This week has been declared National Wildlife Week in the US, by the National Wildlife Federation.
Since National Wildlife Week in Canada isn’t until next month, it means I get to do two ‘wild week’ posts, with this one focusing only on animals I’ve photographed in the USA.
Taking a quick count, it seems I’ve been to around 30 different American states. As far as wildlife goes I enjoyed Utah, Wyoming and Florida the most. From Yellowstone to the Everglades, here are seven wildlife photos in honour of National Wildlife Week, enjoy!
Elk Photographed in Cataloochee Valley, North Carolina
An Alligator walking past Vultures near the Anhinga Trail in the Everglades, Florida
Coyote photographed east of Mammoth, Wyoming
Harbor Seal lounging around at La Jolla Cove, California
Moose wading in a Watering Hole, near Jackson Hole, Wyoming
A Thirsty Bison, photographed in Yellowstone National Park
Mule Deer outside of Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah
In Canada, it seems that everyone has their own way way to convince themselves that winter has ended and spring is on the way.
One such belief at home is that when the Robins return, spring must be just around the corner. While they are year-round residents in many parts of the US, the American Robin migrates north and south from the colder climates in Canada and Alaska.
Enjoying the sun down in Mexico, they return to Canada for breeding and are usually among the first migratory birds spotted in late-winter.
This particular puffy Robin was photographed in the middle of summer, while camping in Ontario.
On a safari side trip to donate some mosquito nets to a local village outside of South Luangwa National Park in Zambia, we came across something that was unexpected.
Lined up in rows and piles beside the road, and guarded by a small group of soldiers, were Hippo skulls, bones and tusks.
Skulls and bones from Culled Hippos near South Luangwa National Park
Going on safari in Africa, you envision wild mammals running around, playing out the eternal battle of predator and prey.
That is the case for the most part, but even in Africa fragmented habitats create situations where populations of certain species can get out of control. One such place is South Luangwa National Park in Zambia.
Piles of Hippopotamus bones near South Luangwa National Park
Overall, I found this park more impressive for wildlife viewing than the Serengeti. There were Hippos everywhere! As well as plenty of Giraffes, Elephants, Zebras, Warthogs and other animals.
Apparently the Hippopotamus population in South Luangwa is extremely healthy, to the point that authorities regulate a controlled cull of the animals to keep their populations in check.
Hundreds of Hippos are killed during these culls. When we arrived, these dried out skulls had obviously been around for some time, but it is hard to imagine what kind of operation it takes to cull these wild and dangerous animals.
Hippo Ivory and Skulls outside South Luangwa National Park in Zambia
We were told that the hippo meat is given to poor villages around the park and perhaps some butcher shops (although how they refrigerate and keep all that meat clean is a mystery to me). Other items are sold, with funds going to ZAWA (Zambia Wildlife Authority) towards the protection of the country’s parks.
What I didn’t know before seeing these skulls and bones lying around was that Hippo tusks, those big sharp teeth of theirs, are made of ivory.
One of the many South Luangwa Hippos that wasn't culled in Zambia
While Elephant ivory gets all the attention in the media, due to poaching, Hippo ivory is the second most common source of ivory in the world. You can see some Hippo tusks have been set aside in these photos.
Photo of a Quran at Alaeddin Mosque in Konya, Turkey
Walking around inside the Alaaddin Mosque, the light colours of the mosque were contrasted nicely by this Quran, which was placed on a colourful Turkish rug.
The Alaeddin Mosque is a prominent landmark dating back to the 12th century, located in one of Turkey’s more conservative cities – Konya. It is one of the main attractions in the city, found at the central Tepesi (hill) called Alaaddin Tepesi.
It was once an important building for the Selcuk Sultans of Rum, eight of whom are buried at the mosque.
It isn’t hard to come up with an excuse to take off on a road trip, even if it is just a short overnight adventure.
My road trips tend to focus on things I enjoy, like hiking, camping and nature. I also like baseball, so the idea of taking off to Cleveland, Detroit or Pittsburgh for a weekend drive from Toronto is pretty common.
Sometimes a short road trip has a way of turning into a big one though. After I convinced a buddy to come along, the baseball weekend trip turned into a week-long 3000 km / 2000 mile adventure! And so, the week-long Great American Baseball Road Trip began…
Bridge to USA - Let the Baseball Road Trip Begin!
We had it planned perfectly to catch 7 baseball games in 7 different parks over 8 days.
Seriously proud of our logistics, the excitement of the road trip had us buzzing as we left Toronto at 3am for the 10 hour drive to Boston.
About those logistics – seeing so many games in so few days ins’t easy. The biggest tip on getting the most out of a baseball road trip? Start your trip on a Monday or Thursday. Those are commonly ‘getaway’ days you can squeeze in an extra afternoon game, or catch an extra team at their first / last home game instead of chasing them half way across the US.
Baseball Road Trip Stop 1: Boston
Fenway Park in Boston
Fenway Park! As baseball fans, seeing a game in Boston is a dream. We snagged some crappy ‘standing room only’ tickets and had fun walking around the park, staring at the Green Monster and watching our team, the Toronto Blue Jays, beat the Boston Red Sox!
We kept our cheering to a minimum though, as there were some unfriendly looking locals surrounding us. As fun as that was, the time outside of the park was even better. Walking along Yawkey Way and taking in the street party scene before the game was a real treat. Today, Fenway Park remains my favourite MLB park to visit.
Baseball Road Trip Stop 2: New York City
New York City - Near Times Square
Since we had two nights here, long enough to catch a Yankees and Mets game, we decided to stay at a hole-in-the-wall hotel just off Broadway and close to Times Square.
Unless they’re playing each other in inter-league play, having both the Mets and Yankees at home on the same weekend is pretty rare, so we were excited. But, the allure of the bright lights of the Big Apple got the best of us and our 7 games in 8 days turned into 6 games in 8 days + a David Letterman Show.
The ubiquitous guy on the street offered us tickets to a Letterman taping. The catch was we’d have to miss our Yankees game. My buddy was a huge Letterman fan, so the decision was made. It was a fun show, lots of laughs…and it also let us enjoy more eating and drinking time in Manhattan!
The Mets game the next day was a real treat too, a perfect sunny summer day, seemingly created for drinking beers and watching baseball. After our two days in NYC, we were off to the city of not-so-brotherly love.
Road Trip Stop 3: Philadelphia
Driving to Downtown Philly
Let’s get the hell out of here! That was our unanimous feeling about Philadelphia. Sorry Philly fans, but your city definitely wins the worst baseball road trip experience award.
Things were all good getting to Philadelphia, but once we got off the freeway and headed downtown, there was a creepy vibe. Maybe it was the guy who tried to get into our car while we were driving? Or the other one who yelled obscenities at us for no known reason when we stopped at a red light.
We didn’t even feel welcomed at the gas station, which conveniently featured bullet-proof glass windows for the safety of their workers.
As for the baseball game, we had atrocious nose-bleed seats. The only decent thing was we could say we had a Philly cheese steak sandwich.
Without a hotel booked, we shuddered at the thought of leaving the safety of the ballpark at night, Philadelphia was scary enough during the day! So we decided to pull an all-night drive to Pittsburgh!
A late-night fast-food stop kept us awake long enough to roll into Pittsburgh just in time for sunrise.
Road Trip Stop 4: Pittsburgh
PNC Park in Pittsburgh - Home of the Pirates
Talk about night and day. As much as Philly sucked, Pittsburgh rocked. First, the random hotel we ended up at let us check-in at 8am. Nap time!
A few hours later we were drinking beers at the hotel bar, thinking about what to eat. We wanted steak and the kind bartender told us about the Outback Steakhouse at PNC Park. Sold! With that, we performed some more ticket trickery by watching the start of the game from the Outback Steakhouse located in left field.
Afterwards we had free reign to wander around the ball park. If Fenway was a favourite for nostalgia, then PNC Park quickly became a favourite for location and setting. With a river in the background and sun setting off of downtown Pittsburgh and the Roberto Clemente Bridge, it was a perfect night of baseball. The scary memories of Philadelphia quickly faded away.
Roberto Clemente Bridge in Pittsburgh
We loved Pittsburgh so much, that we shut the city down. Literally closing two bars and having to walk to our hotel as taxis seemed to be non-existent late at night.
Road Trip Stop 5: Cincinnatti
The festivities of the night before meant next to no time in Cincy. We arrived just in time to catch a game and drive to Colombus for the night.
It was really just a blur of a day, but as neither of us could think of any other reason to ever return to Cincinnati, we went anyway.
Road Trip Stop 6: Cleveland
Progressive Field in Cleveland - Home to the Indians
It was a busy weekend in Cleveland, which caught us off guard. We arrived early, but every hotel we checked was booked solid. Crap.
That gave us some time to explore the city and get to the ball park right when gates opened. Progressive Field had a nice, natural feel to it, with a great beer garden in the outfield and good variety of food options scattered around.
It was quite a contrast to the cramped confines and concourse areas at Fenway Park! Spacious and bright, we didn’t care that the Indians were playing horrible at the time, as we actually enjoyed the ball park itself.
As our last game of the road trip came to a close we had to decide what to do next. Keep trying to find an overpriced room in Cleveland or drive on to somewhere else?
We drove on, to some rural area in Ohio. A random town with two motels and a restaurant/bar. All we needed!
Celebrating our road trip with pitchers of beer and pounds of wings, we both agreed we’d have to do another baseball road trip one day – to the west coast.
