Tag Archives: wildflowers

A Sense that Summer’s Ending

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Connecting the quiet west side of Rocky Mountain National Park with its more popular east side near Estes Park is the NPS’ highest paved road, Trail Ridge Road. The scenic, twisting, winding road traverses through the heart of the park from Estes Park on the east side to Grand Lake on the west. It’s the only way to get from one side of the park to the other. But more noteworthy, it’s the highest paved road in our national park system. The two lane road is 48 miles long, ten of those miles above tree line, topping Continue reading →

Harbingers of Spring

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Some might be wondering (in fact, even I am wondering!) why someone would come to a place named “Desert Hot Springs” when it is already hot.   Who wants to soak in a hot springs when it’s ninety-six degrees hot??  My friend John got it halfway right in his comment on my last post.  He writes, “Sounds like you’re looking for a place to park the rig for a while, while you take a walk on the wild side.”    Only half was true.   I was looking for a place to park the rig… Continue reading →

Climb High, Sleep Low

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I have had altitude sickness twice in my life – once on my attempt to summit Kilimanjaro, and again in Nam Tso Lake in Tibet.   I liken it to sea sickness, in that I would do just about anything to make it stop. As best I can describe, it feels like your brain is suddenly two sizes larger than your skull, and my gray matter might begin protruding from the eyeballs at any given moment.  Each move must be made in slo-mo, otherwise everything pounds and pulsates with every step.  Call me paranoid, but it is not an experience I wish to repeat.   So when Box Canyon Mark says Continue reading →

When Texas Turns Blue…

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I always said “Texas has but two seasons; green and brown.” It would appear that I overlooked one —BLUE!

Field of bluebonnets near Ennis, TX

Wildflower Season in Texas

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The delicate fragrance is glorious!The bluebonnets are early this year…very prolific. A local Ennis resident said she had only seen them this thick maybe three times in the last 23 years she had lived there. The field across from her front lawn looked like a solid blue carpet of flowers….DSCN0666

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Somehow, I didn’t remember bluebonnets being so fragrant, but the aroma was wafting through the air so heavily that you could smell the perfume from the car with the windows rolled down.  Standing in the field of flowers reminded me of Dorothy in the “Wizard of Oz” skipping through the poppy fields.

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Bluebonnets tickle my fancy!

I believe that there is a subtle magnetism in Nature, which, if we unconsciously yield to it, will direct us aright. ~Henry David Thoreau

Thanks to the Ennis Garden Club for the excellent trail markers!