Buena Vista

I took a Columbus Day holiday trip to Buena Vista this past weekend.  This was the view from my hotel's parking lot.

Unfortunately, it rained on Sunday, which was the only full day I was there.  So on that day, I went south to Great Sand Dunes National Park, where it wasn't raining (as much). 

 

  

I decided to climb High Dune.  This was the view from down below.

And this is a panorama from atop High Dune.  

Monday morning, I drove back to Boulder.  I liked this scenic view point showing the railroad through the valley.  

More wildlife at work

It appears the cold weather is driving the critters indoors at work.  Yesterday I was sitting at my computer when I noticed a spider crawling on my lap.  The leg span of the thing was about 2".  I looked down, saw it, then jumped up to brush it off me!

Today I was closing up the lab for the weekend when I saw something on the floor move.  It was a baby snake, which I scared into this resting spot:

I didn't see any rattles, but I still didn't want to get bitten, so I got the broom and swept it outside.  Here it is on the way down the hallway:

And here it is coiled up on the mat by the door before I swept it outside:

From what I can find online, this looks like a gopher snake or a bullsnake.

Colorado Springs

On Saturday, May 4th, I drove down to Colorado Springs to visit Terri and Mike for the day.  We went to the Cave of the Winds, west of the city.

The cave was located up the side of a mountain, which gave us a good view of the town of Manitou Springs:

Praying Mantis

I saw this brown praying mantis in front of my townhouse today:

I'm not sure how I spotted it, because when I first noticed it, it blended in well with its surroundings!

First snow in the mountains

It was rainy and cool from Tuesday through Thursday.  When the clouds cleared, they revealed snow up in the mountains.

Interesting things from the past two weeks

Two weekends ago, I went to an ATM, where I got this twenty dollar bill:


Henry Fowler was the Secretary of the Treasury from 1965-1968!

I took a hearing "baseline" test at work, which pretty much told me what I already knew: I have some hearing loss:


Last week, (L to R) Tara, Greg, Tara, me, and Trevor did so-so at trivia.


That same night, it snowed (which I already blogged about).

Since Cora couldn't make it that night, I went with her and Trevor to trivia the following night, as well!


All that trivia appears to have paid off, because this week, we won!


This time, it was (L to R) Tara, Trevor, Cora, me, and Anne.

In almost an exact replay of the previous week, it snowed again (!) Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. Wednesday was cloudy and cold, and I didn't take any pictures. This morning, I did. All around NOAA the snow had what looked like hoar frost on it. According to Wikipedia, this is called surface hoar frost.


Green Mountain and the flatirons looked cool, as they usually do after it snows:


Finally, the steam coming from the building was so thick it cast a strong shadow!

First Snowfall

Tuesday morning was a typical fall morning:


After the season's first snowfall, Wednesday morning looked like this:


The snow was really wet, which weighed down the trees:



Every tree looked like a weeping willow, and there were branches of all sizes on the ground.

This morning, I took this picture of the Flatirons on my way into work:


Today's sun melted most of the snow from the trees and roads.

Last Week+

At trivia two weeks ago, we finally had our full team back together (L to R, Ann, Trevor, Tara, me, Cora), but we just missed out on placing.



A week and a half ago, I had an angle-wing katydid land on my office window!


I think it was the first time I'd seen one since I blogged about the one I saw back in 2008: http://jeffonthenet.blogspot.com/2008/09/angle-wing-katydid.html

We came in third in trivia this week, breaking our drought. Pictured (L to R) are Ann, Trevor, me, and Tara:


This weekend, the weather was perfect. I had coffee with Sara and Rich at Bittersweet Saturday morning:


While drinking our coffee, we were treated to a B-17 flying overhead:


The enjoyed the weather even more once I found out it is supposed to snow this Wednesday!

Gem Lake

On Saturday, I went for a hike with Cora, Trevor, and Rich to Gem Lake, which is near the northeastern edge of Rocky Mountain National Park.

On the way up, we had great views of Estes Park and Longs Peak.


There were interesting rock formations everywhere,


including surrounding Gem Lake:


We climbed the rocks to a lunch perch, near the top-center tree in the picture above.


We ate with a nice view.


There was a little bit of snow on Longs Peak:


After lunch, we continued on, finally seeing signs of autumn



on our way to Balanced Rock:


We climbed around on the rocks before heading back.




We stopped at the overlook on our way home and ate watermelon. According to Google Earth, Gem Lake is located to the right of the pointed peak between the two rock humps on the right side of the ridge (the appropriately named Lumpy Ridge):

Rocky Mountain National Park

I went to Rocky Mountain National Park today.


I drove along Trail Ridge Road, the highest continuous highway in the U.S. I stopped at Lava Cliffs to recreate this photo from my youth.


I did it from memory, so I didn't get the exact stone I was resting on!


The Gore Range parking lot provided a nice view down Forest Canyon. That's Longs Peak at the end on the left.


Then I went up to Bear Lake (as I always do, it seems).


I learned that the view of Longs Peak from the lake


was the inspiration for the Colorado quarter design:



This view was one of my favorites, so I'll show yet another similar shot!


I thought about turning around when I first got to Estes Park because the Labor Day traffic was so bad. Next time I go, I'll try not to choose a holiday weekend!