Wyoming's Big Show

This is one of the gates into the Sweetwater County Events Center where the Big Show was held. I believe its the Sweetwater County Fair but it is quite an event and draws participants, etc. from all over eastern Wyoming.

Couldn't help myself. They were judging "wheat". Unfortunately we missed several of the concerts, etc. because we had not arrived in town yet (I think the fair runs for 10-14 days).  Oh well, can't see them all. We were either to early or just missed several things along our  way (rodeo, etc.)

We were able to go to the draft horse competition.  All the events including concerts, etc. were included with paid admission to the fair. They even had a bus to transport people from the parking lot up to the gates (which was really helpful because it was hot, and a very long walk for old feeble folks like us).  Here the little ones were ready to watch the action. They were all decked out to the hilt.

Yeeeeeeeeeeeee Haw

Panoramic photo of the arena as they were setting things up for the competition.

Some of the contenders in the competition. They each had a class that they competed in. The sled which is pulled carries the weight and after each team makes its pull, more weight is added. 

This photo shows how much more weight has been added to the sled (see how high the load is).

A couple of the competitors having a friendly chit chat before the competition started. 

Look at these beautiful animals.

The horses along the fencing barriers at the top of the photo have been eliminated (or are in another class). The ones in the middle are waiting for their turn to pull. The team being led with the guy in the yellow shirt is heading for the sled to make their pull.

Another young lady all decked out and watching the action.

Again see high high the load on the sled is, we are watching the really big guy class compete.

Here is your big class top dogs/winners of their class.

A special thing that they do, they added a couple of people to the already loaded down sled to increase the weight of the pull to 11,000 pounds. The team pulled it the full distance. These animals are amazing.

Same team

Here's the team after their pull for a meet and greet the public. If you ever get a chance to go to this type of event, do so, its really interesting to watch these beautiful animals. The guy in the yellow shirt brought a couple of teams (different classses) here for the competition.

One of the vendors outside the arena at the fair. It was such an interesting vehicle that I had to snap a picture.

Red Canyon & Sheep Creek

These mounted animals are located inside the Red Canyon Visitor's Center. Each exhibit provides the visitors with a lot of information about the animal. This is a Rocky Mountain Big Horn Sheep.

Mountain Lion

The Black Bear

Several animals were in this exhibit as you can see. Osprey, Prairie Dogs, Beaver. Pika, etc.

A view looking down through the canyon.

Look at the size of these little nests. One belongs to a hummingbird. I'm not sure about the other one.

You can see the dirt road as it winds down the canyon. We were leaving the Red Canyon area and entering into the Sheep Creek Geological area.

As we rounded one of the curves to our surprise were these Big Horn Sheep just lounging on the side of the hill. We were sooooooo happy to see them since we haven't seen many sheep in our travels.

They didn't appear to be frightened by our presence, of course I'm sure if we tried to get closer that would have spooked them. We just enjoyed watching them as they were resting, it was mid-afternoon and really hot so they were taking it easy. 

Along the drive there were signs explaining the different rock the formations and providing information about the time period. 

More views of the area.

The rock formation were quite interesting to look at.

Here's one that resembles an animal critter (at least to us it does). Anyone want to guess what critter?  I'll post the animal down at the end of the blog. Hey Bernie, your brother said "Bernie would love this road".

These formations are actually within the Firehole Canyon inside the recreational area. We are just on the northwestern edge looking towards the canyon.

Down below is the town of Green River.

I shot this photo while we were driving east on the Interestate back to the RV Park.

These two photos are out of order. They got dropped when I was posting on the blog (don't ask me how but that's why some days it takes sooo long to do this). Anyhow, look at the expression on this little owl's face, I think he's really upset about something wouldn't you say?

Here's where I read about our little friend the Yellow-bellied Marmot. The ranger in the Red Canyon Visitor's Center looked at our photo and told us what the critter was.

P.S.  The above rock formation looks like a Prairie Dog sitting up or popping its head up out of a hole.

Flaming Gorge-2

Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area straddles the border between Wyoming and Utah. Lake Flaming Gorge is bounded primarily by Red Canyon to the south and rolling hills and occasional abrupt cliffs and promontories to the north.  

There were several board signs outside the Flaming Gorge Visitor's Center. This was just one about the wildlife in and around the area.

The reservoir is part of the Colorado River Storage Project. This sign depicts all of the reservoirs in the system and provides information about each.  

This Mackinaw Trout is the Utah State Record weighing in at 51 lbs. 8 oz. and was caught locally.

The top of the bridge above the dam as we began out climb out of the canyon.

The area is considered "open range" which means not only do you need to keep your eyes open for wildlife roaming in and around the roads but also local ranchers cattle (as you can see).

Another information sign.

The wide-open territory.

The Ashley National Forest lies partially within the recreational area.

This is Red Canyon Lodge where we had heard was a nice place to have lunch so we decided to check it out.

Nice accommodations (not too busy at this time of the year).

The one side of the dining room is all glass and we had a table next to the window. Here this little hummer was able to find some food in what appears to be an empty hummingbird feeder.

One of several signs in the restaurant. This one is for our motorcycle friends.

More bird feeders were also located just outside the window. What a beautiful view while having lunch.

There was also a small fishpond with a nice walkway around it and benches and a swing where you could just and relax.

One of several hummingbirds that were outside the window.

They too were having lunch.

We don't get to see this very often but if you look close in the middle there is a hummingbird getting food the natural way from flowers (I sure felt privileged to not only see this but to get a photo of it).

In addition to all the bird activity, we were also entertained by two cliff chipmunks who were invading the bird feeders to get some seed which was on the ground.

They also ran around chasing each other but I wasn't able to get a good picture of them (they were too fast).

Look at this little one leaping in the air, cute don't you think?

Isn't he/she cute?