Category: Colorado

Posted on

Happenings 2022

Summer mornings…
Summer afternoons…
Summer nights…
Summer hiking…
Summer biking…
Biking route…
Summer kayaking with a heron…
Mom came for 2 weeks. Knitting seaweed for library on the balcony.
Met Remy and the family in Buena Vista for a fun day trip.
Play time on the Arkansas River…
Fall Equinox sunset…can start to enjoy sunsets from living room again.
Migrating swallows – several groups -chose our home as a stop over for several days. Lots of window washing!
This friendly buck chose our patio several times – surprising us when we woke up in the morning and staying for several hours, perfectly content with us.
With a younger friend who also spent the night. Beautiful. Amazing.
End of the world sunset – amazing colors.
First snowfall. 12X optical zoom from guest bedroom.
Lake is freezing, summer’s over. A heron is very interested in this change of environment.
Posted on

Spring in the Rockies

Columbines blooming in the yard – our landscaping work paying off.
We got a permit to relocate 2 Ponderosa Pines from a specific area in the San Juan National Forest as part of fire mitigation.
It was hard work but we are looking forward to giving them a new home.
Character Pine in the front yard – we love the curled trunk!
The one in the back is being appreciated by a forest friend.
Time to play! Time to explore Vallecito Resevoir
We found a nice campsite, wooded but a view of the Vallecito Resevoir.
Lots of wetland areas where river flows into the Vallecito Resevoir.
How many goslings? Will they all grow up to be Canada Geese?
We thought we would try Heron State Park in New Mexico. We were not expecting it to be this dry!
But looks like rain is in the forecast – tomorrow we will kayak Heron Lake.
Rain gives us Gorgeous Spring Flowers!
Posted on

On the road to Arkansas

After a few weeks of enjoying the comforts of home…

We started a trip to Florida –  glad for the dry roads near South Fork.

Capulin Volcano National Monument (NM) was our first lunch stop.

We walked the rim of the cauldera.

We camped at Clayton Lakes State Park with these amazing dinosaur tracks.

After a great dinner/camp with family, we paid our respects to Oklahoma City National Memorial honoring the lives lost April 19,1995.

We spent the night at Chickasaw National Rec Area. We are going to follow the sad trail to Shiloh. Such tragic history to displace people from their home land.

Historic Washington State Park in Arkansas had this magnolia tree planted in 1839.

Bois D’Arc Lake near Hope after visiting President Clinton’s boyhood home.

We enjoyed relaxing and watching the sunset on Bois D’Arc Lake.

We walked around the grounds of President Clinton’s library in Little Rock on the Arkansas River.

An interesting art exhibit of climate change globes like this on pollinators.

We drove by the 1915 state capitol, a replica of the national capitol.Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site commemorated the bravery of black students that were our nation’s first to desegregate here in 1957.

Posted on

Winter Arrival 2021

We kayaked Thanksgiving morning after putting the turkey in the oven.  Jumped on the bikes a few more times as well, for a total of 2,700 miles and 168,000 feet of vertical climbing of riding in 2021.

We enjoyed a few more evenings of happy hour on the balcony.

There were amazing Nov/Dec sunsets even tho the temperatures cooled down very quickly.

Several bucks spent the night in our back yard which was a huge surprise.

The morning of December 10 we woke up to 14″ of snow and lake partially frozen.

By late afternoon the lake was completely thawed and the wind sculpted the snow into drifts.

That evening we watched the lake “smoke” and freeze instantly into this ice skate rink clear ice.

The morning of the Dec 12th the lake was covered in popcorn type formations but really…

…they were hoary ice crystal castles like these on the shore.

We love that the foxes come visit us when they can walk across the ice.

They seems very curious and playful. Usually they move too fast to capture a photo.

How wonderful this fox paused for a picture!

This is how far south the sun sets at 4:51 MST December 20. Nine hour 20 minutes of sunshine here.

Winter solstice sunrise (7:30 Dec 20) also far south for our wonderful south facing solar heat gain.

All the ingredients to start the New Year off merrily.

Four feet of snow by 12/30 caused some plow guy troubles.

And a Happy New Year 2022 to all…

Posted on

Summer at Home 2021

Columbines blooming are a sure sign of spring. Lots of wildflowers on the trails.

 

White fluffy clouds just say summer to me.

 

Day trip to near by Echo Reservoir to enjoy the wonderful sunshine.

 

Another day trip to Santa Fe – 160 miles one way to the charging station. Oh, and could not pass on some great shopping!

 

Nice stop for coffee break. Took about 40 minutes to add 140 miles of charge (for a total 225 miles to return home).

 

Our first restaurant dining since Spain in 2020 – great outdoor patio with spicy New Mexican food.

 

We built this kayak stand to give us more room in the garage – works great!

 

Another building project?

 

A bug hotel for our 6-year-old great-nephew. We had fun painting and decorating!

 

We did an overnight trip to South Fork and got a hike in together as well.

 

He also came to see our house and check out the kid size bridge in our Japanese Garden- a fun day of mini-golf, picnic lunch, library summer reading, and a walk along the river.

 

We dodged some summer storms but managed a few evening concerts in the park.

 

Wandered downtown on 4th of July to see all having fun floating along the river.

 

Cruised downtown for the car show – dressed to match so owner wanted a photo.

 

But mostly we enjoyed our solitude

 

Having some quiet Zen moments at home

 

And the serenity of our wonderful sunsets.

Posted on

Tesla Model 3: Electrifying!

Tesla Model 3 is our choice for our new electric car! It is a very smooth and high tech ride.

We ordered with an 8 week delivery but were offered a show room model so we headed out to pick up with our lunch stop at Lathrop State Park – gorgeous day.

We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening at beautiful Pueblo Lake State Park.

After many months of research we had decided that we would go all electric as it is important to lead the way into mitigating climate change.

We arrived well rested to do a thorough walk through of the new 2021 Tesla.

Our first Tesla supercharger stop in Poncho Springs, Colorado – we saw 5 other Teslas pull in while we were there. A happening spot!

We made time to take a walk at Sand Dunes National Park.

A favorite photo under 14 thousand foot Blanca Peak, south of the Sand Dunes. Very red white and blue! Wonderful to buy an American car of such quality.

We also had time on our way home to see some of the Sandhill Cranes in Monte Vista on their northern migration.

The glow of the setting sun as we start our adventures with the 2021 Tesla and the 2016 Travato.

Posted on

Fall/Winter 2020

“Safer at Home and the Colorado Great Outdoors 2020”

3,300+ Road miles ridden this year! Awesome accomplishment.

2,323 road miles ridden from March 28 to December 9.

We kayaked April 1 to November 10 enjoying the changing three seasons.

The lake starts to freeze and the birds that migrate move south.

The winter storms start to move in giving some dramatic scenery.

The lake is warmer than the air and creates smoke on the water.

The Japanese garden with a light dusting of snow accentuates the features.

We found wonderful things to celebrate and made the most it! Hopeful.

Thankful for so very much. But still only virtual with family and friends.

Finished up a few projects in the house on these last warm days of the year.

Walked along the river downtown to celebrate Christmas.

Happy New Year 2021 with special lobster tail dinner and champagne.

We see our foxy neighbors regularly as we are on their winter route.

The first real snowfall required firing up the monster machine.

Snowshoe on the lake to enjoy the mountains and beautiful sunshine.

Cool ice crystals on the fox prints. We followed to their den.

Inauguration Day Celebration: Science over Fiction. Unity over Division.

Chef making lasagna from scratch for another special day.

Appreciating the wind patterns on the lake in the late afternoon light.

Posted on

8/8: Hovenweep NM / Canyon of the Ancients NM

“Safer at Home and the Colorado Great Outdoors 2020”

We are back in the shadow of the Sleeping Ute.

There were still ruins we had not seen and trails we had not traversed.

Holly ruins can be hiked from Hovenweep NM but we disperse camped at the trailhead.

Amazing how structures are built right from the rock like a medieval tower.

Painted Hand Tower was unique and a pleasant hike.

This is a panorama of the great kiva at Lowry Pueblo.

We hiked both ends of the Sand Canyon and disperse camped here on the upper north end one night with this view of the canyon…

…and these unique structures in alcoves were on the south end.

We walked around Hovenweep NM and marveled at the construction. 

We were here in October 2016.

We appreciated the interesting cloud formations.And were happy to to spot some wildlife with this lizard.

We enjoyed a spectacular sunset from the campground.

We left the Sleeping Ute in the rearview mirror as we finished our 27 days on the road.