Welcome to Our Private Beach! / Solitary Sandpiper

When we got home from backpacking on Monday night, my husband and I were exhausted. Our knees and legs were tired. You should have seen me try to go up and down the front steps. "That's it for me," I announced, quite possibly as I was on those very stairs, "I'm not doing ANYTHING for a couple of days."

But then later in the evening, we were chatting it up, and my husband said something about going swimming the next day. How about we go and have what might just be the last swim at Whipple Dam, coupled with a stop at either Couch's or Lupita's for sustenance? I heard myself saying, perhaps against my own better judgment: "Okay, I'm in!"

So Wednesday afternoon found us in the car, traveling to Whipple Dam, and boy, was that a good choice. When we got there, the beach was deserted! During the whole time we were there, which was a few hours, we saw only a half-dozen to a dozen people. Cool beans!

As we were leaving, one lady swam, while some dude floated around on an inner tube in the sun, the very picture of late-summer bliss. In the shot above, you may see a car on the far shore, at the launch area by that cute little CCC pavilion. They are getting ready to get out and put kayaks in the water and float all around the lake. There's a line of pretty boats to the left, as well, that I like to include in my photos.

While I was in swimming (otherwise, we'd be looking at a photo of an osprey now!), a huge, gorgeous osprey floated overhead for several long minutes, and flew down to look RIGHT AT ME. It sailed around and around and around, appearing to be examining me from above. Was I interesting? What did the osprey think of me? And then later, that bird actually SPOKE, and it was so neat to hear, almost like some sort of weird chirping noise.

As the bird peered down out of the sky at me, I was reminded of that time I was about 11 rows up at my first Springsteen concert, and The Boss himself stood on the piano and actually SAW ME as he sang. (Well, maybe this one wasn't as fine a moment as THAT, but let's admit that it was pretty darn good.)

I also saw a bald eagle, but only for less than a minute. Whipple was our first swim of the year, and we saw a bald eagle that day too. (That was, as you'll recall, the day that - in my new bright red swimsuit - I was almost the star of my very own Amish Baywatch episode!)

The Moose and Tiny Tiger and the Anteater came along to the beach, and I let them sunbathe on my bright red towel. The Moose even got sandy paws by walking along the shore. I hope that in winter time, old Mossy Paws dreams about THAT!

We were very excited when a shorebird showed up and took a long stroll down the beach. I took about a dozen shots and looked it up when I got home. My photo ID program suggests that this is a solitary sandpiper, and I like the sound of that. I laughed a bit to think of a shorebird taking its vacation in the mountains. A solitary sandpiper on an empty beach. That makes sense to me. You may see that cool bird in the extras.

I didn't know if this might be our last time there, so I wandered around and took my fill of pictures. I have 200 shots that it'll take me some time to get through. As you might imagine, some of them are reflection shots: just the normal everyday beauty of the magic the water makes when light hits it.

So here are my two Whipple Dam shots for the day: of the empty beach and sky; and of the solitary sandpiper, an ocean bird enjoying a late-summer vacation in the mountains. 

I've got two soundtrack songs. For the shot above, with the boaters getting ready to get in the water, I've got Bruce Hornsby and Shawn Colvin, with Lost Soul (some of its lyrics appear below). For the solitary sandpiper in the extras, I've got Neil Diamond, with Solitary Man.

There's a lost soul coming down the road
Somewhere between two worlds
With an oar in his hands and a song on your lips
We'll row the boat to the far shore
Row the boat of the loved lost soul