I’m writing this with the sound of the Pacific waves near Carlsbad, California in my ears. I could live in Flagstaff it’s the most agreeable American town I’ve met. It provided me with breakfast in the Grand Canyon Diner, whose waitress was a bit slow, and whose booths seemed full of English people – me and…
BLOG POSTS
Flagstaff
I drove into Flagstaff on a fragment of the ‘historic’ Route 66, which I last touched near its other end south of Chicago many days ago, hoping it would be nice as my ‘Rough Guide’ says it is – and it is. I’ve spent very little time in towns you would have heard of since New York and it’s…
Condors again
I woke later than usual and strolled down to the Navajo Bridge to see what time California Condors get up. #54 was still sitting on his or her metal girder and his or her companion resolved himself or herself to be #73. They looked quite perky together but the world was still ignoring them so…
Marble Canyon
Marble Canyon, Arizona is not much to look at – but it is great to look from. I arrived at the Chevron gas station and went inside to pay in advance – the permutations of paying for gas in the US are seemingly endless – and listened to John telling two young drivers that in this…
Hummers
Hummers are gas-guzzlers to most Americans – but they are hummingbirds to some. Hummingbirds seem exotic to the UK birder because we have nothing really like them – and because they really are exotic. My first hummingbird ever was about 30 years ago when I was sitting on a log in Ontario, looking at a…
Mom’s place
I didn’t know much about Utah before I started driving through it and I’m not an expert now. Brigham Young and Donny Osmond came to mind but I have tried to blank out both. Before I left the UK I met the Independent’s Travel Editor Simon Calder in a TV studio and his advice on my trip…
Yellowstone
Yellowstone National Park is an amazing place – it really is. People have written books about it and I can only scratch the surface in this blog. Here are just a few thoughts to be going on with; – visit yourself if you can – in the very early days two tourists were killed by…
Dancing with ducks
After yesterday’s Grizzlies – didn’t I mention the second distant one, also with two cubs, late in the evening? – I was reconciled to a more mundane day. But this was a warmer day and the sun shone and the scenery continued to be gorgeous and amazing. And who needs bears anyway? There are plenty…
Bear and Breakfast with Barbara
Breakfast today was a good meal – partly because it was preceded by a Black Bear, but also because of the conversation. I slipped into an empty booth between a man of retirement age thumbing though a Peterson Field Guide and a middle-aged couple. I asked the Peterson Man whether he was a birder and…
Just a quick one
Comments Off on Just a quick one
I was out into Yellowstone NP by 630am and had seen Black Bear, lots of Bison (and baby Bison), Elk (Red Deer to you and me) and some good birds (Hooded Merganser, Cinnamon Teal, Osprey) before breakfast. The bird list has passed 200 species – which is certainly not spectacular and illustrates the amount of…