Aspen

Bikes, bikes,  bikes, AND....There were lots of bikes around Aspen. I liked the yellow one below because my bike is yellow.

This as on a side street and moments before kids were running through the pulsating fountain.

Loved the window boxes outside of a resturant.

This statue was so life like that I had to take a second look.

I have spent 3 nights at Taylor Res. which is Verizon on cell territory. We are now 5 miles north of Crested butte dry camping with one bar cell service .... Not good for internet so am sitting in a coffee shop in downtown Crested  Butte. Steve was nice enough to give Mary and me a ride into town.

Skate park in Aspen

Next to the John Denver Sanctuary was a skate park the some youngster were enjoying, I enjoy watching them and taking photos of their skill. Some had helmets and some didn't.

The one below had pink underware and his hand was on the board. The are very athletic.

Tomorrow is a travel day over Cottonwood Pass and on towards Crested Butte, My posts may get very sporadic, but I haven't missed a day since I stared this one a day...so who knows what I will attempt to keep my unbroken record.

John Denver Sanctuary

These were taken at the John Denver Sanctuary in Aspen CO.  The park has lots of quotes engraved on the stones by John Denver and others. Small ponds, flowing water over stones, stone paths and flowers. Peaceful place and so enjoyable.

"Earth Laughs in flowers"  Ralph Waldo Emerson

Columbine

Another flower and this one is Colorado's state flower. Wanted to add more but internet is SLOW.

Pansies, pansies, pansies

More flowers, I like flowers and they are easy to shoot if the wind is not blowing.  These were taken in downtown Grand Lake. I always enjoy the flowers that others take care of since I am off playing in the mountains. Earlier this summer I actually planet some pansies in my mini garden.

The flower box was on the side of the small grocery store we used in Grand Lake.

Can you guess what this is?

Okay, there are photos waiting in my cameras ready to be down loaded. It's just that the WIN's are keeping me busy.  But back to this plant. It's a yucca hanging down. I thought of flipping it, but left it as it was shot.

What's in the forest?

While camped at the Grand Lake location we did a drive over to Lost Lake. When we arrived at the parking lot to the lake it was an additional 1 mile walk- which we didn't do. Lake remained lost.   Further down the road we stopped so Lynda and Garth could drop their fishing line in the stream. These three photos represent what was around us. Beautiful flowers, a pile of sticks and a quick shot down stream showing the beetle killed trees. Not all parts of forests are beautiful, but realistic of what is there with beauty where you find it.

Stopping at a stream was so characteristic of what Karen, Steve and I experienced as a children while we went with our parents to the mountains on Sunday so Dad could fish. We did not  stop at cleaned up picnic areas, but where the fish were.

The shot of the stream was an experiment with the camera and a macro lens. I was surprised what it actually did capture.

It's a weed, just a weed

But I like it.

Ski Boots

One of the things the WINs do is visit the different thrift shops in the different towns. Mary, a full timer needed to drop off some things and so along I went. What do you find in a mountain town, ski country thrift shop-- LOTS of ski boots.

Not a snapdragon but a lupine

I am sure you have figured out by now I do not know the names of the flowers that I photograph unless they are very common. From my limited Rocky Mountain states book this may be a snapdragon.-Update, and further checking it is a lupine.   This was taken at the Grand Lake area campground.

Oh and PS. I am not in the Philippines like my facebook says. %$&* hakers.

Our friend - bees

Here is a bee working on the back side of a flower. There were several in this small patch of flowers. The are are one of the sources to our continued food supple through pollination.

Roses

Here's a couple of roses...but not from my garden!

More botanicals

Found this leaf interesting ans the different flower below.  These were in the post ready file from Cheyenne since I have been too busy to shoot or process recent ones.

Lillys

Lilly's that I found in the park.They remind me or are Rubin Lilly's that Kara and Slade had in their wedding. The are beautiful but not very fragrant.

Here I am around wonderful scenery and forgot to take the bag that had my camera in it up to the visitor center in Rocky Mountain National Park. We went on the ranger walk/talk on the wild flowers up there.  Keeping up with this group is wearing me out.

Adams Falls hike

This is Adam's Falls that is just outside of Grand Lake CO. Short .3 up to the falls and then we hiked further for a 1.6 mile hike. With the photo below the mountains were beautiful, but smoke from the fires diminished the view.

Colorado Mountainns

This is the view of the mountain range that seen from our camp- somewhere on forest road 4 near Grand Lake. Boondocking of course!

WINs doing karaoke last night---- Songs from the 60's 70's-- Songs that you can understand the words.

Lazy pelican

Occasionally a pelican or two visit Lions Park Lake. This one was there a few days ago. Usually when I am walking and spot them across the lake and I walk around, they have moved away so getting a decent photo is impossible. This time I was on my bike so could move to the other side of the lake in good time.

Flowers from the 1800's

Above is a hollyhock from the past and not found in modern gardens. I can remember making dolls from the flower as a child. at my grandmother's house. I don't know what the bottom one is but was also in the 1800's garden section. You have figured out by now that I am good at taking the pictures of flowers but not naming them!

Flowers again -- yellow ones

This the season for flowers. And I have posted a lot of them because they are easy to find and shoot, unlike the hours I spend on water drops and glass reflections. With these I took the 3 pound camera with me to the park with the macro lens on it. This is much easier to do as I can put it in the bike basket.  My mini tri-pod lost a leg and will have to take something else next time. :-(

And these were all at the park and with new one blooming weekly.

Playing with bubbles

Refraction again in the bottom photo. Above was my willing photo assistant Brooke in my attempt to capture the bubbles. And once again it is a learning curve to actually capture what I wanted. It was nice of Brooke to help me out as the two old granddaughters were not interested. And Brooke asked "why am I doing this". Just the blog, just the blog and maybe because I can.

Another sad day for America

It seems to be open season on hunting down police and killing them. Five killed last night in Dallas, 7 others wounded. Deaths in Minnesota and Baton Rouge. On the last two, my knowledge missing since I have been tuning out on the news lately. Now we will again have the debates about gun control to attempt to take us to country's like China and Russia. Even if we get stricter laws, the criminals will still have access to them. Racial unrest has gotten worse since Obama has taken over instead of better or non existent.

Odd chair out

Just like life, there is always someone that marches to a different beat. While sitting at the fireworks, I noticed the patterns in the seats across the way. One seat was out of place. On the lower photo, the setting sun was creating a shadow pattern from the posts.

On the bottom one the different sections give different patterns. As a whole they are clean and uniform with the red dividing the sections.