Just beautiful

The summer is time for flowers. Flowers of all colors and shapes. And right now it's time for lilies... that's why they dominate the photos today ;)

 

Flamenco in Albuquerque

A few years ago we went to Albuquerque for the famous Balloon Fiesta (click here to see the event - Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta). But we planned to spend some time exploiting the city too. First we enjoyed the farmers market downtown (click here to check it out - Downtown Albuquerque). Next we moved to see the old town. The oldest part of Albuquerque and we discovered something unexpected there. Something we didn't even think we could find in New Mexico - flamenco dancers.

 

Colorful and beautiful

Flowers, flowers, flowers... aren't they the best subject to photograph? And in June there are so many of them that I couldn’t resist taking a couple of photos every time I go out with my camera.

 

An hour in the mountains

Last Sunday was hot. It was hard to breathe in Denver even in the morning, so I decided to  go somewhere... somewhere where the air would be cooler and not so stuffy. Mount Falcon was the first place that came to my mind and I didn't think long about it. This park is only 40 minutes away, and the high altitude helps keep temperature down too. So soon I started on the trail, which at first was wide and flat...

 

Small bird flies fast

I woke up in the morning and decided I needed to do something different. Not that different, but still. Probably go and check out some small birds ;) So I went to Central City to see if I could find some. And it didn't take long to spot one, resting on the fence and waiting for the sun to warm everything up...

 

Loveland Pass - snow in June

The snow in the mountains stays longer than downhills... So if you miss it and want to refresh your memory... just go up to the mountains and you will definitely find some ;) Loveland Pass is one of the best destinations for such an escape from the heat of a big city. Can you imagine this tall wall of snow along the highway at the end of June? And yeah... I was unable to park closer to the summit and needed to walk uphill to the trailhead.

 

In the kingdom of sand...

We crossed the bridge (click here to refresh the memory - Crossing the bridge...), returned to the trailhead and soon found ourselves on Highway 163, heading towards Monument Valley. Everything around us looked quite unusual. The colors faded and the sky took on a grayish hue. The haze had hidden many details and we couldn't see very far.

 

A sad day for merganser family

Last Friday I stopped by the small pond in City Park to check on the merganser family. If you remember, just a week ago (six days to be exact :) ) I discovered that the merganser momma had returned and had 10 (!) ducklings (click here to read this story - They are back!). So I wanted to see if the small ones had grown and how the whole family was doing. But the family was still sleeping at the far end of the pond... so I watched them for a couple of minutes before heading towards the big lake in hopes of finding some more waterfowls...

 

Crossing the bridge...

The Dead Horse Lookout was our first stop on this trip (click here to see - Late evening in Canyonland...) but not the only one on our plans. The next morning we continued towards Natural Bridges National Park. We've been to Utah before, but this park escaped our attention, so we decided to fix this and take a look. We started on the trail that runs along the edge of the canyon and just look at this view!

 

Late evening in Canyonland...

We were going to check out some places and made our first stop at Dead Horse Lookout (not technically part of Canyonlands National Park, but the two are very close and I've always considered this lookout to be the entry point into Canyonlands).

 

They are back!

This morning I stopped by the City Park and they were back! The merganser family is back! Merganser mama and her 10 ducklings (last year there were 8)...

 

Creatures... or aliens?

I went to the Botanic Garden to take some photos of the flowers and when I downloaded the images to my computer I was surprised by what I found. There were some unexpected pictures... Something that I cannot identify... some creatures... or aliens? Anyway... some plants look quite not as obvious if you take a closer look...