyote.” I told him “it is probably on the other side of the island by now”. But, low and behold Joe slowed down and Wiley strolled out in front of us.
What an interesting face.
We call our little Eve “the coyote dog”, but seeing a real coyote makes me rethink her nick name.
And, of course, we saw the bison. There were 100s of little ones,
and some really big ones, too.
I bet he was thinking……that black SUV looks like a nice thing to butt. So, we drove away.
We stopped at Promontory Summit, Utah where the intercontinental railroad was joined in 1869.
Joe looked for the gold and silver spikes and was told that they were at Stanford University. Did not know why until I read the plaque and the owner of the Pacific Railroad was Leland Stanford who started and funded the university.
On our drive back to the Salt Lake City area, here were a few things we saw.
The Ogden Pass waterfall.
The Utah farming area
And, a sure sign spring had come to the high desert west.
Next week………….. Arches National Park.
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BOOK REVIEW
Thank you to my friend, Laura, for recommending this book. I really liked it. It held my interest from beginning to end. It is based on a true story that took place in the late 30’s. The book takes you back and forth between the 1930’s and present day. Apparently, there was a time when low income families who were at the hospital giving birth were asked to sign some paperwork, not knowing what they were signing. The paperwork they signed granted our government the authority to take their children and place them for adoption. This story follows one such family and made me cringe to find out what these poor children and parents went through.