Unfortunately, prose is unable to convey the impossibility of the peaks and canyons of the Colorado Rockies to anyone who hasn't been there. Pictures are only slightly better. Lost in clouds though they were on this overcast day, the Rockies captured my eyes whenever I could spare them a glance as I navigated the winding roads. Poor Blackbird couldn't figure out where all the air went and had trouble maintaining her speed on the hills. She'll be happier in California. I don't have many stories from today, as rain limited my outdoor activities and the Rockies don't have a lot of indoor ones, but I do have pictures dating back to Paducah...
My room in Paducah, the first hotel room of the journey. Kazuko reclines on the bed at right. This seems like a really long time ago. I don't have any good pictures of the city.
Tunnel Hill in south Illinois. Longer and mistier than it looks. I also have a picture taken from inside the tunnel; all you can see is mist and some light at the other end.
Independence Temple's spire. The temple is the site of Jesus's Second Coming according to the Mormons. They may not believe in evolution, but I guess they believe in architecture. Magnificent.
A rose from the garden across from Jacob's flat in Kansas City. Jacob taught me how to use my camera's close-focus feature. It's the button that looks like a flower, appropriately enough.
A very relaxed raccoon at the zoo in Oakley, Kansas. He probably wanted to be asleep, but tourists like me kept interrupting him.
This prairie dog, on the other hand, was bright and alert, as were his hundreds of cousins swarming the zoo!
Wiley's mother tends her lake garden in Aurora, minutes after being terrified by a snake. The native snakes are apparently eating her fish. It's a dilemma.We close with three views of the Rocky Mountains.
From Panorama Point on the Denver side.
From Colorado Route 9 in the midst of the Continental Divide.
From Grand Junction on the west side, where the mountains have given way to mesas and the West proper has begun.I have plenty more photos, but these tell the story as well as any ten photos can. Time will tell what I photograph tomorrow on my Sunday pilgrimage to Salt Lake City!
There is something wonderful to love about all of these pictures, I'm so glad you were able to post them! I particularly enjoy the a-freaking-mazing shot of the spire, the photo of Wiley's mom in the water garden, and the last shot (I thought the trees were a gigantic bison).
ReplyDeleteCool-looking trees in the final photo. Are they purple? Those trees, and the few pines up by the highway, look like they were planted to relieve the otherwise barren-looking landscape. Me, I would miss being around water; this countryside looks parched.
ReplyDeleteI would have enjoyed the misty tunnel...
Nah, the purpleness is just a trick of the light. They could very well be landscaped, though. West of the Rockies the terrain seems conducive to a lot of brush but not much in the way of trees. Today I drove past acre after acre of solid two-foot bushes blanketing hills and valleys. Grand Junction was pretty similar.
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