Take It To The Tree

Our plum tree is loaded this year and the fruit is huge! I've been waiting for them to ripen and noticed that they were turning yellow. "Oh my gosh", I thought, "they are going bad before we ever get to pick them". I didn't know, but found out later that the yellow ones are the ripe ones. HaHa! Steep learning curve, here, apparently.

I'm going to apologize now for the poor quality of the photos below, but I was in a hurry to capture the moment and they ended up being sort of blurry. 

Anyway, it appears that our feathered friends know better than me. This blackbird had a hankering for some sweet fruit. He picked up a plum from the ground and took it over to the side walk and dropped it there. Now mind you, the front yard and sidewalk slopes down towards the lake.

So, when he dropped the plum it rolled. He trotted after it, grabbed it and dropped it back on the sidewalk in a different spot....and, it rolled again. It was so funny!

So then, he would hold it with one of his feet in order to get a bite and once he let go, it would roll again. HaHa!

Finally, he said to heck with this and picked up the plum and flew into the tree. I guess his learning curve wasn't as steep as mine.

In the end, he got his fill of the sweet plum and learned a valuable lesson....round plums roll down sloping sidewalks, so just go ahead and take it to the tree.

Laurie

Biking Grand Targhee - Day 3

 The Grand Tetons from atop Targhee Ski Resort

After a hearty breakfast and map meeting on day 3 of our bike tour, we were shuttled from the condos in Driggs, Idaho to the base of the ski resort at Grand Targhee in Wyoming. Once there, we had choices of what we could do. Some chose to hike up to the top of the ski slopes and some of us chose to take the chairlift. And, we had one lady to go horse back riding.

Views going up and down the chairlift at Targhee Ski Resort, Wyoming. Notice the mountain bike in one of the photos.....you could mountain bike down and this is how they got their bikes to the top. 

These two ladies are my new friends....Pete and Elaine.

 Views of the Grand Tetons Mountain Range from the top of Targhee Ski Resort

I took the chairlift along with my new friends, Elaine and Pete. All I could think of was that movie where three people got stuck on a chair lift in winter and the only way down was to drop. The first guy did and broke both legs and was killed by wolves. I don't quite remember the rest, but I do know the other guy was killed, too. And the girl made it! Ha! At the top, we hiked a short distance along the ridge line and y'all, it was majestic! You could see for miles. And there were quite a few flowers up there too. You could almost hear the oohs and aahs three counties over.

 The wildflowers up top included asters and columbine and others that I don't know. 

It was so nice to see them in their natural habitat.

After we were finished taking in all that majesty, Elaine, Pete and I rode the chairlift back down to the base of the slopes. We were so enamored with our surroundings that we didn't realize we could pull a bar down in front of us for safety. So there we sat...I was white knuckling the side of the lift and Elaine was afraid of heights, too, but we managed to get over it and enjoy the scenery before us. We had lunch at the Branding Iron Restaurant. The veggie sandwich was delicious.

 That's me, Maxa, Elaine and Pete

 Oh, look....I made a newer friend. He was hungry so I gave him one of my cashews.

 White knuckling on the way down....Me....and my new friend, the chipmunk. He loves me.

Now, it was time to head back down the mountain on our bikes. And....have mercy...we had a short, but steep 8% grade hill to climb to get out of the resort area and I nearly puked up a lung, no make that both lungs before making it to the top....not to mention we were at an elevation of 7600 ft. so my breathing was already compromised. Thank goodness it was short and I recovered quickly. The rest of the way was all downhill. I forgot to turn on Map My Fitness until part the way down, but at one point on the bike's odometer, we were going 29 mph. That was fun, but I thought it might be a good idea to slow it down a bit and get things under control. So we slowed down to 22 miles mph. You can't imagine how much fun going downhill was! Today's ride was supposed to be 11.9 miles, but my odometer read 10.6. Close enough, I guess.

If you look slightly to the right, you can see where the switchback is for this downhill portion. So fun!

That afternoon, we were treated to a 90 minute yoga class. I just love yoga! It was so relaxing to stretch those biking muscles. After yoga, we re-grouped at the condo and then left for dinner at Warbirds Cafe situated right beside a runway of a small airport in Driggs. The restaurant looked like an old hangar. Very quaint.

That was our last night in Driggs, so everything needed to be packed and ready to go the next morning. I wrapped up my day with laundry and then it was off to bed. Our ride the next day would be approx 25 miles from Driggs, Idaho to Jackson, Wyoming.

Today's total miles: 10.6
Total for trip:  37.15

Til Day 4,

Laurie