2013 

Our year in Photos

2013 was an awesome year for Kathleen and I.  We made several trips during the year and made some memorable photographs along the way.  This photo from Arches National Park sums up how we felt about this year. 

Life is Good in 2013!

 January snow in our front yard was the start of our year

 On a trip to Red Rocks I spotted these llamas, 

who I named dumb and dumber.  They were 

having a really bad hair day!

 Red Rocks Park is beautiful in snow in B&W

 Balanced Rock and Friend at Arches NM

 North Window Arch at arches NM

Rifle Falls View near Rifle Colorado 

Rifle Falls View near Rifle Colorado  

Great Blue Heron at Local Park

 

 

Peregrine  Falcon

 

Great Horned owl and Chicks

 

 Busy Bee 

Major Pollinator at work in cactus bloom

 

 

 Water Lily at Hudson Gardens

 Kolob Canyon Utah

 

 Kolob Canyon Utah

 Bull Elk on Trail Ridge Road

 Red Rocks Lake and Indian Peaks

 Rainbow on Trail Ridge Road

 Statue at Rancho de Taos

 Aspen grove after the leaves are gone

Estes Park 

and 

Rocky Mountain National Park

Kathleen and I spent 2 and a half days in Estes Park at the end of July and the first couple of days of August.  We had great weather during our stay and spent time in Rocky Mountain National Park and downtown Estes Park.  

On our first day we went up Trail Ridge Road and had a mixture of clouds and sunshine, and a little wind. 

As we were driving near the top of Trail Ridge Road Kathleen spotted a few Big Horn sheep next to the road.  The traffic was near a stand still, so Kathleen could shoot from inside the car.  Here is one of the shots she got.

She then looked out the other side of the car and spotted a bull elk on the hill to our left.  As you can see I was concentrating on the road and cars in front of us.  There was a pull off about 100 yards ahead, so I pull in and parked so we could get a few shots of the elk.

Kathleen was using her 17-70 mm OS lens and got this global, environmental shot of the elk with the mountains and clouds in the background..

I grabbed the 50-500 mm OS lens and walked down the road to get a good vantage point.  The elk was nice and stayed resting for a while.  I was able to get the first shot below, then a lady started to walk across the tundra and spooked the elk.  The second shot was grabbed a the elk moved away.

 A Valley Rainbow

We stopped at the visitor's center at the summit, which is always nice.  After a brief stop for a snack and a drink of water, we started back down Trail Ridge road toward Estes Park.  Just as we got to timber line a light rain shower passed through.  The sun came out and we looked to our left and there was a beautiful rainbow down in the valley.  Kathleen bust out of the car, almost before I stopped, camera in hand and started shooting this scene.  Here is Kathleen getting into her artist mode, right along the highway.

I was awe struck, I have never seen anything like this in all my years of traveling in the mountains of Colorado.  Here is one of my many shots of the rainbow.

Here is one of Kathleen's shots.

and in just 2 or 3 minutes the rainbow started to dissipate and was complete gone in another minute.

Sprague Lake

On day 2 we drove up to Sprague Lake, which is just off the road to Bear Lake.  This lake is in a beautiful setting with lots of pine trees and the rocky mountains as a backdrop. 

There were  a lot of serious fly fishermen wading out into the waters.  I do not know of a more picturesque place to fly fish or take photographs.

 Elk in Your Own Backyard

 On our last morning we started out to drive back into Rocky Mountain National Park, when we notices 3 very large bull elk just outside our condo.  I stopped and parked the car.  Kathleen went across the grass toward the elk and and I hurried around to our condo to get in front of the elk.  That is me on the porch and the elk a down below. 

Kathleen supplied the narrative for the next few shots.

Larry:  Where are the elk?

Bull Elk:  Who is that up there?

Aha! I see you and you see me

Larry:  Hold still, I have to get a good shot

Elk:  Bye now, see you later

Whoops, I guess I can't go any further

Here is a parting shot from the Sheep Lake overlook. 

We took probably 2 hundred or more shots over the 2.5 days and what we are showing here are a few of the highlights from the trip.  We hope you enjoy these photo as much as we enjoyed taking them.  It is fun to share our love of photography and of the out of doors.

A trip to Moab, Utah

Kathleen and I took a three day to Moab, Utah in mid-May.  The purpose of our trip was to visit and photograph at Arches National Park and Fisher's Towers state park.  On our return trip we planned a stop at Rifle Falls, near Rifle, Colorado. 

Fisher's Towers

 

The first stop on our trip was at Fishers Towers.  We turned off I70 at Cisco and drove along Highway 128 toward Moab.  The road runs along the Colorado river and gives several nice longs views of the towers from a few miles away, with the river in the foreground and the La Sal mountains in the background.

The road continues to an entrance to the park, a dirt road that continues up a parking area at the base of the towers.  Beautiful views in every direction for the parking area.

The view from the base of the main tower, called the Titan tower, is very impressive.  The tower is over 900 feet tall and is a popular climbing site, although it looks a little spooky to me.

The view to the south from Fishers tower shows some nice red rock country and butts.

Arches National Park

 

Kathleen and I spent 1 late Friday afternoon and the following Saturday morning in Arches National park.  We had nice weather with sunny skies both days and a few clouds on Friday.  While at the Park Avenue Viewpoint on Saturday a couple asked us to take their photograph, which we did.  The wife then asked if we wanted a photo also and I said yes.  I then had to explain that my camera did not have live view and she would have to look through the view-finder -- LOL.  She did and made this shot of Kathleen and me smiling.  I guess the younger crowd does not know about cameras with view-finders.  I guess I am dating myself ;O)>.

After entering the park our first stop was at the Park Avenue Viewpoint.  A short walk leads to a trail head with large stone structures on both side of the trail and hence the name park avenue.

Here is a shot from the Park Avenue viewpoint 

Here is another shot from the Park Avenue viewpoint

The next stop was at the Courthouse Towers Viewpoint.

Looking west from the viewpoint we see the rock formation called the Three Gossips.

Here is a second view of the Three gossips.

This is a shot of the structure called the Organ which is on the west side of the road.

North of the Organ is a structure called the Tower of Babel.

From there we continue north on the road to Balanced Rock.  The balanced rock is a unique structure that appears to be ready to fall at any minute.  In the second shot you can see a glimpse of the La Sal mountains in the background.

We continued on the road east of the Balanced Rock to the windows section where we saw the North Windows arch and the Turret arch.
This is a view of the North Window Arch from the west side.

 

This is a view of Turret Arch from the front of the North Window Arch.

 An interesting formation in the area of Arches NP called the Garden of Eden.

Rifle Falls State Park

 

We left Grand Junction, Colorado on Sunday morning and drove over to Meeker, CO to visit one of our son and his family.  Just outside of Rifle, Colorado is a road leading the Rifle Falls State Park.  This is a beautiful location the has 3 water falls cascading of rocks  This is a camp ground on the site and picnic table along the river.  This is a great place with lots of trees, the sounds of rushing and crashing water.  A wonderful place to photograph or just sit and enjoy the sights and sounds over a leisure lunch.

 This image shows the center fall as it crashes down on the moss covered rocks.

 

This image shows the detail at the base of the center falls

  Here is Kathleen posing in front the river flowing out of the falls.

The following images are a few of Kathleen's taken at the falls and showing her artistic approach to seeing the falls and their surroundings.  I rather like her approach!