SECRET SPOT

Wow - what a way to start a blog entry!

I took a ride down along the river (tailrace) today with shade and Clarissa to see if we could scare up a picture or two.  We found a delightful place with a trail that goes back along a mountain and follows the river.  I'm not saying where this is as I want it exclusively to myself.  Greed!

This is one of the prettiest spots I've visited since moving to this area.  It has it all - water, mountain, woods and wildlife.  Shade's ears were up constantly and her eyes wide the whole time we were there proving to me she is totally content here.  

The mountainside is covered with unique rock formations and there's even a cave way up on one of the formations.  I will explore that later as the leaves are too deep and walking on the rocky hillside is dangerous due to lack of solid footing.

 Its difficult to capture the height of a rock feature when shooting it at close range.  These are the best I could do with the little SD990.  Note the opening to the cave (right of center 2 O Clock) in the shot below:

 These shots are taken facing up the mountain.  Its really difficult to gain a feeling of how high trees and rock cliffs are in pictures.

 Below is another shot of the cave opening.  That will be another adventure.

 Some critter ate a bird back under this rock overhang at some point not long ago.

Clarissa and shade playing mountain climbers.

 Just interesting pieces of wood.

Oh yes - the eyes in the first picture of this entry.  Almost forgot.

 Yes, its a box turtle.  The warm sun must have brought him out of his lair

 Look at the coloring on his feet

 When I saw how the enlargement of his eye came out, I thought about the demon rabbit in Monty Python's Holy Grail movie where the rabbit guarded the cave opening and launched itself at the necks of the knights and bit their heads off.    This could be a demon turtle.

I received notice that my big Canon camera has had a new shutter button installed and has been shipped back to me via UPS.  I should have it by Monday.  Then, I'm back in business again.   I really missed that camera.  See ya later.