Autumn in Colorado

I've been away from my blog for a while due to assorted reasons (family and generally being busy), but here's a quick Skywatch Friday post from a hike last weekend to Lilypad Lake in Summit County. First is one of my look-up-with-the-fisheye shots.

The aspen were at their colorful peak.

Here's Lilypad Lake - the reward for hiking up to 9,900 feet (3 km) elevation.

Comments are welcome but I don't promise to respond promptly at this time. Hopefully I can become a regular blogger again at some point.

Mount Rainier From Plane

Here's a Skywatch Friday shot of Mount Rainier, on the way back from South Korea last year.

Boston (2)

Skywatch Friday

Tokyo At Night (2)

This is the last of my photos from last year's trip to Japan, a dizzying night-time perspective taken with my ultra-wide fisheye lens.

Skywatch Friday

Mount Komagatake Skies

Skywatch Friday

Boston

Here's a Skywatch Friday photo from a recent visit to downtown Boston.

And here's a bonus photo of the 15 inches (38 cm) of snow we got at our house here in Colorado last week.

New York Sunrise (2)

Here's another Skywatch Friday shot of that spectacular sunrise over New York City, taken when we flew through Newark.

Hyannis Church

For Skywatch Friday, here's a shot of the First Baptist Church in Hyannis, Massachusetts.

Peak Moods (16) - Lovely

Peak moods is my series of photos of Pikes Peak as seen from our front porch. This shot was taken on Friday, after a couple of cold days. We even had some May snow flurries at our house!

Skywatch Friday

New York Sunrise

We flew through Newark Airport on the way to Boston recently, and the very early flight rewarded us with this spectacular New York sunrise as we were waiting to board. The tall building must be One World Trade Center.

Skywatch Friday

High Elevation Winter

Here are a couple of leftover February Skywatch Friday photos of Pikes Peak taken from our house.

Rainy Shrine

Here's a Skywatch Friday photo of a very rainy sky at Meiji Shrine.

And here's a screen shot of the forecast from yesterday - I won't be able to update it today but I thought it was amusing. A high of 72 °F (22 °C) on Tuesday with wildfire warnings (there was a small one near town Monday), to a low of 15 °F (-9.5 °C) on Wednesday night with an expected blizzard. Welcome to Colorado!

Stormy Copper

Skywatch Friday

Sensō-ji Skies

Skywatch Friday

Snow

We got hit by that "bomb cyclone" last week. It basically formed over Colorado, and wind gusts as high as 97 mph (156 kph) were measured at our local airport (the equivalent of a category 2 hurricane). On top of that we got a foot (30.5 cm) of snow with huge drifts. 1,110 cars got stranded on area roads, which were basically impassable for a day. Luckily I was able to work from home! This was my sidewalk after using the snowblower.

Skywatch Friday

Random Tokyo Skies

Skywatch Friday

Peak Moods (15) - Icy

Here's a recent shot of Pikes Peak (although not the very top). While our weather was nice that day, the Peak looked really cold. All these Peak Moods shots are taken with a telephoto lens from my front porch.

It seems as if Skywatch Friday needs an account to link there, so I don't think I'll be joining that meme much longer.

Storm King

The top lift in this Skywatch Friday photo is Storm King, and it lived up to its name on this windy day. I was skiing Copper Mountain at about 12,000 feet (3,650 meters) elevation when I took this photo.

Another Sunrise

This one was taken at my office.

Skywatch Friday

Typical Winter Sky

I live in Colorado which is always cold and snowy, right? Actually, it's usually sunny. Here's a typical winter sky from a recent walk in a nearby park when I took the fisheye lens.

We do get snow, but at our relatively low elevation (7,100 feet or 2,164 meters above sea level) it rarely sticks around for long as that bright, warm sun melts it quickly.

Skywatch Friday