Last Wyoming Sunset

Spending the summer in Wyoming was an incredible experience. It felt good to get back to a quieter life - one that I remember enjoying when we used to live here. Fewer cars, less noise, more sky, more moose running through your yard. And sharing that with my child was a joy, because she really took to the land. She loved the freedom, no doubt, that comes with seeing endless forest from your windows. And she adapted as needed to be practical in a new environment. She eagerly listened to my husband’s seminars on map contours, and joined me when I spent hours in guidebooks trying to determine what wildflower I had photographed. It was a journey we took together, and I will always cherish my memories from this time.

Unreal Skies

One of the things I love about the west are the huge skies. I walk around our property every night to look at the sunset clouds, but even I was taken aback by the color in this sky. It doesn’t look real in camera, and it didn’t look real in person. But, sometimes nature delivers more than we can imagine.

Gros Morne National Park, Shallow Bay

EASTERN CANADA ROAD TRIP 2019

We spent the afternoon and night at Shallow Bay, the longest sand beach in Gros Morne National Park. Because, and I’m just guessing here, the water is shallow far out into the bay, the swimming was glorious. It was truly warm (and I am a tough critic, being from South Carolina where the water gets bathtub warm :) and I wished we had stayed a little longer.

The campground was situated in lush forest, and we walked a trail lined by these crackerberry flowers to the beach - maybe a quarter of a mile. It was quite a pleasant stay.

Trout River, Newfoundland

EASTERN CANADA ROAD TRIP 2019

During our first leg at Gros Morne National Park (we hit it again on the way back down the coast) we stayed at Elephants Head RV Park. This was just one of the lovely sunsets we enjoyed from the campground. It was a great location, walking distance from the town of Trout River, where we had the best meal of our entire trip. If you ever find yourself here, you MUST go to the Seaside Restaurant, a beautiful place to eat local seafood while watching the waves lap the shore. We ordered mussels as an appetizer and they were so good we ordered more! We were also excited to try capelin, a small fish that plays a big part in the story of western Newfoundland. We ate so much that we were glad we had a walk back to the camper to help it digest.

Cavendish Beach, PEI

Eastern Canada Road Trip 2019

We stayed at the Cavendish Campground at Prince Edward Island National Park, which had easy access to the beach. My daughter and I went during the day to play, and had a great time exploring the iron-rich rocks at low tide. They were soft and ground easily, and we had fun making ‘paint’ and drawing designs with it on our bodies. She even painted my nails with it. We had a unique wildlife sighting, too, when a fox came down out of the dunes and sat on the beach for about 30 minutes, oblivious to the people who were observing.

I went back to the beach again, with my camera, for sunset. What I got instead was an impressive show as these clouds rolled in. They were headed directly for me, and for the campground which was behind me. I waited as long as I could - I was the last on the beach - and when I thought I was just ahead of the rain I ran back to my camper, which was probably a quarter of a mile away. As I came off the beach and looked both ways to cross the road, I saw the fox, doing the same. I figured my timing must be good if the fox was taking cover, too.

Robert Moses State Park, NY

We spent a lovely few days at Robert Moses State Park, in New York. We had a huge campsite, with a nearly private beach. Wyle was delighted that there were kids in the next site over. They played at the beach together for days, staying up late since the sun sets so late this time of year. My grandpa was still with us for this part of the trip, and we really enjoyed chatting by the fire while enjoying the sunset over the St. Lawrence River.

We had our first good wildlife spotting here too, seeing a short-tailed weasel several times. The first time, it emerged from the bushes at the right of the photo to cross the sand, with a chipmunk in its mouth. Upon seeing me standing right there, it dropped the dead chipmunk. Then, deciding that was too important a meal to lose, it grabbed it and continued on its way to the bushes on the left. Pretty cool!