Mama

Sunday was Mom’s Birthday. It was celebrated by going for a drive in the mountains, eating lunch that consisted of potato chips and a Dairy Queen Blizzard, a train ride through Royal Gorge, and a Dairy Queen dinner. Here are the pictures from the day.


Beckwith Historic Ranch in the Wet Mountain Valley





Moms and Pops above Grape Creek





A view from Temple Canyon Park





Royal Gorge Bridge from the train







Arkansas River






Royal Gorge Bridge






Long way up.





View of the train and Arkansas River







Moms & Pops on the train






Pops on the train



Helicopter flying through the gorge.

The Phantom

It is parent’s week in Colorado. My parents are here this weekend and next. Today was scenic drive day. We drove up the Phantom Canyon Road to Victor and Cripple Creek and enjoyed the sites. It was a real rough day. Pops had to take a nap afterwards. Here are some pictures.




Mom along the Phantom Canyon Rd.









Ditto









Mom & Dad along the Phantom Canyon Rd.








I nearly got stepped on when taking this picture.








Flowers in Victor






The Mall





Pops in front of the Victor Hotel

Magnificent

Since my last post I have watched a lot of soccer, I’ve been sick, and I have done a lot of non-blog worthy stuff. With me being better and the World Cup over, I managed to go for a blog worthy hike on Sunday. I drove up to Brainard Lake Recreation Area in the Indian Peaks Wilderness. I have done hikes in this area before. It is close to Denver and is extremely popular for good reason. I decided to hike Mt. Audubon (13,233 feet). I have had my eye on Mt. Audubon for a while. It is a relatively easy 13er that I figured would be good one to do early in the hiking season. As advertised, it was easy. The round trip hike was about 8 miles. There were lots of wildflowers, pikas, and magnificent views. Enough of this writing, here are the pictures.



I believe this is a White-tailed Ptarmigan







Flowers along the slope of Mt. Audubon









Pika on the rock.








Flowers and Longs Peak







The summit of Mt. Audubon






Me on top. Lake Granby is on the left in the distance.






Me on top with Longs Peak in the background







Looking south at the Indian Peaks with Blue Lake down below






Northwest view with Upper Coney Lake below







Columbine




Mitchell Lake