Early Fall at Cherry Creek State Park

I love the arrival of fall.  The cooler temperatures have finally come, and we most definitely we have nice chilly mornings and evenings.  The cottonwoods along the creeks and lake-sides are starting to turn their glorious shades of gold and make a nice contrast to the browns of the meadows and the still-green leaves on some of the other trees.  These photos are all taken at Cherry Creek State Park, which is surrounded by the metro Denver area.  It's a favorite place to walk and get away from the busyness of city life.  

A beautiful day for sailing.

More Colors of Autumn...Guanella Pass

These photos are from our trip over Guanella pass in September of 2008.  This is one of my very favorite drives any time of year - except winter! We usually start our drive up at Georgetown to go over the pass, coming down to meet US Highway 285 and back down to Denver.

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This is the top of Guanella Pass, and it is gorgeous up here!  Looking towards the east you see Mt. Evans, Mt. Bierstadt and "The Sawtooth".  We took a short hike down to the lake, but it was pretty chilly, so we didn't stay up here too long that day. It even looks cold in the photos!

After enjoying our chilly walk at the summit of the pass, we continued our drive down to 285 and back home ~ 

There are even some pretty reds to enjoy!

Golden Gate Canyon State Park is Truly Golden!

Golden Gate Canyon State Park is a favorite, especially in summer and fall.  These photos were taken September 2007.  

Autumn in the Rockies

This is my very favorite time of year. There is a briskness to the air, the leaves are changing, and there is just - something - that makes me feel comfortable and settled.  The heat of summer is gone (although even last week here in Denver we had temperatures in the mid-90's!), and the cooler temperatures are making me feel less like I'm spending my days in an oven.  I love looking forward to stews, pumpkin bread, and other fall dishes that seem very out of place in the heat of July and August.  

I love getting up to the mountains and seeing the aspen. We drove up this week and saw some gorgeous color in and around Conifer. Unfortunately, potential car trouble kept us from going all the way up to Kenosha Pass, but I am satisfied at what we saw, and I have enough photos from previous autumns to last a lifetime. Here are some that I took at Kenosha Pass in 2008:

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I love these aspen leaves. The trees were an assortment of colors that year - some were still green, while others had turned the usual brilliant autumn oranges and yellows. I thought it was fascinating to see all three in the individual leaves of this one tree ~ 

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 Here is a mountainside of mostly yellow aspen (I know this photo doesn't show it well, but the original shows a lot more yellow on the mountain).

I turned slightly and took the photo of this mountainside which is mostly green and has very little yellow yet.  So different in the very same area ~

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A beautiful stand of aspen ~ 

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I love paths, and often take many, many photos of paths and trails.  I never tire of them ~ 

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Here's a pretty seed-head found along the trail.  So delicate.

More autumn photos to come ~