Great Sand Dunes

The main purpose of our little road trip was to visit Colorado's Great Sand Dunes National Park, less than 3 hours from where we live.

It's an impressive stretch of sand dunes as high as 750 feet (230 meters). The tiny dots near the top in the next photo are people.

They seem to stretch forever and are near high mountain peaks.

I love the light and shadow from the intermittent clouds as we climbed up the dunes.

You are allowed to hike into the dunes but it's very tiring.

It is usually windy in this park - this shot shows the sand blowing off the top of a dune.

Our World Tuesday

Coming Home...

...after a hike with tired dogs.

Camera Critters

Pets Forever

Saturday's Critters

Zapata Falls Skylight

Within the almost-cave of Zapata Falls is a skylight. I couldn't decide which of these photos I liked best so I decided to post them all for Skywatch Friday. I love the way the water droplets play with the sunshine.

Zapata Falls

The stream I showed you last week led to Zapata Falls, a waterfall almost enclosed within a cave.

It was definitely worth the short hike to see this unusual natural formation.

Our World Tuesday

1978 NYC

Here's a view you sadly can't see any more, from the Empire State Building back in 1978, when I first visited New York City.

Alphabe Thursday (N)

Vintage Weekly

Rainbow

For Skywatch Friday, here's a recent photo of a rainbow. It's actually a double but the second one is very faint.

Quiet Stream

The first stop on our little road trip was a stream and waterfall. To get there we hiked up a trail to a stream.

Then we hiked along the stream bed.

It was very pretty and peaceful.

Come back next week to see the waterfall, or visit Our World Tuesday for more photos from around our world.

Cheyenne Canyon - More Photos

Here are some last shots from Cheyenne Canyon. Can you see the rock climbers in this first shot? They're exactly in the middle of the photo, one left of center, one just right of center.

I thought the shadows in this came out well in B&W.

And one last shot of the trail.

Our World Tuesday

Driving Past Blanca Peak

On a one-day road trip last fall, we were driving past 14,351-foot (4,374 m) Blanca Peak when I snapped these shots. There's more to come from this trip.

And on the same trip, here's Mount Mestas, not as tall at 11,573-foot (3,527 m) but still rising well above the surrounding landscape.

Blue Monday

Scenic Weekends

Rocks, Trees & Blue Skies

Some of you got a sneak preview of this post, as I thought it was scheduled for Wednesday evening but instead went up on Monday morning. It's my Skywatch Friday post for the week.

Cheyenne Canyon and Blue Skies

Here are some photos taken in a recent hike in Cheyenne Canyon, another city park in Colorado Springs.

As the name implies, it's in a canyon and the rocks tower overhead.

Even the huge pine trees look small.

It's been damaged by flash flooding a couple of times recently but they've repaired it each time.

I love having city parks like this within easy driving distance - I can feel as if I'm in the wilderness without leaving the city! And it's my entry for Our World Tuesday and Blue Monday.

New York 1978

My first visit to the U.S.A. was in 1978, when our family took a trip to New York City. This is the first of a handful of slides from that visit that I think are worth posting.

Surely some of my readers have some old photos to link up to the Vintage Weekly meme!