World Turtle Day 2026

Road Trip! 

We got ready for our road trip on National Road Trip Day but took the actual road trip on May 23, World Turtle Day.

We got up really early in the morning... again, and drove down to St. George to Tonaquint Park where we celebrated World Turtle Day at the nature center pond.

Sooooo many turtles.

We also saw lots of birds. Hmm. Go figure.

Recently it felt like the pictures with our birding camera were not turning out very well. I'm not sure the reason but bird pictures were not coming out clear for a while. We didn't get such great bird pictures on our Northeastern Utah trip earlier in the month.

Then all of a sudden something snapped and the camera started working right and we started getting good pictures again. I don't know what happened but I'm very happy about it because we got some cool pictures on this trip. Let me tell you about it.

We spent a lot of time walking around Tonaquint Park. Check out these pictures of a black phoebe and blue grosbeak.

I made my family suffer through pictures of all of us using my selfie stick tripod Mother's Day gift, so we could all be in the picture and not just one of us in focus.

Someone had the idea that I could extend the selfie stick and get closer to wildlife with my phone camera without getting closer myself. It worked. I tried it on a lizard on a fence and a turtle that was on the side of the path.

Others could zoom in with the fancy cameras but I was able to get phone pictures. Fun. 

(Fancy camera view) 

Nichole's camera views: 

Jeremy reminded me to get some juggling pictures and videos so I did at various places we went. He was so nice to take most of the pictures and videos for me.

After Tonaquint Park we went to various other places in and near St. George. 

Jeremy had some target birds for this trip and we were able to get two of them- lifers. He was pleased about that. We got them both driving around a certain area.

The first was Gambel's Quail. We get California Quail in our area but the Gambel's Quail are found down South. We got a quick glimpse at one point but we got better views later. There is definitely a difference in look from the California Quail. We didn't get the best pictures (some through the windshield) but we did get to see some babies following their mama across a parking lot. So fun.

The other bird was a cactus wren. I saw a picture earlier so I kind of had an idea of what to look for. Jeremy also let me know earlier that it looked like a wren but bigger and its coloring was mottled.

We were in a neighborhood with a lot of different kinds of cactus trying to follow the GPS to a certain spot and it brought us to the end of a dead end street where there was a big cactus plant. Jeremy joked how funny it would be if we found a cactus wren actually on a cactus. All of a sudden this bird flew into the plant. I got my binoculars on it and asked Jeremy to remind me what a cactus wren looks like because I was pretty sure what I saw fit the description. It came back a few times and I was able to get a couple of decent photos. Man, it is definitely bigger than the marsh/Bewick's/house/rock/canyon wrens I'm used to seeing. Wow. I've seen a few different kinds of wrens, haven't I? I just realized, those are wrens I've seen multiple times, but there are a couple I've seen maybe once- Pacific Wren and Winter Wren.

I think the cactus wren was my favorite bird of the day.

 

Once we got those two target birds, we headed North to Cedar City area to try to find more birds. Some places felt like a waste of time. Sigh.

We did got out to Cedar Canyon and had a bit of fun (and juggling). 

I was determined to try out my tripod selfie stick as a tripod for juggling since there will be times when there won't be someone to video me or take pictures of me. Do you know how hard it is to juggle and push a button on a remote at the same time? It's hard. Jeremy said I could just set a timer on the phone but...

I dropped a lot while trying to get still pictures. Video works much better because I can put the remote in my pocket instead of having it around my wrist and push the button before and after.

While I was trying to figure out my own pics and videos, Nichole was getting artistic with her brothers. If you look closely, you can see me in the background of the picture Jeremy took.

I wanted yet another family picture so I told everyone to come over. I made sure to push the remote button at just the right time. Heh Heh.

When we got back to the van, it was a bit breezy.

Jet: Mom, now you need to do your hair again.

Mom: This is my wind blown look. 

 

 

We finished our day at Parowan Gap Petroglyphs. That was a new place for us.

Besides seeing the cool petroglyphs (and juggling), 

we saw a family of ravens doing their thing (and being very vocal about it- young'uns wanting something from Mom and Pop) and we found both a rock wren and canyon wren (pictured is the canyon wren).

I love this family of mine and I love the adventures we go on. 

Since it was World Turtle Day, Nichole read some Terry Pratchett and the kids explained to me the Glorious 23rd of May (also from Terry Pratchett). 

The Timing

 

The timing. 

 

I wanted to get a picture of me reading to Jet. He came home from school one day so excited for the Read-a-thon at the elementary school. They need to read enough minutes to trap the Book Bandit that escaped and is causing chaos at their school.

I checked out several books from the library and he picked this book for me to read to him. "Just Me and My Mom" by Mercer Mayer. 

 

So it was funny that this was the book we were getting a picture of when my husband was leaving and stopped to be in the picture. Just me and my mom, huh?

Cascade Springs... Again

Even though we didn't use Jr. Jr.'s National Parks Pass as much as we used Jr.'s when he was in 4th grade (it's the season), we did make sure to use it one last time before it expired just like we did with Jr.'s. How fun that the last time we used it to go to the place where we used it the first time. Cascade Springs.

Nichole and Jr. took turns with the camera and took lots and lots of pictures.

 

Jr. Jr.: Nichole, get a picture of the reflection.

Then Nichole had fun getting pictures of ripples.

The leaves were just starting to change color. Fall is on its way but it's not here quite yet.

While we were there, I asked that we get a picture of Jeremy and me together with the water in the background. I did my usual, standing on my toes while in a picture with my husband. Yes, I'm that short.

Apparently I forgot to ask Jeremy to look happy in the picture with me.

Yes, my husband makes me roll my eyes.

After getting a nice picture... finally... Jr. Jr. told us to take another picture because he wanted to do something in the background.

click on the pictures to see them larger

Our kids.

And my husband.

It was a nice trip but it wore everybody out. Sigh.

My mom texted that day to say, "Today is National Thoughtful Day. Just to let you know.👍💗😘"

I responded, "How thoughtful of you."

Somehow that one got missed on our calendar for August 28 so I appreciated her saying so.