Change in plans...again!

I did not take a single photo today. I sat in a car repair place from 8 am until 6 pm, minus an hour or so eating/reading at Denny's. I have decided that New Mexico and my Jeeps do not go well together at all. Every time I take a jeep into New Mexico, something bad happens to it. I lost an entire day and had to drastically change my plans for tomorrow. I am FINALLY in Utah! I skipped several smaller lesser known places I had planned on going to today. Perhaps, I will make my return to the area soon.


However, I couldn't not post a photo. So today's photo is from Mesa Verde NP. This can be seen directly after turning into the park. I thought the snow and sky made it look super majestic.

Cliff dwellings

Never fear, I am here for Super Park Saturday. I am posting just a tad bit early, but wanted to get it in before I hit the road again. Just a reminder, that all public lands are welcome in the SPS posts. I had to change all of my plans at the last minute and take another route into Utah due to some snowy passes in Colorado. I had to take a southern route, but it ended well as I went to Mesa Verde today. What an amazing park! It has spectacular views and not just of the cliff dwellings, although those are what I am posting today. The anthropologist in me had to come out and so today you get cliff dwellings.

Colorado National Monument

I am heading to the southern Utah tomorrow, and am going to try to fit in as many national parks as humanly possible. In the meantime, I decided to post some more Colorado National Monument photos.

Video blogs

During my trip to the royal gorge, I posted a few videos to which I got quite a number of emails from friends not in the blogsphere. A nurse I used to work with wrote me an email talking about the bridge and her fear of heights. So during my next outing, I took a video from Black Canyon of the Gunnison just for her. So Rita...this one is for you! Sorry, my laugh sounds so evil! :)

More Garden of the Gods

I went to Colorado Springs again today, and ended up in Garden of the Gods. I was with a friend and tried to keep photography to a minimal so I wouldn't freak him out too much! :) I did end up with some good stuff though.

A bit of trivia for today too! Apparently, the original people that named the park, at first decided it would be great for a beer garden, but later settled on Garden of the Gods.

Can you see "The Crying Indian"? It took me a minute to see it, even with someone pointing it out to me, and now its the only thing I see.

As Seen from the Road

I found myself driving 10 miles an hour following two semi trucks going down an icy slippery slope of a mountain pass. So what else can I do, but snap a few photos along the way?

Launching Super Park Saturday!

My friend Amy and I have enjoyed Skywatch Friday, and ABC Wednesday so much, that we have put our heads together to create "Super Park Saturday!" In case you have not figured it out, both Amy and I are national park junkies. We wanted the excuse to post some of our favorite park photos. We envisioned Saturday to be dedicated to all parks, not just national ones. If you would like to partake, Amy will be keeping track of the master list. If it gets too big, we will find a managing system. All parks are welcome including city, county,or state. If the land belongs to the public, it is up for grabs! Below is the emblem we created to use, if you would like to you it, you may, if you do not want to but still want to post, thats cool too!

I decided to kick off Super Park Saturday with a photo from Colorado National Monument. I decided to take a little trip yesterday that turned into a 16 hour day with most of it involving driving. I had plans to go to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, which I did, but most of the roads where closed. I managed to see some of the canyon. Because it was only 1:30 when I was done, I decided to go to the Colorado National Monument. Once there, I spent a number of hours driving through, hiking, and stopping to take photos. I decided to drive Interstate 70 back because route 50 was a bit scary earlier in the day with ice and I figured 70 would be a safer way back, but it added several hours onto my drive time. This photo was taken from one of the many easily accessible pull overs. I like it because it was one of the few where the photo shows the mountains in the distance, they were hard to capture because of the distance.

Royal Gorge part 4

Some more shots from the gorge. The first was sort of a fluke so to speak. I saw the plane and tried to get it, but I didn't know how it would look, I was pretty pleased with the results. The second shot shows an ice formation from the side of the canyon wall. I wish I had taken a photo before I zoomed in to show of the mad skills of my camera.

150! Skyline drive

After visiting Royal Gorge, I headed back to Pueblo, and I saw a sign for Skyline drive. Of course I took the one way road. It was rather tiny but offered up some amazing views. It was a little scary coming down off the ridge, it had some switchbacks and some tight curves.
Oh and this is my 150th post. In two weeks I have six days off in a row, and plan to head to southern Utah on a massive national park tour. It should allow me to blog new material for a while!

Great Sand Dunes National Park part 2

A few more shots from my recent trip. I was driving up to the park entrance when I saw a herd of deer grazing, so I stalked them for a bit and got the first photo. The second comes from the dunes looking to the mountains behind the park. It was right before the clouds came and started spewing forth ice balls and a nasty wind. It was very difficult to walk on the sand, and I couldn't imagine climbing to the top of the dunes, but the views would have to be fantastic from up there. There is a trail to an overlook of the dunes, but the road was closed due to the snow. Maybe next trip I will be able to focus more on the dunes themselves rather than the landscape surrounding them.

Mirror shots

For whatever reason, I recently took these photos in the side mirror. I did this once before with a sunset photo. I haven't tried it since until this past week. The first is taken from Skyline drive, a very pretty, very little road with no guardrails! The second is from Great Sand Dunes NP. The second one also shows the amount of dirt I collected there, my jeep may never be the same, but the toilet paper from GH is still there! Gotta love my weekend crew...Jerks! Just kidding guys!

panoramic fun

So this photo is comprised of 5 individual photos all sewn together with that fun little panoramic button on my camera. I usually do not take too many photos like this because it seems that the light is never quite right on all the photos involved. However, on a stormy day, it seemed like the world was beckoning me to take these photos. So I gave it a try. The photo was taken outside of Great Sand Dunes NP. I love that you can see the light where it peaked through and hit the snow!

Great Sand Dunes National Park

I decided to go to Great Sand Dunes National Park today for my birthday. I left my place late because it was snowing to the south where the park is located. By the time I got there the main storm had passed and left snow most everywhere. The clouds were still hanging around which made for some great shadows in neat places. I was out walking on the dunes, when the sky opened up and small balls of ice started flying, so I decided to head home. I plan to go back on a nice clear day, when the mountains are not hidden behind clouds.

Royal Gorge part 3

More views of this great place. I am getting ready to go to Great Sand Dunes National Park today. I will be heading out shortly, it is currently raining/snowing, so I was trying to see what the weather was doing there before I head out. However, can't think of a better place to be on my birthday than a National Park, even in the rain!

Royal Gorge part 2

I took so many photos from the gorge that I need to divide up my posts. So this one is dedicated to the bridge itself.

These first two photos of the bridge are taken from both sides at different viewing areas. As you can tell, there were very few people there.

One of the attractions that comes with the hefty admission price is an incline railway. It takes you to the bottom of the gorge and when you get there you can look up at the bridge. Its a pretty unique view. I went down to the bottom with 4 other people.

Another great attraction is the aerial tram, this photo was taken from that ride. I was the only person on the tram. The guide said that in the summer 35 people are crammed in that little thing. I enjoyed being the only one on this trip across.

I have more great photos from this awesome place, so it will be the subject a a few more posts.