Birds of Prey Sanctuary, Eugene OR

This bumper sticker was on a car in the gravel parking lot accessed by a very narrow road up a fairly steep hill.  The sanctuary is very close to the junior college where Ashley will start in the fall. 

One of the workers holding a kestrel.  The birds are often taken out of their enclosures and shown to school groups and birthday parties.

I can enlarge if anyone is REALLY interested!!

He or she looks like they would like to leave.  All of the birds kept in the sanctuary cages are disabled and can not be released to the wild.  Some birds are raised by humans and would not survive if released, as they have no fear of man.

The fiercest bird in the place.

This white tailed kite was kept in a large cage away from foot traffic as they were attempting to get it ready to release.

This hawk was an unfamiliar species.

These pictures were from Eric's phone.  It took much better pictures than our little digital.  It was difficult getting shots through the wire openings.  These are only a few of the "residents".  The sanctuary receives injured or tame birds and attempts to fix, then release back into the wild.  If not possible, they keep for "adoption".  All of the birds we saw had names and a history of why they were being kept in the sanctuary.

Crazy Horse Monument

Here is Mount Rushmore taken from a turn off just before the $11 parking area for cars.  We did not need to pay money to visit the museum or gift store, so did a turn around and left for the Crazy Horse site.

With a $10 entrance fee per person, we felt this was a good use of our money, as this monument is being paid for by individuals.  They have not accepted any money from the government to complete this phenomenal project.  I believe the video says they turned down a ten million dollar government grant. 

The video is good and runs every 10 minutes in two studios, so only a 5-6 minute wait.  The sound system is very good and the blasting scenes make you jump!!  The art featured in this large building is all done by native americans.

Part of the total plan for the area includes a college which is just starting.

These dolphins are for Kelly.

A bronze replica of what the mountain in the background will eventually look like.  The have Crazy Horse's face completed, but the best view is atop the flat arm section.  You can take a 10 mile hike twice a year to that point.  Sorry, but Carol and I will have to pass!!

The turtle basket is for Ron.  They wouldn't let him take it.

Lots of smaller bronzes were placed thru out the greatly expanded visitor center.  We had been here 30 years earlier when the only distinctive feature was the 10 story hole for the arm (pit).

Carol is standing by the white rock rendition of the "finished" monument.  We really enjoyed this side trip to the Oregon adventure.  The monument is a "living" growing incredible project and we have enjoyed and supported it for many years.  We will be glad to share the video with any and all who would like to view it.

Dinosaur Museum, Thermopolis, WY

The Wyoming Dinosaur Center is at 110 Carter Ranch Road, Themopolis, WY U.S.A 82443     307-864-2997

We old folks got in for $5 each.  The gift shop is also the entrance and exit to the exhibits --fancy that!!  The metal building is not impressive, but the contents are.

After the introductory displays, you turn a corner and the big stuff starts appearing.  One of these was a skull from Brasil.

Then you turn another corner and the creatures below appear.

I'm really not part of the exhibit!!??  Tee Hee.  But I am old.

They documented the "beginning of the T-Rex" with these smaller examples.  Reminds me of the "evil" ones in Jurassic Park.

Strange looking dudes.

The fluorescent lighting made it tough to get good shots without flash.

They wouldn't let me take it home for my collection!!

Carol, admires the "bite" of a dino

They do workups of the "digs" in a room off of the museum but visible thru windows.  This worker is using compressed air to blast away loose rock and plaster.

Some of the work area behind the guy in the picture above.  Note the large plaster cast which is around a "find".  They have 2-4 hour trips out to the dig and also have a full day, help them dig program.  We didn't have time or energy to do these.  You would learn how the bones are found, excavated and preserved.

This looked really nice on my camera, but is fuzzy here.  There is a nest of baby dinosaurs being watched by mommy dearest!!

They wouldn't let me take this guy either.

A couple of large fish like creatures in the early part of the museum that is out of order.  Sorry.

Could not get a good shot of the largest specimen which almost went from one end of the building to the other.  It had a very long neck and a very long tail with a huge body and four legs to support both ends.

I recommend this side trip if you get to Wyoming.

Suggest doing it from Casper.  We went over the Bighorn Mountains (to get to Crazy Horse and Mt Rushmore) and they were nail biters for Carol.  AND SLOW!!  Too many hairpin curves.

Carol bought postcards, so this is "Jimbo" the Supersaurus.  "Jimbo" is the second specimen of the Supersaurus ever found; and the largest dinosaur to be found in Wyoming.  At 106 feet long, he is one of the largest dinosaurs to have lived.

Geyers and Old Faithful

The day was cloudy and threatening rain, but we did see geyser activity in the distance.

The steam was quite impressive and had a BAD odor of sulphur.

Carol likes the colors of the pools.  She waited in the car while I did some walking to get several shots.

I just like the tree leaning away from the curve in the walkway.

A bubbling "mini" old faithful??

The colors of the depositions in this area were quite nice.

I did not like the many people that were in my way during the day!!

The hot water from this "geyser" was running into the cold river flowing to the bottom left.

We could see the Mammoth Springs from the car, but no parking spaces were available until we got to the backside, so this is an "unusual" shot of the feature.  It had bubbled up and formed this "loaf" on the way out of the turnoff.

Carol is waiting for Old Faithful.  The lodge is in the background and the flags show a still SW wind.

We were joined (or we joined??) about a thousand other spectators at 6pm to see the well documented geyser do its thing about 6:05pm

We were teased for 10-15 minutes with small spits and gurgles.

Then Old Faithful was faithfull.  The eruption lasted two to three minutes with several ups and downs. 

As the old guy was drifting back into the ground, a rainbow appeared in the mist.

We went to the visitor center and when we came out it was raining lightly, so Carol took this shot, but the rain is not evident.

In case you doubted it was raining, we did get a nice rainbow.  It didn't bring us much luck, however, as the next day started off nice and then the rains came and we hit road work with lots of interuptions and mud on the east side of the north loop.  Day two was not much fun.