This panorama of Badlands National Park was taken about 2000 miles into our trip from Allentown, Pennsylvania to Chico, California. Rob Snyder and I were moving to Chico to join Katie Lee for a chance to work with some of the best beekeepers/breeders and scientists in the country. We left Pennsylvania Monday June 13, 2011 and arrived in Chico, California 7 days later.
From the Badlands we got back on Interstate 90 and moved toward Wyoming stopping briefly at Devil’s Tower National Monument and Grand Teton National Park to take the following images:
Before hitting the Tetons we did some fishing in Shoshone National Forest just outside of Dubois, Wyoming. The water was high and fast but we managed to hook into some trout. At one point Rob noticed that there were very large bear tracks along the stream bank. Some of the locals had warned us about “The Griz” and there were signs posted along the road reminding you that you were in Grizzly Bear country. I wish I had taken a picture of the tracks, but at the time I was so mesmerized by the size of the paw prints that it didn’t even occur to me…
Our last stop before landing in Chico was at Lake Tahoe.
Four of the six Gigapans I took on the trip are embedded above. All six Gigapans can be accessed at the links below (in chronological order from top to bottom) with details of the entire trip shown just below the panorama under the heading “about this panorama”.
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I am starting to get settled and am excited about the opportunity in front of me. We have already begun building relationships at the Butte County Cooperative Extension in Oroville. Last Thursday, Rob and I joined some of the folks from the Oroville office (Katie Lee, Susan Donohue, Joe Connell, and Cass Mutters) to serve food at the Butte County Farm Bureau’s 33rd annual summer barbecue at the Butte County Fairgrounds in Gridley. It was a good way to get to know some of the staff in Oroville and something I would enjoy doing again! A day earlier we got to join Katie for some nosema sampling with beekeeper Russel Heitkam. Russel kept things interesting in the field and I am looking forward to getting out and working with the other beekeepers.
