Knowing we were heading up to Breckenridge (Colorado) this summer, I asked my children what sort of things they wanted to do while we were there. A ‘14er’ (aka fourteener) topped their list since they knew hiking would without a doubt be on the agenda. This way they could obtain a personal goal (doing their first 14er) and appease me with a hike. The bonus for me and for them turned out to be the numerous mountain goats we saw on the way up and down Quandary Peak! We checked out the weather and picked a day during the week that had the littlest chance of rain, and hopefully, thunderstorms. Then we went online and made our reservations which are necessary in order to hike Quandary. We decided to be at the parking lot by 6am so that we had plenty of time and would hopefully miss those dreaded summer thunderstorms.

On a recent camping trip to Wyoming, I was amazed to see wildflowers like I’ve never seen before. The wet spring and early summer made for some severe flower power in the Bighorns. As I drove up the mountain from Dayton and crested the last hill, clumps of blue and purple dotting the roadside caught my eye. My desire to get to camp and set up my tent was overrode by my desire to capture the beautiful lupine lining the road. Little did I know, there was going to be plenty more to see! The wet spring and early summer was conducive to flower power throughout the Bighorn Mountains.

The natural areas of Fort Collins are hotspots of bird activity in the spring. Cattail Chorus Natural Area has a colony of blue herons in the surrounding cottonwood trees that are entertaining to watch. While I was there, I observed them coming and going building their nests, courtship rituals, their fancy plumes bobbing in the air along with their gawky bodies, and even a beaver swimming in the pond.

Eden, South Dakota was the perfect backdrop for photography this winter. It’s a good thing I only visited for a week or I might have taken thousands of photos instead of hundreds. The sunrises, the sunsets, the deer, the hay bales, the dangling icicles, the abstract snow textures, and the grain bins around town provide the backdrop for this section of my blog.