The hot springs

I was at the Mount Princeton Hot Springs Resort for a couple of days to shoot a wedding on July 7th. It's been over two decades since my last visit there, and I was pleasantly surprised at how far it's come with its amenities. There's even an "upper pool" now, featuring a long water slide. If you look closely at this picture, you can see a guy emerging from it and splashing into the water. I also noticed that they added some cute cabins to their accommodations. I will have to back there again soon, when I don't have to work, and spend a long, relaxing weekend with Pat.

Kaolinite cliffs in the Chalk Creek valley

No, I'm not a geologist. Kaolinite is fancy new addition to my vocabulary, thanks to Wikipedia. 😉 Last week I posted a couple of nice pictures of Chalk Creek, and I linked to a wiki that mentioned that the creek got its name from the kaolinite cliffs above it. I didn't know what this was when I took these pictures. I just thought it was pretty, and the light was gorgeous.

A closer look. So pretty!

Into the fire

I blogged the last few images a little bit out of order. Understand that I was slinging four cameras the weekend of the 7th when I was at the hot springs; three cameras in rotation for the wedding I shot, and a creaky old Nikon D300 that I use for the blog and personal snapshots. The pictures I posted last week and yesterday were taken with one of the pro cameras. I'd forgotten about the ones I took with my old beater! So here's a shot I took on the drive there -- if I'd been blogging in proper sequence, this would have been first. Yes, that's a wildfire, just one of the many that have been burning all over the state for the last several weeks. I could see it from miles away, and as I headed westward, it loomed closer and closer. When I reached the junction of highways 24 and 285 I was forbidden to turn north. It's a good thing I was headed south! This was the Weston Pass Fire, I believe, near Fairplay in Park County, and as of the 11th it was mostly under control. We've had a rough fire season and summer is only halfway gone. Please remember to use your ashtrays, friends, and no firecrackers or open fires out there! We don't need any more loss of property, habitat or life!

Exploring an old gold rush town

As I mentioned in Saturday's post, I had the chance to check out an old gold rush town while I was in the Collegiate Peaks last weekend for a wedding. At one point in Colorado's history, there were many bustling little mining-dependent burgs like this, but most of them went bust in the early part of the 20th century. St. Elmo (elevation 9,961 feet above sea level)  is one of the best preserved of them. Although it's actually inhabited, albeit sparsely, it's considered to be a ghost town. You can find it about thirteen or so miles up the road from the Mount Princeton Hot Springs. These photos were taken near twilight -- I didn't have much time to explore, since I wanted to be back in my hotel room before darkness fell. Pat and I plan to take a day trip soon so he can see St. Elmo for himself and I can get better pictures.

Sunday Style!

I was in California for a few days for a portrait shoot, and while I was there I did a little fashion editorial on the beach with my dear friend Janet's daughter, R. We went shopping first, and R picked out this cute romper and big hoop earrings. I love it! Great summer outfit, and R looks adorable in  it!

Jewels in flight

Yesterday I wrote that I went in search of the ghost town St. Elmo (altitude 9,961 feet above sea level) while I was in the Collegiate Peaks last weekend for a wedding, and I found it a little before twilight. I parked my car in front of the general store, and when I stepped out of my car I was immediately assaulted by a loud, disorienting buzzing sound. It turned out to be dozens of hummingbirds! The store has five hummingbird feeders around the facade, and the little creatures flit around fearlessly, darting in for nectar, always in motion. I was mesmerized. Never mind I was standing in an actual ghost town, all I wanted to do was photograph the tiny, jewel-like birds dancing to and fro. Despite the low light, I got a few good pictures. I couldn't narrow it down to just one for this post. Tomorrow is Sunday Style -- on Monday I'll share some pictures of the town.

Chalk Creek

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I shot a wedding last Saturday at the Mount Princeton Hot Springs, which is located in the Collegiate Peaks, near Buena Vista. Since it's a good 100 miles away, I decided to drive up the night before and do a little exploring. About 13 miles up the road from the resort is a bona fide ghost town called St. Elmo. After checking in to my suite, I decided to try and locate it, even though daylight was waning. Halfway there I had to stop to take a picture of Chalk Creek, which tumbles down Mount Princeton and feeds the Arkansas River. It's so pretty! The photo above is looking downstream, and the photo below is looking upstream. Lovely!