Summer in the Rockies

On April 6, 2017 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Colorado, Photo Challenge7 Comments

Springtime in the Rockies is definitely a time of extremes and this year has been no different. In the front range of Colorado, March and April are actually the snowiest months, not the typical winter months. In the past thirty days, we have had three significant snow storms and we are a little tired of the snow and would prefer rain over snow at this point. On the bright side, these spring storms are extremely necessary and make for beautiful conditions in the summer. This week’s Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge is Summer – Fire, two words that people in Colorado never want to hear in the same sentence. For this photo challenge we chose a few photos from previous summers that represent various images indicative of summertime in the Rocky Mountains. It is mostly beautiful, but sometimes volatile. We chose a couple of picture-perfect summer days in the mountains, a typical summertime sunset, angry storm clouds that we don’t want to see, and finally a picture from the Waldo Canyon Fire, something we would prefer to forget.

Rugged Beauty

On March 30, 2017 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Colorado, Photo Challenge5 Comments

There are many beautiful things about the mountains of Colorado and sometimes they aren’t always the typical scenery. As you hike in the Rockies, you often come across trees that have died or fallen down due to storms. While this might seem sad at some level, there are often wonderful details in the withered wood that provides an interesting contrast to the typical, lush, vistas that surround you. For this week’s Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge, Spring – Wood, we thought that we would focus on some of the photos that we have taken of dead trees and tree stumps. All of these were from hikes here in Colorado, although not all of them were in the Spring since hiking in Colorado during the springtime can be tricky at times.

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

On December 13, 2016 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Colorado, Hiking, Photo Challenge11 Comments

We have been spending most of our time visiting cities and towns all around Germany and starting to spread out into more areas of Europe in general. We have not lived in a city for a long time, spending most of our time in Colorado Springs which is a city with a small town feel, so this has definitely been a life-changing experience. It doesn’t seem like we are going to have time to go hiking while we are here since there are just too many wonderful places to visit and incredible sights to see. One of the things that we had enjoyed the most about living in Colorado Springs was our close proximity to hiking in the mountains with the incredible beauty of the rugged nature. We have already started to think about our return to the United States and where we will decide to live when we return, although mostly we wish we could just stay in Europe for at least a few months more. On the one hand, we have options which is nice, but Colorado Springs has been home for more than twenty years, so it is hard not to consider going back there upon our return. Before we cross that bridge, though, we have plenty of travel ahead of us while we are here in Germany. When we saw this week’s Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge – Rocks, Paper, Scissors, our immediate thoughts returned to hiking in the mountains of Colorado. Obviously these are more boulders than rocks, but these surroundings are very dear to our hearts and we will carry them with us no matter where our travels take us.