Onward

Guess where I am?  McDonalds!  Im in the playplace though, where there are plenty of noisy sub 4 foot tall children running about screaming and yelling.  And it’s McDonalds, so I feel kind of weird here.  Point being, Im in Grand Junction Colorado, and I’ve just left Colorado National Monument.  I only spent one night there, waking up very early to get in some good birding before the sun began to make hiking unbearable.  I really wish I could spend another night- the area is full of interesting wildlife:  lizards everywhere, Black-throated Gray Warblers, and dive bombing White-throated Swifts, plus incredible sculpted rock formations.  But I have to be in Flagstaff by the first of July.  I will be staying there for a few days with friends Tim and Kate from Ithaca.  Although Flagstaff is only a day’s drive from Grand Junction, and I could take my time lollygagging around here, there are some really neat national parks in Utah that I want to see.  The next 5 days will be a whirlwind trip of 5 national parks.  If all goes well I will see Arches, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon, and a bit of Grand Canyon National Parks.  It’s going to be exciting, but at the same time, disappointing that I can’t stay longer at each spot.  But it’s either spend lots of time at one place, or a little at all of them.  And a lot of this trip is just about seeing the country.  I gotta be a road warrior here.  Go big or go home.  I’ll sleep when I die.  Alright enough of that.  Point being, if I see it all now, then later in life, I’ll know what I want to come back to see and what I don’t care to see.  I have to get moving.  Don’t think there’s much internet between here and flagstaff, so I’ll check back in when I can.

Early morning birding in Colorado NM

Monument Valley, Colorado NM