The most amazing day!

After our usual morning of a “business walk, coffee, and breakfast, we were on our way to a trailhead. A black hawk flew right across our path twice. I slowed down in awe after his first pass, and then watched it pass in front of us again. It looked right at me. I saw his eyes. Wow.

When we were heading back to camp after a visit to the Crazy Horse Monument.

Ms. GPS had us take the county roads. All are gravel. This makes things difficult because the Prius I’m driving slides all over the place and I must drive slowly. But no bother because there were plenty of other things slowing us down. First, a doe walked across the road in front of us. She took her own sweet time with long, slow, graceful steps. She jumped the barbed wire fence as if it were nothing more than an ant hill, stopped to look at us for a moment, and then continued her leisurely stroll into the forest. Next, there was a huge Turkey Vulture munching on a bunny in the street. Huge! It had dark feathers with a white pattern and a red head. It flew out of the way, but landed on a stoop right next to the road. Again, it looked right at us. I apologized for interrupting dinner. I know how frustrating that can be, took some pictures:

I noodles a better camera. This bird was closer than the pictures show. All of the bird’s details were so clear, but the picture doesn’t show what we saw.

Next, we saw three wooly sheep in an open yard grazing. Free roaming cows came right at us–cows and calfs. It seemed the mama’s were motioning and/or looking after the young ones. They looked back and swinging their heads as if the youngsters were meant to get out of the way. Kenobi went nuts about the cows. Maybe it was all of the steady eye contact.

To finish the day, we were on an evening wajlk around the lake. A bald eagle was flying toward us from across the lake. It swooped down, grabbed a big fish out of the lake and flew over our heads. Wow. I’ve nev r seen anything like it. The spread wings, the tallons around the fish, and the fish squirming in those tallons. And a second bald eagle following behind to catch up.

I’m not sure how we got so lucky in a day, and maybe others think it’s an average day, but I’m thankful.