Weekly Photo Challenge: High Angle

Last Thursday's photo challenge over at A Step in the Journey was to shoot from a high angle.  The weekend before, I had numerous chances to shoot from high angles.  You see, I drove to Copper Mountain, CO for the Warrior Dash and this year I decided to avoid the Denver traffic and take another route.  I had plenty of time to travel.  My race heat was to run at 11:00 am on Saturday and I had Friday off from work so I decided to spend all day driving.  I have always wanted to see Estes Park and drive through the Rocky Mountain National Park so that's what I did.  Amazing!  Beautiful!  Breathtaking!  If any of you have a chance to drive through the park, do so! 

I will write more about that road trip later, but for now here are a couple pictures I took in the park that I feel touch on the challenge for last week. 

 

 

 

I'm even above some clouds.  :)

Raining not too far in the distance.

"National parks are the best idea we ever had. Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than our worst." ~ Wallace Stegner

It's that time...

It's that time of year. The time in between the scorching heat and the bitter cold. The time when days become shorter. The time to harvest. The time of the year that I consider to be the most beautiful. I love Autumn. I love the colors of the leaves. I love the smell. I love the weather...it's usually not too hot and not too cold...usually. :) Last weekend I went on a road trip to Spearfish Canyon in the Black Hills to take pictures of the pretty colors. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a disappointing trip. It rained the whole time (just my luck...it was super nice the whole week before...almost too hot). Yes there were pretty colors to see, but they just aren't quite as pretty when there is a cold, wet fog surrounding everything. I did manage to get some fairly decent pictures at Roughlock Falls, but I had to use Photoshop Elements to enhance the color a little because they turned out too dull and dreary (due to the fog and rain). Next weekend I get to attend a wedding at Roughlock Falls and I'm hoping that the sun is shining and there is still some color to see.

This is North of Harrison in Monroe Canyon.

Roughlock Falls in Spearfish Canyon

Near Roughlock Falls

View from Roughlock Falls

On the way home...beautiful Aspen.

"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower. " ~ Albert Camus

"Bittersweet October. The mellow, messy, leaf-kicking, perfect pause between the opposing miseries of summer and winter." ~ Carl Bishop Hipps

Road Trip

A couple of weeks ago I decided to take a road trip. I knew there were still some fawn around with spots, and I also knew they would be outgrowing those spots very soon! I wanted to try to get pictures of them before they completely outgrew those cute spots! I also just needed to be by myself for a while. I needed to get out of town and just drive where the roads would take me. I do some of my best thinking in my car with the music blaring. I feel very at home in my car. Driving relaxes me, and sometimes I just need to get in my car, drive, listen to music, and sing at the top of my lungs! So, I drove in a big circle on some country roads around Lusk. It took me a couple of hours and it was exactly what I needed. I saw a few fawn who still had some spots, an owl, and lots of great countryside! It was even nice enough for me to drive with my windows down, so I got some fresh air and I got to take in all the wonderful smells of the country (okay, all the smells are wonderful except for the smell of cow manure!). I think I might take a road trip at least once a month. Head in a different direction each time. Maybe even make it a weekend road trip...get out the state or head to a different part of Wyoming to see some new scenery. I know a perfect country road near Cody, WY that has been calling my name for over a year!

The leaves looked so pretty as they blew in the wind while the sun shone on them.

This owl was just sitting in the road.

There are still so many sunflowers along the roads. So pretty!

Vacation

Wow...it's been a while! I've been super busy!

A month ago I went to Cody, Wyoming with Kurtis (he attended the Cody Hotline School for Lineman) and I got to spend a week shopping and hanging out with a couple of my friends and their kids (wives & children of two other linemen who attended). It was a much needed vacation! I didn't get to spend as much time with Kurtis as I would've liked (the time we did spend together was fabulous though), but I still had a lot of fun with Sunny (one of my best friends), her daughter, Autumn, Tiffany (another good friend), and her son, Colton. Autumn and Colt are so adorable! Luckily I brought my camera along and I got a few good shots of the kids (it was hard considering they are both "on the run").

It was pretty chilly the whole time we were there but we managed to get out on the town every day (mostly shopping and a little partying). We attempted swimming one day (the nicest day of the week) and it was a bust (for the kids). Too cold. The kids lasted around 5-10 minutes and then their moms decided since it was too cold it was nap time. Colt informed me that I had to get out of the pool so I could take a nap. After a little convincing he finally decided it was okay that I skip nap time and swim a little longer. Here's Autumn in her swimming gear...

Here are a few more pics of the kids...I love this expression! So cute!Autumn never wants to smile for me when I have the camera out . I did manage to get one shot of her smiling and, as my luck goes, it came out blurry...so here is one where she is almost smiling. :)
The final night we were there Kurtis and I went out and enjoyed a nice dinner and then decided to take a road trip. We headed towards the mountains (in search of Elk) and drove 30-40 miles until we finally saw herd after herd of Elk. As Kurtis was checking out all the Elk I was checking out the majestic scenery. Here is what much of the conversation entailed when we got to that point of the trip:

Me: "Babe! Look at that waterfall! It's so pretty!"

Kurtis: "Yeah, nice. WHOA! Look at that Bull! He's HUGE!"

Me: "Wow...he IS big. Look at the way the snow is blowing off the mountain...it's so awesome!"

Kurtis: "Uh, huh. I can't wait for hunting season!"

Okay, those may not be exact words, but it's pretty close! At one point we saw a sign warning us of Grizzly Bears and I got way excited and declared that it would be so cool if we saw one! Well, lo and behold, a few miles down the road Kurtis starts freaking out because 100 yards or so from the road is a Grizzly! It stood up, looked at us, and then ran away! It was so cool! We also saw some Big Horn Sheep.

So, there is one terrible thing about the road trip...I, being the airhead that I am, left my camera in the hotel room! The one time I didn't take it along! I was SO mad at myself! Kurtis had even asked me if I wanted to go back and get it (after dinner) and I said, "No. It's clear across town. Don't worry about it." He said, "Are you sure?" I said, "Yeah. Not a big deal." ARRRRRGGGGGGGG! I'm such an idiot! I did manage to get some pictures of the mountains on my cell...not the best quality, but they pretty much give you the picture of what we saw.
"No man needs a vacation so much as the man who has just had one." ~ Elbert Hubbard