Sunday, July 5, 2009

Generic Vacation Post

I am back from our road trip through Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. For more than a week it was just me, Ryan, and Sally in the car, touring around, seeing friends, fishing, hiking, and eating everything that wasn't poisonous and we didn't have to kill with our bare hands. It was really nice to be away, and I was surprised at how fast the time went by. Now, all I have to show for it is a new roll of belly fat, and pictures. Lots and lots of pictures. And most of them are pictures you all probably have in your vacation scrapbooks -- even if you have never been west of the Mississippi river. Because, let's face it, any vacation involving the great outdoors requires that certain photos be taken.

1. The Random Landscape Do you know where that picture was taken? Yeah, neither do I. I mean, I know it was taken somewhere in the Utah/Idaho/Wyoming/Montana area, but other than that I am stumped. I don't even know why I decided to take a picture of it. Was it the clouds? Or the color of the shadow on the mountain? Or the green valley below? It is a mystery for the ages.

2. The Distant Animal Shot I don't know if you can tell, but those are black bears in the picture above. At least, that's what the ranger told me they were. Oh, and there were about a million people pulled to the side of the road to see them, and only bears get that kind of attention in Yellowstone. Elk will actually give you five bucks and let you sit on their backs if you take their picture, but bears are like the Angelina Jolie of the wild. I took this picture zooming in as far as possible with my little point and shoot, and then ran back to the car to show Ryan. "Where are the bears?" he asked. I pointed to them. "The blobs?" Yes, the blobs.

3. The Wildflower Close Up Because every snarky bitch has her soft side, especially if her camera has a setting meant to be used exclusively for photographing flowers.

4. The Waterfall I am almost certain there is a federal law that all waterfalls, no matter how large or small, must be photographed by anyone who passes them with a camera. I don't know why. I mean, it's not like we don't all know what they look like, or what the water is doing. None of them are especially unique, yet the idea that it is WATER and it is FALLING makes use all go for our instamatics. It's like we can't believe rivers have to obey the rules of gravity.

5. The Landmark This is the north gate of Yellowstone. You know, just to prove that I was in the park, and not taking nature photos just in some field. THEY ARE ACTUAL NATIONAL TREASURES, NOT KNOCK OFFS!

Those are just five of the more than 2-hundred pictures I took during the trip. Do you want to see the rest? Yeah, me neither... Go look at your own.

5 comments:

LB @Wait, She Said What? said...

I have mountain pics from our trip to Vermont that I couldn't even tell you if I took them on the way there or on the way back.

At least we can keep our random and pointless vacation pics on the computer instead of in boxes around our house. We're being environmentally friendly and it wasn't even on purpose!

Anonymous said...

I love being in the Rockies! It's soooo beautiful!

Unknown said...

Great observations about human behavior in national parks. Did you happen to see the foolish, uninformed tourist who insisted on getting within arm's reach of the bison sleeping on the sidewalk leading to the gift shop? Or the family of 8 in flip flops trying to climb the rock formation with the big sign posted: Do Not Climb Rock Formation. Then one of them falls, breaks skin, starts bleeding and starts talking major law suit? Classics, all of them.

Joanna Jenkins said...

What beautiful sights, and bears too! Happy travels!

DKC said...

I think I can make out those bears if I squint a little.

And I'm a sucker for a waterfall shot. So nice work on that one!