Life on the High Plains

 If there's anything I can't resists it's big brown eyes. This is the pup we rescued off the side of the highway nine or ten years ago after she'd been hit by a car.  She's been grateful every day since and I love her to pieces.

The very mild winter weather continues here on the high plains of Colorado.  We did experience a blast of artic air a couple weeks ago, but it passed on through and headed east. On Sunday it was 60+ degrees so we loaded up the dogs and headed to our favorite nearby walking/hiking area.  The ponds are frozen over.  You probably can't see it in the above photo, but there's a basketball in the middle of the pond.  Thank goodness no one decided to follow it out there to retrieve it. We stayed on the trails/maintenance roads that were mostly in the sunshine to avoid mud from the couple inches of snow that accompanied our recent artic blast. Fountain Creek still has a little water in it and is quite calm compared to what it will be when the snow melt starts.  Speaking of snow melt, the Colorado snow basin is at 57% of median.  Colorado and everyone downstream who uses are water will likely be in for some restrictions this summer.  It's setting up to be a bad...

I volunteer at our local nature centers at least once every week.  Last week I was at Fountain Creek and the view of the pond was different to what I've seen before. What in the world is causing those round spots?  I knew we didn't have bubblers out there to keep the water from freezing. Just as I'm wondering about it our facilities manager walks in.  He says this is caused by pockets of methane in the pond.  Who knew? Linking with Skywatch Friday  

After leaving Yosemite after several days we drove to Anaheim for a little Disney fun.  We arrived a day ahead of the family members we were meeting so we ventured to the Park that evening hoping we could find some dinner and maybe enjoy some of the rides.  The Park was packed, it was nearly impossible to find a place to eat, the lines were long.  At that point I knew this would probably be my last Disney trip.  All I wanted to do was go back to the mountains of Yosemite. We wandered over to California Adventure and found a nice spot to watch the fireworks.  Disney does the best firework shows. Disney is a whole lot more fun when there's a granddaughter involved.  Here we are on the Toy Story ride. G and her Pappy enjoying Autopia. Thank goodness for the Lightning Lane fast pass.  It's something you purchase in addition to the admission fee that allows you to reserve times for specific rides and then cut to the front of the line when your time arrives....

On our first full day in Yosemite we decided to take the "Valley Floor Tour" to become acquainted with the park.  I never used to be a fan of tours, but have changed my mind because of the many Viking cruises we've taken.  They always include a short walking tour of the area and the guides give great advice on things you can come back to see later on your own.  The Valley Floor Tour was  great for learning about the park and how to get around. The Valley Tour has been a long standing tradition in Yosemite.  It's usually led by a park ranger and the one we had was fantastic.  He has worked in the park for something like 30 years and he knows it well and made the tour very fun.  I can't quite remember what he was doing in this short video.  I think he was yodeling. There are several planned stops throughout the park.  This view was especially beautiful with the Merced River, El Capitan on the left and the Cathedral Rocks on the right. Interesti...

I'm going to try to resurrect my blog in 2026.  The last few months of last year were a bit overwhelming and my blogging fell by the wayside. Going back to September we had a weeklong trip to California and visited a place on my bucket list--Yosemite National Park.  Originally, we had reservations to stay in a "tent village" inside the park (over 500 tents).  Very convenient, but there was no electricity and the reviews of the facility was less than favorable.  Since we like to enjoy our vacations we decided to look for something else. We ended up choosing the small town of Mariposa, CA and instead of a hotel we decided to go for a glamping experience.  It was a great choice! Although we were still in a tent, it was a deluxe tent.  Queen size bed, rug, heated mattress, electrical outlets, fans, space heathers, small desk and table.  My favorite was the outside deck with chairs and a gas firepit!  (Firepit was an extra charge, but definitely worth ...

 We were in Florida in November and got the chance to visit Everglades National Park. (I'm a national park geek!) It was during the government shutdown which was very strange. No rangers on duty anywhere.  As a former NPS employee I really don't believe in leaving the parks unattended. One of the park concessionaires was still operating so we were able to get on a fabulous tour of the park. I've never seen so many great blue herons in one location. This guy was patrolling his territory. The view from the Shark Valley Observation Tower. This is a view of the tower.  Pretty amazing they built it out in the middle of nowhere. This guy was waiting at the start of the walkway to the tower.  Of course there were some tourons getting way too close.  Believe me when I say I gave it lots of space. Lots of interesting birds that I was unfamiliar with. This one appeared to be drying out its feathers. So beautiful! Lots of babies hanging out in the grasses.  Apparently...