Another Trip to Colorado


Sunrise on the Res, originally uploaded by ivoryblushroses.

Thursday's drive to Colorado began in the wee dark hours of the morning. By the time the sun rose, I was near Monument Valley. The colors in the landscape were made more intense by the night's rain showers. The light and color in the landscape was glorious.

Reservation Sunrise 1
It was the most beautiful I think I've ever seen the Reservation.

Distant Peaks
The rays of morning light showed off some distant peaks that I believe are actually in Colorado.

Verdure Utah homestead
Between Blanding and Bluff lies a lovely green valley that I always look forward to seeing. There are some abandoned houses here that I love. Each time I see this one, I find myself wishing that someone would rescue this lovely house and bring it back to life. It's just the kind I place I would love to have. When I stopped to take the photo, I discovered an plaque stating that this was the site of an early Mormon settlement called Verdure.

Me at Colo Ntl Mon
I took a break from the long drive and spent a couple of hours at Colorado National Monument. The scenery of this eastern rim of the Colorado Plateau is spectacular with a high vertical rock walls, amazing rock formations and many canyons. Some ladies that I met along the way were nice enough to take this picture of me.

ZigZag creek in Canyon
The steep red rock walls of the canyons are spectacular. I love how the creek in the bottom zigs and zags it's way along and how brilliantly green the vegetation is over the creek.

Cone Ovens
These formations are known as the coke ovens because their shape is similar to the coke ovens used to heat ore. The twisted and knurled shapes of the bristlecone pine made a great frame for the view!

Juniper Berries 1
All along the rim, the junipers are in full fruit. In places the berries are so blue and so profuse that at a glance they appear to be blossoms!

IMG_1779
All across the Plateau, the rock and soil is layered in multicolored bands ranging from white to gold to green to red to purple. At this outcropping, I loved how the green soils were capped by a layer of golden stone and carried a band of deep ochre red in the middle. It's fascinating to think about all the things that have happened across the eons of time to create these different layers. Seas that have come and gone, rivers that passed by for a time, times of dense forest, ages of deserts. We live in such a blink of an eye as geologic time goes. I find myself wondering what mark our time will leave on the land.

DSC05755
Back on the road again, I headed east across Grand Junction and into orchard country. There is such an extreme contrast of the lush trees on the valley floor and the barren rock buttes above.

Fruit Jewels
At this orchard, the apricots and plums hanging from the trees were stunningly beautiful! I couldn't resist buying a small bag of apricots ~ so yummy when they are fresh and wonderfully ripe!

IMG_1805
I also picked up a couple flats of succulent peaches!

Fresh Peach Pie
Which resulted in a the baking of a couple of yummy peach pies!

Comments

Heikesquilt said…
Thank You again for these great pictures, it's always nice to stop at Your blog
Hugs Heike
lemon said…
I always admire so much the hand-creations you make (pieces of art, really) but I also enjoy so much your travel descriptions-particularly your comments on them! keep on doing it, please!

And, would you by any chance, enjoy posting the peach-pie recipy? I would love it!

My love from Athens-Greece.
I love your peaceful blog-no better word to describe it.
Rachel said…
Such wonderful sunrise skies - thanks for sharing them with us!
Adrienne said…
Your photos are gorgeous, as always! I love stopping by to see what you have to share. Thanks for taking us on this trip with you - we may never get to see the sites in person but love seeing them through your eyes.
~Adrienne~
Lorraine said…
Beautiful photos. I'm off to Colorado in a couple of weeks and have picked up some shopping hints from your blog. Thanks so much.
shirley said…
The views are absolutely stunning, you are a very good photographer. You pie looks yummy.

Thank you for sharing the photos of your trip.
Donna said…
I love it when you post your beautiful travel photos. Reminds me of our years in the west.
Lauri said…
Wow, you went right past my house! The Monument is about 1/2 mile away from my backyard. It is beautiful isn't it? And the contrast between Mt Garfield and palisade right below is quite interesting.
Are you going to our Retreat in Estes Park in September?
Let Janet and I know the next time you drive through ,maybe we can meet for lunch
Lauri

dontcallmecrafty.blogspot.com
allie aller said…
I too love your amazing nature photos from your travels. What a glorious part of America....
It was wonderful seeing a picture of you, too!
FredaB said…
You always take the most magnificent pictures. I am always calling my husband to come take a look. He agrees. He dabbles in water colors and I should print a couple out and have him do them.

Those peaches sound wonderful. I have been very disappointed in the ones I have bought at the store recently. I think I need to get to the farmers market somewhere and see what they have.

I did get a good buy on large bing cherries. bought 7 lbs. @ only 1.29 pound. Preserved 2 lbs. to use over ice cream in the winter. Froze 3 lbs. and shared the rest with my daughter and myself. Hubby is not crazy for them.

Are you by any chance coming to Leslie's retreat in Colorado end of Sept.? I am going this year and would love to meet you.
Susan Elliott said…
Your pictures are wonderful! I feel like I was right there with you.

I wonder what time you had to leave in order to catch that glorious sunrise. That is one unbelievable shot -- well, they ALL are.

I admire how much you LOVE the canyons and valleys through which you travel.

I wonder if you take a palette of that picture...if you might create a cq block in those colors. Glorious!!
Anonymous said…
Lovely Lisa, your photos in the dawn light are stunning! I can see you in that house, all spruced up with a pretty garden, complete with peach pie in the kitchen!
Val said…
Lisa, my name didn't come up in that last comment, Val xx
Sherry said…
Lisa, thanks for more of your lovely photographs and your thoughtful comments. Also, as a former book editor, I have to tell you that you write very well. I really enjoy your blog even though I don't take the time to comment as often as I should. The pie looks wonderful! I've been just slicing and eating my fresh peaches but I may be inspired to bake tomorrow!

Sherry in Little Rock
Anonymous said…
I too love old, left alone, houses. You just wonder what kind of a story they could tell you and if you could bring some of the past back to life. I have no doubt you could work miracles with one of those homes. Good to see you too Lisa it does make everything you do and show us "real":) Happy rest of summer, Mary
Wonderful photos. I do love CO, and have spent time there through out my life, as my Grandparents lived in Craig. The plums are beautiful....any pie left? lol
Marcie

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