Friday, August 30, 2013

Recent discoveries

The youngest cousin, Olivia, who turned three on August 4:

Olivia and her warm, lovely mother Misha:

Olivia kayaking with her proud dad:

And then, a week later, the Bonneville Salt Flats:

Not far off, the legendary Bonneville Speedway underwater, because it had rained the day before we visited:
 Insane people driving through the salt water on the Speedway.  We saw sedans, a UHaul truck and a pickup truck towing a trailer roaring through the water kicking up wakes like speedboats, all of which emerged soaked and coated irreparably with salt, but driven nonetheless by elated people wearing maniacal grins:
The most stunning vast empty lovely place on earth, on the Utah/Nevada border a few miles west of the salt flats on a back road only a short way from the Interstate.  We saw pronghorn antelope, an eagle wheeling slowly overhead, and immeasurable distances in a great stillness where there was no one but us:

Your father triumphant after scaling a butte (zoom in, you'll find him):
And a mustang in the stunning Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge in the northwest corner of Nevada:
 Tonight, Klamath Falls, Oregon.  Tomorrow, Crater Lake, and Sunday, Molly's wedding.