Wild Horses

If only I had a telephoto lens!

Yesterday Tim and I drove out to Red Desert to try to find some wild horses. We did! They were MAGICAL. There were like 15 of them. Next time we go out we're going to borrow Tim's roommate's telephoto lens. These pictures aren't great because I was using my kit lens. We were pretty close to them, but the pictures made them look further away. I "enhanced" and cropped some of them so the quality isn't great.

They started running along with the car. It was awesome! This experience definitely brought out the inner 4th grade horse girl in me. Wild horse are so... sturdy looking? I don't know, the horses you ride tend to have thinner legs and ankles. These guys and gals are like, built. It's also weird to see horses with scars and ratty manes, since domestic horses are always so well groomed. They look very healthy though. Good!

After we finished gawking at the magical beasts, we waited for the range to get all dark so we could look at the stars. We shot off some of those little, low-to-the-ground fireworks (the tanks and spinners). Tim has had very little experience with fireworks, and he went nuts. I spent many of my childhood summers in Tennessee and fireworks were plentiful. It was cute to see him get so excited about tiny little fireworks.

The night sky is very beautiful here. I hadn't seen the milky way in like, 10-12 years. The last time was when my family was camping in Vermont, and the stars are even better here. Shooting stars are no big deal. That's what you get with so little light pollution. You can even see the milky way in the middle of Rawlins (which, for a small town, has a lot of lights).

Another thing that is great about being on the range at night are the coyotes. You can hear them talking to each other. During the day, I don't really understand the appeal of living in Wyoming. At night, though, I get it. Last night we were very close to the abandoned "town" (actually called Jefferson City: Tim tells me it's just some broken old houses), where "Home on the Range" was written. The coyotes were yipping and howling and it was so cool. I wish I could take a picture of the range at night, because I love it and I want to share it with all, but I can't!

In honor of the coyotes, check out these hipsters covering that sad song from the end of Grizzly Man: