Showing posts with label Fall Colors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fall Colors. Show all posts

Saturday, September 10, 2011

September 10


A cool but sunny Day
I noticed it right away when I got out of bed this morning. It had cooled down A LOT. It also was windy but there were no clouds. I bet the wind was originating from hurricane Katia, being still a class 1, hurrying out across the ocean towards Norway. 
So the day started as a day in almost midt September is supposed to start. Autumn/fall was in the air for sure.


Since it was that cool outside I had to start our furnace while I was sipping the first cup of coffee in my favorite IKEA-recliner by the window. At 8.30 we had a regular breakfast and then I figured that the mosquitoes would be cold this morning as well, so consequently, it might be a good day to attack the blackberry brambles. With my usual outfit I ambled off, leaving Molly at home. She was still in sleepy mode anyway.


I went to the new patch I had discovered the other day and started picking. When I was done in one spot I eyed across the bramble jungle seeking out more of the black shiny fruits. And there was a lot ahead of me, but I had to bend and trample vines in my way. They snagged on my old jacket and my pants trying to keep me from advancing ahead. 
But there were indeed no or at least very few mosquitoes and yet my left arm was flailing around in the attempt of holding away the thorny vines. 
While I was doing this I had an idea for a novel: Think about it, a guy goes out into the blackberry jungle far from home and gets so entangled in thorns that he can't get out anymore. He fights until exhaustion and finally has to give up his struggle. Nobody knows where he is, there is no help to expect. After the first day in the brambles he has eaten all the blackberries he can reach in his precarious situation. The story ends with either full disaster or a miraculous rescue by a another blackberry picker which turns out to be a girl, and of course they get to know eachother and finally marry. What do you think? I hope this isn't going to haunt me as a nightmare.


Enough of that. Bea had heard there would be a high swell from Katia along the coast, so she suggested a trip to Herring Cove Beach. I was sceptical about the swell as  Herring Cove is pretty protected and we also had west-north-westerly winds today, which at Herring Cove would blow off the shore. But we went over there anyway. As we approached the beach I could see that I was right. There was very little swell, but none the less it was very beautiful out here. While Bea went on a foto safari to the view platform, I seized one of the two benches and lazily stretched out in the bright sun. The waves were rolling up the shore in an even rythm. It was like the ocean was breathing, the heartbeat of the sea. 
Herring Cove -  it doesn't get any better






Windcasts off the shore were chasing the glitter of the sun out to sea, Nobody else was around. A completely deserted beach witnessing that the warm summer days had given way to a bright and clear September.


Wishing you a wonderful Sunday!

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

August 09


It was Fall in the Rockies...
when we roamed around there in 2008. I had been there many times before. And we had our base camp made up in Wheat Ridge at the friendly Prospect RV Park. From there we did great tours north into the Rocky Mountain National Park, through the South Platte River Valley and to the highest Mountain Road in the U.S. But most scenic were the developing colors of the fall. This colorful frenzy is topped off by the first snow on the highest tops. But travelers should also be warned to drive up the mountains as weather conditions can change rapidly. Severe snowstorms can develop at any time during the year, but are most common from the end of September throughout the winter months.




Estes Park at the foot of the Rocky Mountain Park


From by-gone days a hotel still waiting for guests
coming through the South Platte River Valley
We are always checking on weather forecasts looking at wind speeds, and developing cold fronts before making it through the mountains. Several times we have started very early in the morning on either side of the I-70 in order to be faster than the coming storm.
The U.S. Post Office in the old mining town of Georgetown
Eisenhower Tunnel on I-70 up from Denver
Yet, the Rockies are remaining a favorite area for us, and we will always return to the area.


At the summit of the Old Fall River Road high above Estes Park