Rocks, rocks, rocks!

You don't always think about it at home, but we don't really see very many, if any, impressive rocks in our neck of the woods. That's one of the things that makes visiting Colorado so much fun.

And a rock exhibition place extraordinaire is the somewhat unfortunately-named Colorado National Monument, which I last visited ten years ago!

This time we took a different (and slightly shorter) trail and was it ever spectacular! The formation at the top of this post was the "Devil's Kitchen," our destination.

The photo above might not give you the best idea of the scale of these beauties, but as you can see here, they are BIG!

That's my sister at the entrance to this amazing natural space. And here she is again, inside, along with our other hiking companion...

It was shady and cool when we were there, in the morning. But apparently in the afternoon, when the westering sun shines directly into the entrance, it really heats up...therefore, the colorful nickname.

Of course looking through the rocks back out onto the countryside is one of the big attractions, photo-opp-wise, of such formations...

...not to mention the oddly-shaped stones, some of which you'd swear were the work of a human sculptor...

isn't that an eagle on his perch?

The Monument isn't the only place I got to see some great rocks last weekend. On my way "home" to Garfield from Grand Junction, I took a recommended scenic route and was treated to some wonderful views of the canyons adjacent to the Black Canyon National Park. (The link will show you how much more amazing the Park scenery is.)

It's been even longer since I've been to that place (I think it wasn't even a Park back then!) and I didn't have time to visit it this time, either. 

But the nice scenic pullouts along Colorado 92 (handily furnished with potties as well!) provided glimpses of the same sorts of canyon scenery. Isn't this view, on the right, stunning?! I took it at Pioneer Point, not far from the Blue Mesa reservoir's dam, but it looks like it's miles away from any such artifacts of civilization.

Here's another view from the Point, showcasing the "Needle," a formation that you might be able to distinguish from the background canyon rocks.

Colorado really rocks!

Some good luck for some hapless boys

As I mentioned last time, I got to go to a Rockies game during a short Denver interlude in my Colorado "vacation." The poor guys are having a miserable year, but the ballpark is beautful, the guys are (mostly) fun to watch...AND, we brought them luck in the guise of a smashing 11-4 victory! Yes, they should pay us to come to games all the time.

Those eleven runs were generated in part by 5 homers by the good guys. The ballpark has a neat feature to celebrate Rox home runs...not as wild as the old Astrodome scoreboard, but more in keeping with the nearby mountain scenery:

fountains erupt when Rox go yard

We got to see another interesting feature of the ballpark on a stroll around the Wells Fargo Club level, where our great seats were thanks to a friend's fortunate status. Here's the control room, not of Cape Canaveral, but where this small army of technocrats operates all the many screens on offer around the park:

this would be an interesting place to work, don't you think?

I really think they have too many of these devices distracting from the game (especially between innings) although I find the out-of-town scoreboard and the strikeout tallies interesting. But I've never seen where the sausage is made for these things before. Fascinating!

One good use of the video board is to show closeups of the musicians playing the national anthem. This night it was a fine brass ensemble...

Altogether a fine, fun evening at one of my favorite ballparks. And in the company of some of my favorite people...

Colorado Clouds

I don't know what it is about the atmosphere up here, but the clouds are just always amazing. Above you can see the "incidental" show they were putting on while we were also watching a Rockies game (more about the game later).

Isn't that cool?! Here's another look at these clouds (that sprinkled on us for a few minutes, but otherwise were just wonderful to look at)...

Here are some other selected cloud gems, from poofy...

To somewhat threatening-looking...

to glorious (admitedly this one was taken in either the Texas panhandle or northern New Mexico)...

Of course, having ambient geological scenery around like we have is apt to make almost any sky look fabulous!

Wordless Wednesday: a specialty after my own heart!

Sad time for trees

The devastation wrought by the various conifer beetles around here has gotten really, really bad.

The view above was taken from the top of the Monarch Pass gondola. It looks like that entire hillside is going to be treeless before too long. (I've written about this scourge before; here's a collection of my blog posts containing the word "beetle.")

Here's another shot, in which you can see some of the ski runs at Monarch. They've had to thin out trees up there, for safety. It's made some of the runs more fun (easier tree-skiing) but I'm worried that eventually the scenery I love so much to take in while skiing will be very different in years to come.

I know some areas of the state are harder-hit than our valley. I was appalled at the views like this one, taken from my car on a short road trip further south...

I'm sure life will eventually adapt, and these hillsides will eventually have some sort of trees on them. But for the rest of my life, anyway, it's going to be dead trees wherever you go.

Fluttering by

On a recent trip to the really big city we took in a new (to us) museum experience, among other fun activities (including granddaughter babysitting!).

The Houston Museum of Natural Science's Butterfly Center is a really amazing place, one that was not in existence the last time I visited the Museum (since that was a long time ago). The educational exhibits inside are very interesting and informative, and they even have a whole wall of chrysalises in various stages of metamorphosis—some of our group even got to see a new butterfly emerging!

But the big draw is the multi-story butterfly garden where hundreds (possibly more?) of the lovely creatures flutter about in their multicolored and delicate beauty. On the right you can see a more-or-less panoramic shot of the garden, to give some idea of its scale.

Such a wonderful array of butterflies! And many posing so perfectly for the cameras...

No, I can't identify any of these guys for you. But lack of knowledge didn't diminish my enjoyment in the least. Various practical questions did arise during our tour of the facility, though, including how they're sure the lovelies get enough food...

feeding stations are scattered around the garden

...and what do they do about population control! We saw several instances of new life getting started, by the way of mating behaviors...

...but we're not sure how they keep the population from outgrowing the space. Someone suggested that overnight they bring in some snakes from elsewhere in the Museum or from the zoo! Glad that wasn't on display during our visit.

Buckets o' blooms

Our damp spring (which was actually a damp early summer as well) has really given us a bumper crop of flowers in the area.

The fabulous crepe myrtles all over town are always reliable summer bloomers, but this year, with the unaccustomed extra moisture, they've really outdone themselves. The pictures in this post were taken just in my neighborhood, but 'hoods all over town can boast similar crops.

In addition to their impressive courage in blooming throughout our hot summers, the variety of their coloration is a big reason they're so popular. My favorite color is the deep red, but I suspect they are the least robust of the varieties: you don't see many of them, and when you do, they don't seem to have as many blooms. I only found a couple of examples on my walks the last few days, and their blooms didn't compare favorably at all with their paler cousins, so I didn't take any pictures of them.

But, oh my gosh! the pinks...

...the lilacs...

...the whites...

...the purples...

...aren't they amazing?!

Here's a look at a whole tree, so you can see how absolutely loaded those branches are:

The whites deserve special mention, I think. They must be among the most robust, if not the most. (In our yard, we have a white and a pink and the white has 'way overshadowed its sib in the years since I planted them both at the same time.) There are quite a few yards in my neighborhood that look a little like they've seen some snow, the white blossoms are so prolific...

even after all those blooms have fallen,
there are still plenty on the tree!

Aren't these lovely?!