Wildlife – Page 12 – Wandering Dawgs

Wandering Around America One State at a Time – Tennessee

July 28, 2017July 27, 2017Posted in Nature, RVing, State Parks, Tennessee, Tourist Attractions, Wandering around America, Waterfalls, WildlifeTagged America the Beautiful, bear, Cades Cove, Chattanooga, Graceland, Jack Daniels, Old Stone Fort22 Comments

State 38:

Welcome to the next post in my series highlighting states we have visited throughout the years. I hope you will enjoy coming along for the ride!

I will be featuring the states alphabetically. The next state in my series is

Tennessee

Tennessee became the 16th state on June 1, 1796. The Capital is Nashville.

Elvis, BBQ, Blues and the Mississippi River in Memphis. Country music, The Grand Ole Opry and camping beside a lake in Nashville. The Tennessee Aquarium and other attractions in Chatanooga. Waterfalls near Crossville. Cades Cove in Great Smoky Mountains National Park near Sevierville. Waterfront camping at J. Percy Priest and Normandy Lake. Touring a famous distillery in Lynchville. These are just a few of the things we loved in Tennessee.

Before our RV days, the Opryland Hotel was our home base in Nashville for a night at the Grand Ole Opry, cheering on the Georgia Bulldogs as they played the Vanderbilt Commodores, and a night at the Wild Horse Saloon.

20031017Opryland-Hotel-(8) — Atrium at the Opryland Hotel

20031018Wildhorse-(4) — Line Dancing at the Wild Horse Saloon in Nashville

On our way home from our first RV trip out west we spent a couple of days wandering around Memphis. We toured Elvis’ Graceland, ate our fill of ribs at two different restaurants, listened to blues at B. B. King’s BBQ and Blues on Beale Street, and strolled along the scale model of the Mississippi River at Mud Island River Walk.

20060908Graceland-(47) — Elvis’s grave at Graceland

20060908Graceland-(52) — Elvis Presley’s Graceland in Memphis

20060908Graceland-(70) — Elvis Presley’s Pink Cadillac

Mud Island River Park river walk in Memphis, Tennessee is a 5-block long replica of the lower Mississippi river, from Cairo, IL, to New Orleans, LA.

Beale Street in Memphis

BB King’s BBQ and Blues Club in Memphis

While wandering near Crossville we discovered two waterfalls.

20090810Ozone-Falls,-TN-(1) — Ozone Falls near Crossville

We enjoyed the campground at Old Stone Fort Archeological State Park and have camped there twice. Both times we hiked beside the Big Duck River to see the waterfalls.

20100623Old-Stone-Fort-(2) — Campers cross this bridge to get to the campground at Old Stone Fort State Archeological Park

20070405Old-Stone-Fort-SP-TN-(14) — Waterfalls on the Big Duck River in Old Stone Fort State Park

One November we traveled to Sevierville to take in the beautiful fall colors and scenery of Cades Cove in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Cades Cove in Great Smokey Mountains National Park

John Cable Grist Mill at Cades Cove

Fall in the Great Smoky Mountains at Cades Cove

Horse pasture on Cades Cove drive

Millstones at Cable Mill

A mama bear and her cub were hanging around the picnic area when we stopped for lunch in the park. Mama kept a close eye on her cub as he searched for a bite to eat. When the rangers chased them off the cub scampered up a nearby tree.

20081105Cades-Cove-(63) — Mama bear watching out for her cub at picnic area in Cades Cove

20081105Cades-Cove-(53) — Bear cub at picnic area in Cades Cove

20081105Cades-Cove-(70) — The cub escaped to a tree when the rangers chased them away

Seven Points Corps of Engineers Campground in Nashville is a favorite of ours. Seeing this sunset from our campsite was a great way to end the day.

20090811Seven-Points-Site-23-(11) — Sunset over J. Percy Priest Lake at Seven Points COE Campground

In Chattanooga the Tennessee Aquarium was a highlight of our stay.

The Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga

The penguins were my favorite at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga

We chose a waterfront site at Barton Springs TVA Campground as our home base for taking a tour at the Jack Daniels Distillery in nearby Lynchburg.

Blondie enjoying our site Barton Springs

To read previous posts about the states featured in this series just click on the state name: Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania South Carolina South Dakota

Wandering Around America One State at a Time – South Dakota

July 19, 2017July 19, 2017Posted in National Parks, RVing, South Dakota, State Parks, Tourist Attractions, Wandering around America, WildlifeTagged America the Beautiful, Badlands, Bison, Custer State Park, Deadwood, Mount Rushmore, Needles Highway, Wordpress Photo Challenge17 Comments

State 37:

Welcome to the next post in my series highlighting states we have visited throughout the years. I hope you will enjoy coming along for the ride!

I will be featuring the states alphabetically. The next state in my series is

South Dakota

South Dakota became the 40th state on November 2, 1889. The Capital is Pierre.

Our travels have taken us through South Dakota a surprising number of times. The Corn Palace in Mitchell and Wall Drug Store in Wall are two fun places to take a travel break along Interstate 90.

The Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota

Wall Drug Store in Wall, South Dakota

Like so many other people, we made the Black Hills our primary travel destination in South Dakota. There is so much to see there we couldn’t do everything we wanted on our first trip so we returned five years later. In addition to the spectacular scenery, the highlights of our visits were Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse Monument, Custer State Park, the wildlife, Deadwood, Wind Cave National Park and Badlands National Park.

20060831Mt-Rushmore-(6) — Mount Rushmore National Monument

20060831Crazy-Horse-(3) — Crazy Horse Monument in 2006

20110602Needles-Hwy-and-Wind-Cave-(116) — Crazy Horse Monument in the summer of 2011

Five years after our first trip to the Black Hills, we camped at Game Lodge Campground in Custer State Park. We loved being close to so much wildlife.

Custer State Park is home to herds of Bison, also known as American Buffalo. Many can be seen from the scenic Wildlife Loop Road. Some also like to hang out in other parts of the park and we often saw them near the Game Lodge Campground. There were many calves when we were there in early June. As we drove through the park and on the drive through Wind Cave National Park we saw bison, pronghorn antelope, prairie dogs wild burros, and even white tail deer. This collage of the bison and other wildlife we saw in and around Custer State Park shows just a small sample of the wildlife that is there.

Bison on Wildlife Loop Drive

Huge bison herd on Wildlife Loop Drive

Bison in Custer State Park

Mama and Calf

Young bison

Take my picture!

Pronghorn Antelope, Custer State Park, SD

This buffalo was hanging out by the lodge

Friendly chipmunk at one of the overlooks on the Needles Highway

Pronghorn Antelope

Wild burro’s on the Wildlife Look Drive are not shy

Just driving through the Black Hills is an adventure and there are several scenic drives to enjoy. Iron Mountain Road and the Needles Highway are both narrow, steep, curvy roads with single lane tunnels. There were spectacular views from the Mount Coolidge Overlook at the end of another narrow road. Another day the views were spectacular as we drove through Spearfish Canyon but I forgot my camera that day!

20110602Needles-Hwy-and-Wind-Cave-(16) — Along the Needles Highway in Custer Sate Park

20110602Needles-Hwy-and-Wind-Cave-(80) — Eye of the Needle on the Needles Highway

20110602Needles-Hwy-and-Wind-Cave-(98) — Needle Tunnel

20110601Custer-SP-(204) — Mount Rushmore from one of the tunnels on Iron Mountain Road

20110601Custer-SP-(157) — View of Crazy Horse Monument from the top of the Coolidge Overlook in Custer State Park

Deadwood is famous for being the town where Wild Bill Hickok was shot by Jack McCoy in the Number 10 Saloon in 1876. In the new Number 10 Saloon visitors can see a reenactment of the shooting of Wild Bill and there are reenactments in the street with gunslingers. We took the drive to his grave in the nearby Mount Moriah Cemetery.

Wild Bill Hickock was killed in Deadwood

Gunslingers in the streets of Deadwood

Reenactment of the shooting of Wild Bill Hickock (with the long hair and mustache playing cards)

At her request, Calamity Jane was buried next to Wild Bill Hickok at the Mt. Moria Cemetery in Deadwood

View of the town of Deadwood from the Mt. Moriah Cemetery

We discovered a couple of delightful campgrounds outside of the Black Hills during our South Dakota journeys. The owners are hard working and helpful at the Belvidere East KOA. Blondie enjoyed the dog park and we loved the Indian Tacos at their restaurant. The sunset was great, too.

Mina Lake State Recreation area near Aberdeen was a perfect place to chill after our time in the Black Hills. The park was practically empty and the camp hosts were friendly and helpful. They even brought us some pheasant appetizers one evening.

20110609AMMina-Lake-(1) — Mina Lake State Recreation area near Aberdeen

Wandering Around America One State at a Time – Oregon

July 6, 2017July 6, 2017Posted in Lighthouse, Oregon, RVing, State Parks, Wandering around America, WildlifeTagged America the Beautiful, Beverly Beach State Park, Highway 101, Humbug Mountain State Park, Pacific Ocean, Scenic drives, Weekly Photo Challenge Bridge17 Comments

State 34:

Welcome to the next post in my series highlighting states we have visited throughout the years. I hope you will enjoy coming along for the ride!

I will be featuring the states alphabetically. The next state in my series is

Oregon

Oregon became the 33rd state on February 14, 1859. The capital is Salem.

Our visit to Oregon was entirely along the spectacular Pacific coast along Highway 101. In order to have easy access to the scenic overlooks we traveled south from Washington. After crossing the Columbia River bridge our Oregon journey began.

20070427Columbia-River-(8) — Crossing the Columbia River into Oregon

We were towing our fifth wheel as we drove south. Lucky for us the overlooks were big enough that we didn’t have any trouble finding parking places.

20070427Oregon-Coast-(9) — Tillimook Rock Lighthouse

20070427Oregon-Coast-(10) — Northern Oregon Coast

20070427Oregon-Coast-(25) — Northern Oregon Coast

We enjoy camping in state parks so before we left home I called the Oregon State Parks to find out if I needed campground reservations. We were traveling in late April and the ranger assured me we would not have a problem finding a campsite that time of year (this was ten years ago and campsites may be harder to get now). Our first two night stay was at Beverly Beach State Park in Newport. With the fifth wheel parked in our campsite we were able to take the truck on several scenic drives.

20070428QDevils-Punchbowl-(9) — Devil’s Punchbowl

20070428QDevils-Punchbowl-(26) — Surfer’s on the beach looking for the right waves

20070428Depoe-Bay-(7) — Bridge at Depoe Bay

20070428Otter-Crest-Drive-(15) — Bridge on Otter Crest Drive

We visited two lighthouses near Newport.

Yaquina Head Lighthouse, OR

Yaquina Bay Lighthouse, OR

After climbing to the top of the Yaquina Head Lighthouse we walked down a series of stairs for a stroll along the beach. We came upon Harbor Seals sunning themselves on the rocks.

Harbor Seals at Quarry Cove

Harbor Seal

Henry and Blondie on the Beach at Yaquina Head Lighthouse

I love the Oregon bridges and this one we saw from the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse was one of my favorites.

20070428TYaquina-Bay-Lighthouse-(18) — Bridge near Yaquina Bay Lighthouse

Our Oregon adventure continued as we continued south from Newport on Hwy 101. The first stop of the day was at the Sea Lion Caves near Florence. The caves are 250 feet below the visitors center. After a long elevator ride we were down in the caves for a close up view of the Stellar Sea Lions. The waves crashed into the cave while the seals held on to the rocks and barked at each other.

Sea Lion in the Sea Lion Caves

Sea Lions in the Sea Lion Cave

Haceta Head Lighthouse as seen from the Sea Lion Caves

As we continued south we passed the huge Oregon sand dunes and stopped for lunch at the Umqua Lighthouse State Park.

20070429Umpqua-Lighthouse-(6) — Umpqua Lighthouse

We settled into our campsite at Humbug Mountain State Park near Port Orford for our next two night stay. Our campsite was a short walk from the beach.

Bridge at Humbug Mountain

View from the beach at Humbug Mountain State Park

View from the beach at Humbug Mountain

The campground was just a short drive to the Port Orford Heads State Park and Lifeboat Stations. The ocean views were breathtaking as we hiked along the trails on top of the cliffs. At the museum we learned the Coast Guardsmen used to go down over 500 steps to launch their lifeboats.

Beach from an overlook at Port Orford

Port Orford Lifeboat Station

Port Orford at Coast Guard Lifeboat Station

Along the nature trail in Port Orford

When we weren’t enjoying the rugged coast, lighthouses, dog friendly beaches, bridges, seals and lifeboat stations in Oregon we took time out to enjoy some amazing fresh seafood in Newport and Port Orford. Our time there was short and we didn’t waste a minute of it.

Wandering Around America One State at a Time – Maryland

March 16, 2017April 17, 2017Posted in Maryland, Wandering around America, WildlifeTagged B&O Railroad Museum, Baltimore, National Aquarium, Rocky Gap State Park, Tall Ship4 Comments

State 18:

Welcome to the next post in my series highlighting states we have visited throughout the years. I hope you will enjoy coming along for the ride!

I will be featuring the states alphabetically. The next state is

Maryland

Maryland was one of the original 13 colonies and became the 7th state on April 28, 1788. The capital is Annapolis and the largest city is Baltimore.

Although we traveled to Maryland multiple times before our RV’ing days, back then we spent most of our time visiting family and seeing the sights in Washington, D.C. Way back in the early 1980’s we wandered around Baltimore touring the National Aquarium, the B&O Railroad Museum, and enjoying the beautiful harbor.

Tall Ship in the Baltimore Harbor (early 1980’s)

After we started traveling in the RV, we enjoyed camping in Rocky Gap State Park on Lake Habeeb. The birds in the trees and the chipmunks on the ground kept us entertained when we weren’t enjoying the lake.

This chipmunk visited our campsite at Rocky Gap State Park

Great Crested Flycatcher in Rocky Gap State Park

Wandering Around America One State at a Time – Kentucky

February 27, 2017July 13, 2017Posted in Kentucky, National Parks, RVing, Tourist Attractions, Wandering around America, WildlifeTagged Bison, Bourbon, Kentucky Horse Park, Land Between the Lakes, Mammoth Cave, Wild Turkey Distillery14 Comments

State 15:

Welcome to the next post in my series highlighting states we have visited throughout the years. I hope you will enjoy coming along for the ride!

I will be featuring the states alphabetically. The next state is the Bluegrass State –

Kentucky

Kentucky became the 15th state on June 1, 1792 and the capital is Frankfort.

When I think of the Bluegrass state I think of horses, bourbon, and Colonel Sanders famous Kentucky Fried Chicken. We never got a chance to visit the original Kentucky Fried Chicken but we did get to experience horses and bourbon and a whole lot more.

Late one fall we set up camp at the Kentucky Horse Park State Park near Lexington. Seeing these magnificent horses was the highlight of our visit to the area.

One very overcast day we left the horse park for a scenic drive by many beautiful horse farms and a tour of the Wild Turkey Distillery located right beside the Kentucky River.

Bridge over Kentucky River at the Wild Turkey Distillery

Wild Turkey Bourbon is aged these barrels

Until we visited the Elk and Bison Prairie in the Land Between the Lakes I never knew that bison once roamed in this area of the United States.

The Land Between the Lakes has been a perfect stop over for us several times in our wandering. It doesn’t get much better than camping near a body of water and Canal Campground in the Land Between the Lakes is one of our favorite Corps of Engineers park.

Sunrise over Lake Barkley, Kentucky from Canal COE — Sunrise over Lake Barkley, Kentucky from Canal Corps of Engineers Campground

Located in central Kentucky, Mammoth Cave is the longest cave system known in the world. There are many options for guided tours of the cave. Above ground the scenery is beautiful with hiking, biking, and equestrian trails.