A Golden-Mantled Ground Squirrel photographed in Bryce Canyon National Park
At first glance you might wonder if this is a squirrel or chipmunk, but despite it’s odd squirrel behaviour, the Golden-Mantled Ground Squirrel is, as the name implies, not a chipmunk.
These little ground squirrels do act very much like a chipmunk however. They’re known to store a stash of food in their burrows to eat when they wake up after hibernating for winter, something more common to chipmunks. They also have a striped back, which confuses many people into thinking they must be a chipmunk.
The striped back of the Golden Mantled Ground Squirrel
The best way to tell this is a Golden-Mantled Ground Squirrel is to notice that the stripes on the back do not appear on the cheeks and face of the animal. Chipmunks, on the other hand, will commonly have their stripes extend up to their eyes, nose and cheeks.
This Golden-Mantled Ground Squirrel was photographed in Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah.
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
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.
An icon of the American West, Buffalo Bill was born on this day 166 years ago. Amazingly, I came across Buffalo Bill not once, but twice, on my road trip through Wyoming.
Both encounters were by accident too, they were unplanned surprises that presented themselves while on my way to the first National Park in the world – Yellowstone.
Tepee outside the Buffalo Bill Historical Centre
Buffalo Bill Historical Centre
After 20 hours of travel, including a 9 hour drive, my late night arrival in Cody, Wyoming had me wanting to get a good night’s sleep. My rustic cabin was the perfect place to re-energize for the start of my road trip…next stop Yellowstone National Park!
My Cozy Wood Cabin in Cody, Wyoming
But wait, as I’m driving through the Wild West-esque downtown of Cody, I pass a Rodeo, then I see a stream of people heading towards some new, modern looking building. What could it be?
Turns out it was the Buffalo Bill Historical Centre.
Unable to resist, I stop and wander around the outdoor grounds of the centre, before wandering in to get some Buffalo Bill education.
Statue of Buffalo Bill outside the Buffalo Bill Historical Centre
What a cool place. The American West was on display here, not just the story of Buffalo Bill, but Indian art and artefacts, as well as old firearms. It wasn’t until I pieced together Buffalo Bill’s real name, William Cody, that it sunk in as to why his name was plastered all over the town.
Learning about how he got his nickname by killing more than 4000 Buffalo (Bison) was one of those bitter-sweet moments. An impressive feat for sure, but a reminder of the unsustainable practices that almost led to the demise of the American Bison population. To his credit, Buffalo Bill wasn’t killing them just for fun, it was his job, as the meat was an important source of protein for railway workers back then.
Another Statue outside the Buffalo Bill Historical Centre in Cody, Wyoming
As a Canadian I really never knew much about Buffalo Bill. I knew the name, I knew that he fought American Indians while in the Army and that he brought stage shows to Europe later on in life. He was a famous figure, but I never knew his whole story, so visiting the Historical Centre was a real treat as it gave me an extra appreciation of what life was really like back in the late 1800’s.
Oddly, what impressed me most was the statues outside of the Buffalo Bill Historical Centre, maybe because in the natural surroundings it helped me visualize the American West as it once was.
I got back on the road after exploring the Centre for an hour or so…thinking I would leave Buffalo Bill behind as I headed to Yellowstone. But I was wrong!
Buffalo Bill Dam near Cody, Wyoming
Buffalo Bill Dam
I hadn’t been driving long and was just getting into the winding mountain scenery when I came across another unexpected attraction – a big dam.
With thundering water flowing over the edge of the controlled damn, bordered by steep cliffs on each side, I was anxious to check it out and get some photos.
Surging Water at Buffalo Bill Dam
Originally called Shoshone Dam, the Buffalo Bill Dam was completed in 1910 – such a feat was an impressive one at the time. Back then, it was one of the highest dams in the world!
After that double-dose of Buffalo Bill I felt that I had been approved, or at least deemed worthy, of exploring the American West. I was finally free to venture onto Yellowstone National Park and see some of the Bison that were lucky enough to never cross paths with Buffalo Bill.
While hiking along a trail in Torrey Pines State Reserve I crossed paths with a lady who hikes in the reserve every day.
She was a little surprised to see me there when I told here I was from Canada. Curious as to how I found the reserve, I told her that when I travel I tend to check maps and look for nearby “green” areas. So on my trip to San Diego I added Torrey Pines to my must-visit list after seeing it on google maps.
View of the Pacific Ocean at Torrey Pines State Reserve
That’s one reason why I travel – to see and experience nature different than what I can enjoy at home. I don’t really mind if I miss the newest, trendiest restaurant or bar in the city. Sure, I love trying great food, but I can eat great food in Toronto, I can’t hike amongst Torrey Pine Trees at home though!
It was a sunny San Diego day in January, the temperatures were set to reach 20C. What a great place, which is actually named for the Torrey Pine Tree, which is an endangered species only in this reserve and on some nearby islands. They provided some great contrast to the dry desert ground, especially with the crashing waves of the Pacific in the distance.
A Torrey Pine Tree in Torrey Pines State Reserve
Wanting to get to the beach at Torrey Pines, I took the Broken Hill Trail route on the way down and Beach Trail on the way back, creating a nice 2 mile circuit trail. The trails are largely well groomed and marked, not rugged at all. Unless yo’re jogging the trails it is more about the scenery than the exercise on these trails.
Beach Trail at Torrey Pines State Reserve
Winding through some hilly shrub lands, scattered with the occasional pine tree, it was a popular hike that seemed mostly frequented by locals out for a jog. Despite numerous rattlesnake sign warnings…no wildlife was spotted.
Rattlesnake Warning Sign at Torrey Pines
At the beach, it was a big staircase down to the welcoming Pacific waters. I headed south towards a spot known as flat rock, which was once used as a bathing pool by Native Americans. Most people who head to the beach stop at the seaside cliffs beside flat rock, but if you do a bit of climbing and venture around the cliff wall, an entire beach can be all yours! I spent an hour on this other side, enjoying my own personal beach. I also had to show that I was Canadian by getting wet in the water…nobody else was swimming or even getting their feet wet.
The Beach Access Stairs at Torrey Pines State Reserve
To me, the water wasn’t that cold, it was like any lake back home in early summer. So I waded in almost waist deep to get some photos and walk along the shoreline.
Walking in the Calm Pacific Ocean at Torrey Pines
It was a really enjoyable hike and I could understand why that lady hiked here every day. She said the colour of the ocean changes every day, so her daily hike was always different. I highly recommend taking a trip to Torrey Pines beach if you’re looking for some nearby nature while in San Diego.
