A small waterfall rushes between large dark boulders on a mountain creek, with a fallen branch in the foreground, tall pines behind, and a patch of yellow and orange shrubs lit by sunlight.

Steeped in Color: Forest Bathing on Colorado’s Willow Creek Trail

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Last week, I shared a single photo from our first full day in Colorado. Today, I’d like to take you a little farther along that trail. We hiked the Willow Creek Trail in the Eagles Nest Wilderness, part of the … Read More

Morning sun forms a small starburst through tall cottonwoods in green, gold, and orange fall foliage along the Blue River in Silverthorne, Colorado, with a rocky riverbank and an empty bench in the foreground.

First Light of Fall on the Blue River

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I traded our backyard deck in Texas for Silverthorne, Colorado, this week, and the mountains wasted no time making the trip worthwhile. When I opened the blinds on the morning of September 22, the light was almost surreal. The fall … Read More

Black steam locomotive No. 488 with red passenger cars parked at a rail depot under a blue sky with scattered clouds.

Weaving Through History

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Today, I want to reminisce about our 2010 vacation in New Mexico. We’ve always enjoyed the state’s historical sites and cultural traditions — enough that four years later, in 2014, we came back to Taos to get married. But I … Read More

Ponderosa pines stand in a golden meadow at dawn, with hazy blue mountain ridges and soft pink clouds in the background near Pagosa Springs, Colorado.

Summer Daze, Mountain Mornings

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Lens-Artists Challenge #406: Summer Daze Anne sets up this week‘s Lens-Artists Challenge with a fact the whole country (and the world?) seems to be experiencing. She wrote, “My goodness it’s triple digits Fahrenheit… Heat waves come and go during the … Read More

Black Diamonds of the Wild

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Black is beautiful. When it comes to black in wildlife, that saying is spot-on. The American black bear (Ursus americanus) you see above was photographed at Big Bend NP, near one of the park’s busiest and most popular trails, the Lost Mine … Read More

Is the Grass Always Greener?

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Lens-Artists Challenge #366: City Mouse/Country Mouse This week’s challenge prompted me to take a good inventory of whether I’m a city mouse or a country mouse. If you’re unfamiliar with the concept, it originates from an Aesop’s fable. Tina brought … Read More

Quiet Moments in Colorado

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Lens-Artists Challenge #364: Quiet Moment “Where is your serene sanctuary? Is it the warm comfort of sipping your morning coffee as the world gently comes to life around you? Perhaps it’s the peaceful moments spent doing yoga by yourself.” That … Read More

Feisty and Fast

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The Rufous Hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus) is known as one of the feistiest hummingbirds in North America. I should know that well because on our recent trip to Colorado, I tried to photograph this tiny bird in flight, but I was … Read More

Lens-Artists Challenge #357: Into the Woods

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In May 2025, I briefly mentioned the Japanese expression shinrin-yoku in a post about national forests. Shinrin-yoku is a concept that was developed in Japan in the 1980s as a form of natural therapy and stress relief. In English, it … Read More

Stormy Rockies

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Lens-Artists Challenge #353: Stormy We have had our share of stormy weather in Texas. I have shared photos of the infamous 2021 Snowmaggedon, as well as other ice storms. However, whenever I think of storms, the Rocky Mountains come to … Read More

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