I've been out of touch with my FatSecret family for a while now because I've been in places with a really poor internet signal. I was able to enter my daily weigh-ins, but not much else. I definitely couldn't share any pictures. I have a better connection today though, so allow me to catch you up. I have some pictures from my walks and adventures to share, along with an NSV I'm pleased to tell you about.
Photo Captions:
1) This is the Fish Creek Reservoir near Carey, Idaho, where we were camped. The place is remote and surrounded by mountains, which made for a very weak internet signal.
2) This photo shows our campsite at Fish Creek Reservoir. You can see we were out there all by ourselves and we had lots of room.
3) I got a pretty butterfly picture on my walk at Fish Creek Reservoir! It's a Zerene Fritillary (Speyeria zerene) butterfly on Tapertip Hawksbeard (Crepis acuminata) flowers.
4 & 5) Fish Creek Reservoir is very close to Craters of the Moon National Monument & Preserve, which is where these photos were taken. I got lots of exercise exploring the park. The park is an ancient lava field that goes for miles and miles in every direction. It's now dormant. The last eruption here was 2,100 years ago. The same hot spot that is now Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming also created Craters of the Moon. The hot spot moved due to continental drift.
6) There are quite a few caves you can explore at Craters of the Moon that we're lava tubes. Molten lava used to flow through them. This cave is called Indian Tunnel cave. There are lots of giant lava stones throughout the cave that you have to climb over and around to explore the cave. It was good exercise making my way through the cave.
7) Part of the ceiling in Indian Tunnel cave collapsed revealing the sky above.
8 & 9) We spent a couple days camped next to the Snake River in Palisades, Idaho where this golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos canadensis) sat right next to our campsite and posed for me on a dead tree. It came back two days in a row.
10) While in Palisades a flock of free range sheep came through the campground. I took this picture on my walk.
11) Now we're in Grand Teton National Park, in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. I've been doing lots and lots of hiking while we've been here. On one of my hikes I got to visit with some horses.
12) Grand Teton is the tallest mountain in the center of this picture. It soars to 6,530 ft (1,990 m) in elevation. It's the tallest mountain in the park.
13 - 15) These pictures were taken on my hike around String Lake in Grand Teton National Park. It's so beautiful here.
16) This Field Crescent Butterfly (Phyciodes pulchella) is enjoying the wild geraniums (Geranium richardsonii) on the trail at Grand Teton National Park.
17) Yellowstone National Park is nearby. Today we visited just a couple of our favorite features there. This is the famous gyser Old Faithful. Eruptions happen every hour to hour and a half, and they're incredible to watch.
18). This is the Grand Prismatic Spring a Yellowstone. It's the largest hot spring in the United States. The bright, vivid colors in the spring are the result of microbial mats around the edges of the mineral-rich water.
19) Here I am on my hike through Grand Teton National Park. I have an NSV to tell you about. See the shorts I'm wearing? They're new! I was finally able to get some new pants and shorts which because of the pandemic I hadn't done for the last year, even after losing 75 pounds. I was still wearing some of my old pants that had a drawstring in the waist that I could cinch up. I'm proud to tell you I went from a 44" waist to a 32" waist! I can also fit into a medium size shirt, where before I could only wear XL. I'm thrilled about my new size!
