Zen-like serenity at Bear Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park

I love to travel, but I’m always ready to come home after a week away. Before I lug my suitcase into the house, I’m drawn into my garden to see what I missed and what needs trimming or watering. And now that I’m blogging, I find that, irritatingly, I itch to be on the computer while I’m away in order to write a post or read my favorite blogs. (During Austin’s summer, I much prefer blogging about gardens to actually being in mine.)

Rocky Mountain National Park cured me of my obsessiveness. A week away, and not once did I give a thought to my garden or long to be on the computer. We just returned from Estes Park, Colorado, where we spent a week in blissfully cool weather hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park, viewing wildlife, and just sitting in Adirondacks by our rented cabin, watching the Big Thompson River gurgle by. Ahhh, paradise!
Here are a few photos from our trip.

Bear Lake

Wildflower with blue “bells.” I took several photos of wildflowers along the trails, but lacking a guide book, I couldn’t identify any of them, unfortunately. Do any Coloradoans know what these are called?

Red wildflower on a rocky slope

A close-up of that one

Bierstadt Lake

Fir needles

Blue wildflowers

Dainty wildflowers along a brook

Moraine Park Valley and a fly fisherman

Pink wild rose and bee
In addition to the local flora, we also saw some unusual (to us) native fauna.

Bighorn sheep

Bighorn enjoying roadside repast

Mallard ducklings at Bierstadt Lake

Curious ground squirrel along the Alberta Falls trail . . .

that turned out to be a killer! Moments after we admired the little fellow, we spotted a cute baby rabbit along the trail. The squirrel noticed too. He immediately leapt on the rabbit, which squealed in terror, and dispatched it with a bite to the throat. Then he carried his kill up the trail a few yards and kicked some dust over it, as if to bury it for later. A few moments more, however, he picked it up again and carried it into the underbrush. What a life lesson for the kids. And who knew that ground squirrels were carnivorous!

Home, home on the range, where the deer and the antelope play. On our way through West Texas and northeastern New Mexico, we spotted plenty of antelope (AKA pronghorns), both solitary and in herds, grazing on the high plains.
Well, now I’m home. I’ve pulled a few weeds. I’ve topped off the container pond. I’ve watered a couple of droopy plants. I’ve checked my favorite blogs to see what far-flung gardening acquaintances are up to. Here I am on the computer, posting again. But my heart is still in the Rockies.