2011 Adventures

Updated:  31-Dec-2011

            

January

Wow... another year... what a splendid gift!

Magnificent Saguaro cactus... somehow managing to grow out of rocks, near Tucson:

Saguaro-covered hillsides in Saguaro National Monument:

What amazing graceful beauty!

Sunset in Bear Canyon, east of Tucson:

Next... heading off toward the Salton Sea and Palm Springs in southern California.

Salvation Mountain, located just south of the Salton Sea in Southern California, is a rather amazing place, created on a sandy hillside by Leonard Knight in his on-going praise of God, encouraging loving-kindness for all. To get a sense of the size, the "O" in the word God on top of the hill is about 3 meters (10 ft) tall. It's all made with dirt, adobe, wood, and thousands and thousands of cans of donated paint.

Here's a close-up of some of the words:

Inside a new portion of Leonard's monument:

Leonard's truck

:

Leonard's mailbox:

Welcome sign along the road:

Then off to Palm Springs for a few days.

This is Palm Canyon, south of Palm Springs, California. Date palms needs a lot of water, so they grow quite happily in this canyon which has streams fed from the nearby southern California mountains:

Sand dunes in Southern California, east of Brawley. It's like being on another planet. Nothing but sand as far as the eye can see.

February

A little chilly when arrived back in Colorado...  -23 deg C (-10 deg F), and it's nearly noon:

Very chilly, but very pretty, view out of my kitchen window:

Cute little fox that I saw this morning, out my bedroom window:

March

Broken ice in splendid geometrical patterns on Buttonrock Reservoir near Lyons Colorado: 

And then off to Arizona to get warm!

When Colorado is covered with ice and snow, it's always so amazing to go to Arizona and see the flowers springing to life.

Such delightful symmetry in nature... such as this cactus:

At this time of year, there are many streams and pools of water in the Arizona desert:

Stream meandering amidst the saguaro cactii:

April

Arizona wildflowers in early April. What magnificent colors in the cactus blooms!

Petroglyphs along the trail leading to Wasson Peak, west of Tucson:

Magnificent red rock formations near Sedona, Arizona:

And then back home to Colorado, where the spring snows are melting and a few wildflowers are just beginnng to open:

May

A lot more wildflowers opening up, at least down low in the flatlands of Colorado in May. The mountains are still larely covered with snow.

June

I really enjoy hiking in Colorado during the summer, and have been delighted by the wildflowers which are beginning to open in June. The snows have just melted in many areas, so the flowers are only beginnig to open. Here are a few examples:

July

Still a lot of snow in the high country, but quite beautiful at lower elevations:

A few wildflowers and hillside near Estes park Colorado:

There are so many elk around Estes Park Colorado that they just stroll along the road!

Santa Cruz lake in northern new Mexico:

July wildflowers and cactus in northern New Mexico:

Parts of Bandelier National Monument were burned in a forest fire in July, and as the fire consumed old dead trees, the fire was so intense that the old dead tree stumps were burned completely out of the ground!

Meandering along a stream in Villanueva State Park, New Mexico:

Bird nests on rock outcropping, along the stream... seems like some sort of bird condominium complex:

August

Another horned toad! What a delightful critter!

Such beauty!

Some August wildflowers in northern New Mexico:

Along the Fourth of July trail, near Nederland, Colorodo... a natural wildflower garden at an elevation of about 10,000 ft (3300 m):

Some of the many August wildflowers along the trail:

These Elephant Head flowers always delight me!

This flower looks like turkey heads to me! (but has the rather unattractive name of Parry Lousewort):

September

Colorful fall foilage along the creek in Poudre Canyon;

A few new wildflowers showing up in September...

October

The view out of my kitchen window, looking to the south-west:

The Aspen trees in the high Colorado mountains are now at their peak of color:

A couple of wildflowers are just now blooming in mid-october, apparently being fooled by the nice weather:

Then, we suddenly had a very wet, heavy snow snowstorm which broke a lot of trees, including this one in my back yard. This part of the tree landed in my yard.. the other half of the tree landed on my neighbor's roof!

November

Ahhh... now that the snow has melted, it's apparent that the tree broke because it was rotting inside:

Not much else happening in November... just cold and frequently snowing.

December

In Saguaro National Park, east of Tucson, what splendor! Blue sky, mountains, desert sands and the magnificent saguaro cactus:

A long-legged desert jackrabbit, at dusk:

Another view of the grandeur in Saguaro National Park:

.... more adventures to come... (God willing)....