short vacation

[ssssnakeluvr]

I went with my family on a family vacaion for a few days last week. My wife's family gathers at Joe's Valley in central Utah...about 10 miles west of Orangeville. It's a man-made reservoir. It's a fun place to camp, nice views!!!

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g302/ssssnakeluvr/joesvalley1.jpg

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g302/ssssnakeluvr/joesvalley2.jpg

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g302/ssssnakeluvr/joesvalley3.jpg

we had lots of fun!! I will take photos of the garters and post later.....there was plenty of other things to take photos of.......

[ssssnakeluvr]

got a nice shot of a house fly on a rock...

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g302/ssssnakeluvr/housefly.jpg

which is lunch for these robber flies...

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g302/ssssnakeluvr/robberfly.jpg

nice ladybug

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g302/ssssnakeluvr/ladybug.jpg

[ssssnakeluvr]

a cool cat spider, araneus gemoides....my favorite!

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g302/ssssnakeluvr/catspider.jpg

these spiders were all over the rocks and logs...

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g302/ssssnakeluvr/wolfspiders.jpg

Nikki found these neat beetles....

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g302/ssssnakeluvr/unknownorangebeetle.jpg

and a nice tiger moth photo....sitting quietly on my hand...

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g302/ssssnakeluvr/tigermoth.jpg

[count dewclaw]

Nikki found these neat beetles....

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g302/ssssnakeluvr/unknownorangebeetle.jpg


Those look like the milkweed beetles we have around here. Sounds like you had a good time!

[ssssnakeluvr]

probably milkweed beetles....I think she said something about them being on milkweed plants...was a bunch of them!!!!

[count dewclaw]

Sounds familiar! There were loads of them on our milkweed. They are a funny beetle, if you get too close they "play dead" and just roll off the milkweed leaves.

[anji1971]

Nice pictures, Don. :)
I love the tiger moth and the beetle!
And that area you go camping in is very beautiful, too.

[Lori P]

Great pics, Don. Really a beautiful place!

[reptileparadise]

Very cool! Have you had the chance of searching for gartersnakes?

[jitami]

Beautiful area!

The spiders on the rock freak me out a little, tho. Would probably be more than a little if I were there! Too well camouflaged! Spiders are the only fear/phobia I have and I think I've figured out why. They come out of nowhere, seemingly invisible, on invisible webs... kinda cool, kinda creepy :)

[GartersRock]

So where be the garters!!

[crzy_kevo]

ya thats what i was thinking
you didn't find any garters don?

[drache]

great pictures, Don
looks like a great place
and you did mention something about garters, I seem to recall

[ssssnakeluvr]

yes I did....found 3, 1 year old male, 1 adult female, and the other I think is a male....will probe him soon. I will be getting pics up here soon. the 3rd one we found was found by my daughter Nikki....she was fishing and happened to look over to her side...there was the adult probably male under 10" of water!!!! and at 8:30 at night!!! he was staring at us...I reached in the water slowly and he flicked his tongue at me...I moved a little and he started to crawl away and thats when I caught him. they are a brown color as opposed to the grays and greens here...

[Snaky]

Looks like a nice place. Thanks for sharing the pictures :)

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

hooray for MILKWEED BEETLES and robber flies.... the anti-regular-fly.