2010 Adventures

Updated:  30-Jan-2011

January

Ohhh how time flies...  

January... enjoying the wonders of the desert around Tucson:

February

Hmmm... kinda chilly when I arrived back home in Colorado...

March

Back to southern Arizona... a whimsical cactus character:

Another crazy cactus hairdo...

dead wood... or is it a sleeping critter...

Delicate little wildflowers in the increasing March heat of the Arizona desert:

Meandering in the Chiricahua Mountains of southwestern Arizona:

The native american Chiricahua Apaches often hid in these rock formations and were able to easily shoot the annoying soldiers who were chasing them:

April

Yes... this is a real road sign! Not very helpful as a road sign, but certainly a good reminder about life in general:

Enjoyed a couple of days at the Nature Conservancy's Muleshoe Ranch, near Wilcox, Arizona. The ranch was originally called "Hooker Hot Springs"... named for the owner, not the profession.

Thanks to abundant winter rains, the hills at the Muleshoe Ranch were alive with magnificent wildflowers... such diversity!

Me, at Muleshoe Ranch:

Then off to Las Cruces, New Mexico for a couple of days. My college roommate Bob and his wife Lynda bought a house there. Cactus and wildflowers in bloom.

Then headed back home to Colorado where the snow is melting and the first of this year's wildflowers are popping up:

April view out my kitchen window... still a bit chilly, but thankfully getting warmer every day.

May

Deer duo, still wearing their shaggy winter coats:

Still too much snow to go up into the higher terrain, but the May wildflowers in the Colorado foothills around Boulder and Lyons are delightful.

I've really developed quite an interest in the different varieties of wildflowers, not so much about their names or characteristics, but more about the amazing diversity which the Creator has chosen to express... each different flower a unique manifestation of a specific creative impulse which then merges and melds and morphs over time. So amazing!

And if even the simple flowers of the field are given such grace and beauty, how much more grace and beauty has the Creator placed in the heart of every person?

A cute little fox... it seems we have mutual curiosity about each other...

June

After 220,000 miles (360,000 km), it was finally time to replace the lower ball joints in my trusty Nissan Pathfinder... so I spent a couple of days doing car repair, replacing the ball joints and repacking the wheel bearings:

Then, off on a road trip... Joshua trees near Kernville, California:

Me, in front of a rather large Sequoia tree, in Sequoia National Park::

Scenery in Sequoia National park, looking east into the Sierras:

The majestic Yosemite Valley:

Me, in front of tufa formations at Mono Lake, California with the snow covered high Sierras in the background:

Then up into Oregon, and very chilly Crater Lake... what a magnificent sight... a volcanic crater filled with water:

Then into the rainy, mossy area around McKenzie Falls, Oregon... spectacular greenery everywhere:

Next, back home to Colorado, and a hike to Lily Lake, near Silverthorne:

Then, on up the road to Cataract Lake:

Met this coyote along the trail,  apparently heading home with dinner:

Magnificent flowers... Scarlet Gilia, Fairy Trumpets:

And lots of Blue Columbines:

July

Just staying in Colorado this month... so much to explore here at home when the weather permits.

Encountered this moose and her young calf in the rocky Mountain national park, near the Green Mountain trail:

Fields of wildflowers encountered whilst hiking to Lake Isabelle:

These tiny Elephant Head flowers are so amazing:

Picturesque Lake Isabelle, nearly 11,000 ft elevation (3300m) in the Colorado Rockies:

A few more of the magnificent July wildflowers in the high mountains:

August

Encountered this delightful butterfly moth on a hike to Buttonrock Reservoir near Lyons, Colorado:

 

On a hike in the mountains, looking across Diamond Lake, near Nederland Colorado, at about 11,000 ft elevation:

 

September

Fall colors near Aspen, Colorado:

Magnificent red rocks near Moab, Utah:

"Figures" on the right remind me of Kachina characters:

Such diversity of shapes... pointed, rounded, curved, arched!

Beautiful arch... lots of arches are found around Moab:

More red rock country around Sedona, Arizona:

Majesty!

Wonders!

Everywhere one looks... more wonders!

Along Oak Creek, looking toward Cathedral Rock, Sedona, Arizona:

Fall colors near McClure Pass, south of Redstone, Colorado:

Looking up:

October

More fall colors, on Wolf Creek Pass, heading toward Pagosa Springs, Colorado:

Unusual sign on a restroom door, on the Navajo reservation near Cortez, Colorado:

Northwest of Sedona, Arizona, a popular "vortex" location:

Oh such wonders!

An arch... view from the outside:

And a view from the inside:

A dinosaur head?

Hiking up Bear Mountain, getting quite a view of the red rocks below:

Coming back down from Bear Mountain:

View across the valley:

Magnificent Bell Rock, south of Sedona, Arizona:

Saguaro National monument, east of Tucson, Arizona:

Sunset over the Arizona desert:

Hiking in Honeybee Canyon, northwest of Tucson, Arizona:

Hiking in Esperero Canyon, on the northwest side of Tucson:

Little frogs all over the place in Esperero Canyon:

November

Picture Rock, northwest of Tucson, Arizona:

Scenery along Picture Rock hiking trail:

Cool, hazy fall days in Colorado. Hiking south of Boulder, Colorado:

December

Out for a stroll, east of Tucson, Arizona:

Near Agua Caliente wash east of Tucson... cactus, cactus and more cactus:

Rosy sunset light in the clouds over Saguaro covered hillside in Sabino Canyon:

.... more adventures to come in 2011... (God willing)....