A Nice Bookend

I started my pictures with the elk in Gaylord, so I figured it would be nice to end my pictures with the elk in Gaylord.

 They were a little more active as we were returning home.  It was a little cooler though.  It seemed like the herd passed as we were there.

 One of the male elks.  Unfortunately, this was the best picture that I could get of him.

Another elk.

Revisiting the Gaylord Elk Park

So I'm finally getting around to posting my pictures from last week.  It is pretty difficult to try to post them from the road.  It is also pretty difficult to get to them after a vacation especially since I tend to take many pictures.  So enjoy the pictures while I catch you up.

 So my dad and I decided to stop at the elk park in Gaylord.  He'd never seen it before and I was hoping that I could get some better pictures than last time.  I was about ready to give up when I saw this guy catching some shade under a tree.  Unfortunately, the lighting wasn't the greatest for me.

 Anyway, it was a pretty hot day, so the animals weren't particularly active but I do like this shot.

One more before moving on.

A Stop at the Elk Park in Gaylord

Yesterday, we decided to head up north.  There was a chance that we could see the Northern Lights.  Since I never saw them since I was a kid and it was a nice enough day, we decided to head up north.

 We decided that Mackinaw City would be a good destination.  And since it was on the way, I decided to stop in Gaylord.

 There is an elk viewing park in Gaylord and it looked pretty cool.  I'm not sure how many total they had, but it seemed like there was enough.

 They even had a number of young elk.

 And a few older ones.

 Although, I'm not sure about elk stuff.

 A few females as well.

 I kind of wish this one was wandering around.

 the younger ones looked pretty cool.

I watched this one for a bit until we decided it was time to continue on our way.  As I was watching these guys, I tried to look up where I might be able to see them in the wild.  There is a State Forest about 20 miles to the north east of Gaylord that is called Pigeon River State Forest.  It was the site of the first re-introduction of elk to Michigan in 1918.  Unfortunately, many of the roads were not plowed, so I didn't get to see any elk there.  I will try again in the fall.

Visiting the Rocky Mountain National Park Amongst Other Things

So I went out to Colorado to visit a supplier that I've visited before but I was traveling with someone from our parent company.  We were supposed to get our stuff done on Thursday which would have given us some time to sightsee on Friday before our plane left.  As it turned out, we could only do one thing on Thursday and had to go back to the supplier on Friday to finish things up.

The weather was nice on Thursday, so it sort of worked out for us.  We finished up what we could on Thursday morning and went to visit another vendor that was in the area.  This gave us the rest of the afternoon to wander over to Rocky Mountain National Park.  He's never been there before.

 This is looking out behind the supplier we went to visit.  I think you can see Wyoming off in the distance.

 They had some pretty neat flowering trees.

 After visiting the other supplier, I ended up heading over to the Rocky Mountain National Park.  The drive over there from the part of Colorado we were staying in was pretty nice.  Since  I rarely get to see mountains, I had to take pictures.

 One of the flowers along side the road.

 Looking down the road we were on.

 A stream running alongside the road.

 I really need to work on getting pictures of mountain peaks.  These unfortunately look washed out.  I was also shooting into the sun and that probably didn't help.

 I think this was pretty close to Estes Park.

 This was as we were entering Estes Park.

 This was from a park in Estes Park.  I think I was here before and probably took a picture of this mountain before.

 I know I took this one.

 Looking across a lake.

 Looking towards the Stanley Hotel.  They were doing some work on it, so I didn't want to get any closer pictures.

 I arrived at the park and saw this magpie posing for me.  It was pretty cool.

 It was also cool to get up close to some elk.  I think there are elk in Michigan but I don't think you can get this close to them.

 It was tough to get them while they weren't grazing.

 Another one.

 Another group of them.

 The scenery in the park is pretty cool.

 I just love the mountains.

 Another peak.

 Another group of elk.

 You better stop, look, what's that sound, everybody look what's going down.

 Trying another set of peaks.

 Looking down a valley.

 I tried to get this creature.

 Another magpie.

 I think this is one of the more prominent landmarks in the park.

 A pair of mule deer.

I was trying to get one to look at me.

I would love to go back here again.  I know there is much that I missed but I got a nice thumbnail tour.