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A view of the Garden of the Gods from Red Rock Canyon Open Space.

A Sight for Sore Eyes

It's nice to see a blanket of snow on the peak, even though it'll disappear soon. It's been an unnervingly warm and dry winter and we're definitely staring down the barrel at water restrictions in the coming months. The last several days brought us chilly, soggy and snowy weather, which will definitely help, but it's not enough. Send more please, Mother Nature.

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I haven't showed you this view in a while. The Garden of the Gods is extra beautiful in winter.

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A nice take on last Sunday's view. We are so lucky here.

X Marks the Spot

Yesterday we took a little drive through the Garden of the Gods, something we haven't done in a while. I used to go there about once a month but it's been so overrun with tourists lately that I've been avoiding it. In wintertime it's far less crowded, though, so it's a much better experience and it's prettier to boot. The sky was clear blue yesterday and the peak had a tic tac toe board of contrails over it. I'll show you a different view of the same thing tomorrow.

It's New Year's Eve!

Good riddance to 2025, the year of perpetual health problems and stress! I wanted to end the year with a scenic image but didn't have time to get out there with a camera today, so here's a pretty snap from November 26, 2023. I'm sure you recognize this view! Have a happy New Year, everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving 2025!

It's time again for my favorite holiday! What's yours? I took this photo today around 2:30 PM. It was hazy over the mountain but still the view was beautiful. To my US readers, I hope today has been lovely, the food was delicious, the company was delightful, and your football team won!

Chilling Out

It's been so hot the last few days, I thought I'd share a chilly moment from January 24, 2024 to cool us all down. Pat and I (finally!) got air conditioning installed in our house last week, just in time to make this heat wave bearable.

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Yet another lovely moment in the Garden of the Gods. This was taken on December 13, 2020.

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The Garden of the Gods, December 24, 2022.

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A snap of the mountain taken on Halloween last year. It's a little hazy, but still you can see the giant new visitors center at the summit. It really bugs me that you can see it with the naked eye, for me it kind of ruins the view. Oh well.

This One's for Judith K.!

It's New Year's Eve and I thought I'd end 2024 with this cute picture of Frodo with our favorite mountain in the background. This post goes out to my favorite blog reader, Judith K. in Texas! She faithfully reads my every post and leaves thoughtful comments, and I really appreciate it. Thanks Judith! (She also reads and comments on many of the other City Daily Photo blogs -- she really is just the best!) I have mentioned Frodo in many posts this year, since I've made it a habit lately to walk him as much as possible with a camera in hand, and a few days ago Judith hinted that she'd like to see a picture of the little guy. So here he is! Frodo is a chiweenie, which is a cute way of saying that he's a chihuahua-dachshund mix, and he's a funny little guy with enough personality for ten dogs. We sure love him!

Thank you again Judith for reading my blog! I hope everyone has a fun and safe New Year celebration. I know the political climate in the US is awful and we're in for a very bumpy ride for at least the next couple of years, but let's keep our heads up and focus on the good! Here's to a fantastic 2025!

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A little glimpse of Pikes Peak, taken from the Garden of the Gods on the day after Christmas while I was hiking with our dog Frodo. It's been really cloudy lately but not cold, it only looks cold.

Garden of the Tourists

I decided it'd be nice to go for a little hike in the Garden of the Gods today with Frodo. Bad idea! It's the day after Christmas, there are plenty of out of towners here visiting family for the holidays, and where did they all convene today? You guessed it. To compound matters, there is a lot of road work going on inside the Garden of the Gods, which basically meant that I was stuck in bumper to bumper traffic almost as soon as I entered the park. Not so relaxing and nature-y. We did eventually battle our way to the High Point, where there was exactly one parking spot coming available just as we pulled up. In the end, though, we had a nice little hike and even chatted with a few people along the way (some of them from as far away as Colombia!), since Frodo is The Friendliest and Cutest Dog on Earth. All's well that ends well!

This family (a much larger group than what you see here) was snapping pose after pose in front of the view when we started our hike, and they were still at it when we returned to the parking lot.

You Know Where

Random pretty picture of You Know Where. This was taken from the High Point on Halloween.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers who celebrate it! This was taken almost exactly a year ago, on November 26, 2023. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and I'm looking forward to watching the Macy's Parade and the dog show, cooking up a big meal, and just relaxing. Although we have plenty to worry about in the coming year or four, we also have plenty to be thankful for. So look around you at the people and pets you love, give them all a big hug, and savor the day! Thanks for reading my blog!

The Upside

The upside to a four day snowstorm around here is this. :)

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I had to step away from the blog for a couple of days so I  could process the awful election news. Let's just say I'm disgusted with my country right now and leave it at that. Just ugh. God help us all. Now that I've gotten that off my chest, here's a pretty picture to distract you. See you tomorrow, hopefully in a better mood.

Down Time

I had a few precious minutes of down time on Thursday, so I grabbed the dog and went for a drive through the Garden of the Gods. I haven't been there in a while, which is a pity because I used to go at least once a month. Lately, though, it's just become too crowded thanks to explosive population growth in the region. I figured that on a random Thursday at the end of October it might be a little bit empty, though. One can hope. Alas, there were quite a few people about. Possibly it might have had something to do with the fact that the normally elusive resident bighorn sheep herd was making its presence known -- news of that travels fast, and indeed there were lots of folks gathered around that general area of the park, trying to get pictures of the majestic animals with their cell phones. (I drove on by.) Farther in, I parked my car just to grab a shot of Kissing Camels, and as you can see in the photo below, I wasn't the only person there. Ultimately I ended up at the High Point, and there I found a modicum of solitude with only a couple of other people about. As always, I tend to visit the park more during the cold months to avoid the crowds, so hopefully I'll have a less grumpy experience next time, as winter wears on.

Happy Fourth!

It's been a few weeks since I featured American's Mountain. So since it's America's birthday, I thought it would be entirely appropriate to show her off today. Here she is! This was taken on October 25, 2019. Happy Independence Day to my American readers! Have fun, stay away from fireworks, don't eat too many hot dogs, and don't forget the sunblock!