Farewell Estes Park ,CO. onto Wheatland,WY

Welcome to Timber Life! We are about to set off on another early morning to get us Road Warriors headed in the right direction ; darkness still encircled us as I made my way to the hotel office to checkout,even awakening the managers to leave our key at 6:15. We had decided that waiting to see if the fog conditions would improve over the mountains in the Rocky Mountain National Park wouldn't be a benefit to us.

Our route for the morning took us back through Big Thompson Canyon to Loveland, heading up North on rt.287 to Wheatland,WY.

As you can see my camera eyes were all over the place. I had to pick and choose which images I would share today.I know, that's everyday! 😊

There were groups and single Pronghorn Antelope in the mountainous and valley terrains along the road. Too many to count in a hurry!

We saw some horse riders getting prepared to do some back-country riding and I can only speculate if they would be checking grazing cattle or sheep as the day was wet and cold.

Our first encounter with Buffalo on this trip was on a hillside at the Sybille Wildlife Research Center, that provided holding pens close to the Visitor Center for viewing of various types of the indigenous species. We passed by our opportunity to stop but I managed to get a series of shots with the Buffalo as the subjects.

The main picture in this collage is the Jesus Rocks! Rock we found. I believe it possibly had become full of graffiti that carried negative messages so someone wanted to change the words and thoughts. I Love the message myself. I did a little more editing on the rock to help take off some telephone numbers that really don't need to be advertised.

I did promise pictures of Goshen Hole,WY in one of my last posts. Guess we'll get there soon!

In the mean time...Have a Great Day!

Scheel's Rapid City, SD

Corey and I  rambled around the Scheel's store for a few minutes to get us out of the car to look over their 8 year old location at 1225 Eglin St.,Rapid City , SD.  Please take note of the bronze statues placed around the entrance of the building - made by Mark Lundeen of Loveland,CO.

In September 2007, the same time we were looking over Cabela's new building site, we discovered Scheel's had decided to relocate away from Rushmore Mall, opening their new store in 2009. In 2014 Scheel's  added another addition, bringing the total square footage to 118,000 -  giving them ample space to increase their sportsman's supply inventory once again.

During our visit I asked a sales associate about the difference between Mountain Lion paw prints and Bears. He said "what do you want to know?" He had first hand experience with Mountain Lions since they spend a lot of time in his front yard. He went onto explain the toe structure and the claw differences. I wish I  could have seen some pictures of paw prints associated with the Mountain Lions  he spoke about inhabiting the Black Hills area.

We visit our local Scheel's in West Des Moines on occasion to keep us tuned in to the outdoors and the hearing amplifiers used to catch all of nature's little nuances.

If you're ever out to Rapid City and need some hunting or fishing equipment there are two wonderful stores not far apart to get you setup.

Here's wishing you... Have a Great Day!

(Just a note...I'm posting some events out of order in case you should wonder why dates or events seem mixed-up)

Cabela's Rapid City,South Dakota

What a change I was able to see in the building site from September 30,2007 until we made it back to check out the finished structure on September 29,2017.

It was an exciting visit to see familiar offerings for the Waterfowl Hunting season...The Archery Section, Trail Camera's,  and a huge  Outfitter Walled Tent by Montana with stove, making an adrenaline rush happen for me. I'm really not a camper but given a bed in a tent that looks almost like a small house...Why not give it a try?!?

After we checked into a few of the displays on our own, we spoke to a Sales Associate who had family ties in our home state. We spoke at length about where to possibly find some Mountain Goats and Sheep to photograph the next day, since we were beginning to weary from the early call of the Buffalo Roundup. We got an idea where we might look in the morning, then Corey and I took off to visit a few more sections of the store before heading out.

We will not hesitate to go wander the aisles of the Rapid City Cabela's when we get back in the Hills.

Here's wishing you...Have a Great Day! 

Smiling Angels

 Last Sunday we had an update from a year ago Christmas. Time marches on and we have changed slightly. Glory Be to God we had another day together to get a picture taken!

There are things that remain unchanged and unshakable... Speaking in general that would be that the Love of Jesus Christ does rain down on us even when our daily challenges might become overwhelming.

                                               Romans 8:31-39 (NKJV) 
                                                       
                                                           God’s Everlasting Love 


31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 
32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?
 33 Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.
 34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. 
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 
36 As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”[a]  
37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 
38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 
39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We send the Love of Jesus Christ that he has shared with us...Have a Blessed Day in the Lord!

Retro Blogpost - Birthday Wishes for a Blog Friend

Birthday Wishes for a Blog Friend

This is a repost from January 27,2010... However, the message remains the same.

Today, I want to send special Birthday Wishes to a Blog Friend, Marian Love Phillips, known to many of us from over at Marian's Hunting Stories, etc., etc., etc.

In the picture above she was posing with the car I won in a give-away over at the Deer Camp Blog last July.

My wish for her today is to Celebrate many more years in the great outdoors .... a Dixie Lady Hunter.

Marian's drive to experience life in the great outdoors hasn't changed in all these years. Here's wishing you a very Happy Birthday my Mississippi blogging friend from an Iowa blogging friend...

Rocky Mountain National Park Elk Rut

Corey and I drove by where we stayed on our June vacation 2015 ,as we turned the corner onto the street we came across our first encounter with an Elk for the evening. He looked a bit bedraggled with his drapery of grass entangled in the  malformation of his antler. It was without a doubt he was content to graze on his own since  no others were sighted with-in visible range.

Getting beyond all the shops of downtown ,following HWY 34 just outside of town, we came upon a mountain meadow filled with groups of Elk Bulls,Cows and calves from the past season. We pulled off the road to catch glimpses between parked or passing cars of the roaming Bull Elk pictured on the left-hand of the collage,hearing for the first time up close and personal a bugling .

We were privileged to once again capture a collared Cow lazily grazing among the rest of the herd. My understanding of the purpose of the collar is to keep track of travel patterns, age and where her collaring originated. 

As we approached the Rocky Mountain National Park the blinking signs notified tourists that the Park was only open to the 12 mile point due to poor visibility on the mountains. So, we didn't get to go on into the park since we would have still had to pay the entrance fee of $20 and daylight was fading fast. 

On our reverse trip to Estes Park we caught two young Bulls feeding alone. A little further back towards town, we came across a different large Bull Elk ,which is featured in the middle of the collage and found in the middle of the herd on the outer right top picture. What was awesome was the echoing of bugles from so many parts of the hills and meadows in our travel path. The group just above, to our right,didn't come to my attention until I tried focusing on a far bugle.

I know that I've talked about lodging before, as in renting a room but there are several camping areas available for either campers or mixed sites including tents; as well as vacation homes and Bed&Breakfast accommodations.

By the time daylight was done we were ready to retire back to the Twin Owl Motor Lodge since our day had begun so many hours and miles ago. 

We documented our stay...

Time to eat supper and prepare to head off to Goshen Hole,Wyoming. Another long day on the road.

I hope you enjoyed our pictures and blogpost for today.

Here's wishing you Have a Great Day!

Our Evening at Estes Park - Part Three

These are just a few shops and attractions that caught my eye as we passed into and out of downtown Estes Park on our way to the Rocky Mountain National Park.

I was particularly drawn to the name of the restaurant pictured in the upper left hand corner, The Hunters Chop House.  They have both a Lunch Menu and a Dinner Menu. We didn't stop but definitely with so many fine dining choices throughout the city this would be included in a list of suggestions.

As we wound our way back to our night's lodging , seeing the floral displays I wondered what building we were about to pass...I truly appreciate flower plantings because they always seem to brighten up with color and soften straight lines. It came to our attention we were looking at the Estes Park Visitor Center Parking Ramp designed by Architect Michael Koch.

There wasn't enough time to see everything due to our late afternoon arrival. However, the most important part of our journey to this city was yet to be experienced and will be apart of the next blogpost, that being the Elk Rut taking place beyond the City Limits. I will share some pictures of the Elk bulls and cows that became quite the attraction to many others seeking the same thrill as Corey and myself.

Until the next blogpost...Have a Great Day!