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). 

What?

 

It's Graduation Day!

May 23 was World Turtle Day. This is what Nichole drew for the holiday. That's my girl.

It was also the last day of school and the day of Jr.'s high school graduation. When I woke Jr., I acted like Frozen.

"It's graduation day? It's graduation day! The window is open, so's that door. I didn't know they did that anymore..." 

This was Jr.'s third and last time playing with the orchestra for graduation. The first time was for Nichole's graduation, the last was for his. That's my boy.

I also made sure to get pictures of the other boys before school because we were not around when they got out. 

We all enjoyed wishing Jr. well and watching him open graduation presents. Then he and Jet played music together. So cute.

My sweet husband stayed up late to take Jr. to grad night and pick him up because I was too tired to do so and slept that night.

Once Jr. got home in the middle of the night, he helped Jeremy with a combined anniversary, Mother's Day, and birthday surprise for me. 

I woke up the next morning to go for a quick walk at Bridal Veil Falls. And I had one of my morning musings: Are the colors in your dreams muted or are they vibrant?

As I was headed out, I noticed my surprise and felt loved. My husband had started a garden for me. He knew I wanted one. Earlier in May, Jr. had been volunteering at the high school's greenhouse for their greenhouse sale. He helped Jeremy pick out some plant starts for me. Since he couldn't find everything he wanted, he did go to a store to get some others.

 

Later the day of my surprise, Jeremy and Jet and I went shopping for some more potting soil and some more plants as well as picking up some starts from someone in our ward. He also gave us pickles that he had canned himself. Mmmm, pickles. 

Jet has become a big helper with the plants with watering them and he even got to pick a tomato one day. That's my boy. 

It's been a while since May. This is what our garden looked like toward the end of June. It's grown even more since then.

Jeremy and I went out to eat to celebrate my birthday then the next day we had cake and ice cream. Jet helped with the cake and the candles.

Another day a friend and I, who both have May birthdays, went out for lunch and a little walk around Bridal Veil Falls to celebrate our birthdays. 

 

May 25 was Towel Day. I did take a towel in my bag to church. 

 

And because this post was supposed to be about Jr.'s graduation...

I am proud of Jr. He worked plenty hard through high school and did some pretty cool things. Way to go, Jr. I think you are terrific.