By Guest Blogger, Donna DeClemente, Donna's Promo Talk
Happy 4th of July everyone.
To celebrate our country's birthday I'm going to share with you a few of the over 200 photos I recently took of some breathtaking scenes of our great country that we call the United States of America. I got to travel through some states that I've never been in before; Utah, Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.
We started out in Salt Lake City where the 2012 BlogPaws Conference was held this year. I again was a speaker at the conference and since I had never been to this part of the country I asked my husband, Kevin, to join me and we took some time off to explore.
We dove up to Wyoming to Grand Teton National Park and were in awe when we first saw the "Tetons". They are made up of granite mountain peaks that even in 90 degree heat are snow-capped.
We stayed at Jackson Lake Lodge in the park and got to see the most beautiful sunset over the lake the first night with the Tetons in the background. We even saw a bear and her three cubs in the distance.
The next morning we woke up early and drove back into Jackson Hole to go on a white water rafting trip on the Snake River with the Sands Company. I was able to capture this amazing photo of the Tetons which is very close to the spot Ansel Adams took one of his famous photos.
While on the Snake River during the earlier "Scenic Rafting" part of the trip we got to spot three bald eagles. This was one item Kevin had on his bucket list to see. These birds are beautiful.
Next we headed up into Yellowstone National Park and did a full day of driving the "loop" as they call it. This is "Big Country" that can't be appreciated fully in photos. But I tried.
First stop was at one of the Geyser and Spring basins in West Thumb.
Then we encountered our first close-up of a bison grazing in one of the picnic areas on the side of the road.
Next we headed to the "Grand Canyon" of Yellowstone. This is a view of the Lower Falls.
Up in the northern part of the park we stopped at Mammoth Springs that has some awesome terraces that show off the hot springs.
Of course a visit to Yellowstone wouldn't be complete without seeing Old Faithful erupt!
A stop to see some of the other geysers and springs are also a must.
On our way out of the Park we saw a herd of Bison and their young.
Almost to the park exit, this female elk didn't want us to leave!
We are truly blessed to live in such a big, beautiful, diverse and FREE country. Happy Birthday America. Thanks for allowing me to share my photos. Hope you enjoyed them. There are plenty more on my Facebook page if you're interested.
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