Fall Dates with Mr. James.. Temple Square and The Museum of Natural History

 

I am blessed that my husband and I have had so many 

days off together and that we have been able to visit some beautiful and

interesting places this year.

These lamp posts make me think of the Narnia books.

I think the pandemic makes you wish you could step into

a new and magical world.

We went to temple square and saw the construction they are doing.

If you have the time you should go see it.

It's very interesting to watch them working on the

temple grounds, I can't wait to see what it looks like when they are finished.

It is very visitor friendly.

They have interesting photos around the site

showing the temple in different time periods.

Here is a photo of us.  Do you smile behind your face mask?

I liked getting the reflection of the temple in the water.

My husband has been a good sport about taking photos of us.

I see a selfie stick in my future.

We went to the museum of natural history to see the Antarctic dinosaurs

exhibit. I had no clue the Antarctic was once a tropical enviroment.

I don't think I could ever go to some place this cold.

It was a fun date.  Very interesting to learn

about the things people are studying in the Antarctic. 

G.G.

Our last 2020 walks. Hopefully 2021 will be a better year for everyone.

Here are some of the photos I have taken on our walks

in December.  This person in the photo is climbing the ice on 

one of the waterfalls we like to walk by.  I would never do what they are

doing, it looks scary!

We went on many walks at the lake this December.  It is 

just an easy walk to do.  I don't think we have seen it as iced over

as it has been this year.  Maybe we just haven't walked it in the winter before.

This is a hawk that visited the bird feeder this winter.

It's very beautiful, but I have a feeling breakfast to a hawk is not

bird seed.

In fact breakfast for the hawk was one of the little birds that

I put the bird seed out for.  

It's just so beautiful, it's just so beautiful, it's just so beautiful!

This is what my husband says often while we are out walking.

The Bridal Veil waterfall. 

I really enjoyed all the trails we found this year.

I look forward to finding new places to walk and 

hike next year and of course visiting all my favorite places.

The pandemic pushed me out of my comfort zone, as

I looked for places we could go to be outside this year.

Usually I would spend my days off walking at the same gardens.

This year not being able to go to the gardens, or not wanting to

be that close to others and wearing a facemask got me out to new places.

It was a positive among all the negative of the year.

The ice bubbles are really interesting to look at.

I think the ice was thick enough that you could have walked on it, but

I really didn't want to fall.

Another walk at the lake with our daughter in tow.

She is checking out the ice, how far is it safe to walk?

This is a little kill deer, it's interesting to see which

birds stay around and which ones migrate south when 

winter arrives. 

We went out on December 20th to see the Christmas star.

Which was actually the planets Jupiter and Saturn being

close to each other.

It was nice to have a spot where you could stay warm by sitting in the car.

One of our winter treats is hot chocolate.  I've finally figured out I need to make it an hour before we leave so it is just the right temperature to drink when we are done walking.

There were lots of people out with telescopes watching for the star,

and celebrating the winter solstice.

I was amazed by all the different sized telescopes people had.

Is that it?  The Christmas star?  No.

I think that might be the moon. That is how big I thought the

winter star was going to be.

Somewhere in this photo is the Christmas star, that is 

how small it was to see without a telescope.

The sunset was beautiful, even if the planets were hard to see.

The wind creates ice piles.  They are interesting to look at.

The walking trails in Utah are so nice.

There are so many that are paved and

well kept.  It makes getting out of the house easy.

We got up to the Farmington Bay Bird Refuge for one last 

walk this year.  I was hoping to see bald eagles. 

We saw some birds but no bald eagles.

This section of water was frozen over and there

was a person ice skating on the other side.

This is the reason I may invest in a new camera,

I want a camera with the ability to zoom in on

really far away objects.

It was cool to see the swans and ducks.  They were really far away.

I was surprised my photos came out as good as they did.

I'm thinking this is a hawk. 

Such a beautiful bird.

My husband got me a selfie stick for Christmas.

I was always asking him to get a photo of us with

a nice background, so now we are learning how to use

this new camera / cellphone device.

I need to learn to not pull my head back, to stick my chin out.

How many photos are you going to take? L.O.L.

Have you started to get motivated for the new year?

Have you made any new year goals?

Have you picked your word for the year?

The past few days I have been getting my monthly

organizer put together for the new year.

I've been getting my monthly goals planned out.

I adjust my goals each month. 

I know one thing, I want to do more exploring in 2021.

I'm so thankful for my husband, that he enjoys going out

and exploring where we live and just spending time with me.

We really had some wonderful adventures this past year. 

Hope everyone has an adventure filled and healthy new year.

Happy New year!

G.G.

P.S.  My big goal for 2021 is to get my photos organized!