Escape the busy city

The Saturday right after Thanksgiving brings a lot of people to the streets of Denver. Everything seemed a bit overcrowded, and it looked like a good idea to escape from a bustling city and spend a couple of hours just walking up the slopes and enjoying the beautiful scenery. And... sometimes you are not up to spending too much time in the car to get there. If so... you can always just pass Golden and take a short (or longer) hike at Mount Galbraith.

 

Beautiful Saturday morning

I woke up early and couldn't fall back to sleep. My mind was wide awake and the idea of going out and maybe even seeing the sunrise seemed like a good idea :). I was still high from seeing bald eagles at Barr Lake park last week (Bald Eagles on Barr Lake), so I decided to give it another try. Even without bird watching, this park is a great place to spend a few hours and even see some amazing reflections (Spring Close-ups and reflections) even though now there are no reflections to see :(. It didn't take long to get to the park and I realized that I was just in time for the sun starting its journey around the world...

 

Bald Eagles on Barr Lake

Barr Lake State park is an amazing place to hike or bird watch. And while mid-November may not be the best time for birds, it is definitely a good time for a hike. An easy hike, or more challenging one. We weren't sure what we would find there on this chilly Sunday morning. But as soon as we got out of the car, we knew that we had come at the right time... Because high in the sky, a huge flock of birds were making some intricate patterns but we weren't sure what kind of the birds they were...

 

Day of roses

The storm that had broken so many trees was in the past (click here to see - After the storm) and the sun was working very hard to get the snow melted, disintegrated, evaporated... The roads and trails were clear, so we decided that the best way to spend a Sunday morning would be a walk in some beautiful place... And one of the most beautiful places we know is the City Park ;) It is magnificent in spring with flowering trees, beautiful in summer with its green leaves, stunning in fall with these leaves in yellow and red, a bit dull in winter with faded colors and cold... but today it promised a pleasant walk and some vibrant colors in a nice contrast with the white snow. And we weren't disappointed at all... despite the snow, everything was still breathing fall...

 

After the storm

A few days ago, after Before the storm... post, a friend of mine asked: "What about after the storm pictures?" At this point, no one knew how big the storm was coming and what we could expect from it... When it came, the soft  snow covered everything, and it was just beautiful First snow... So we relaxed and didn't expect the next part which came the day after. On Friday morning, it snowed again, and by the end of the day we had quite a lot of snow. But it also continued to snow all night, and when I looked out the window this morning, I realized that we had a really bad storm. The oak tree, which is usually towering and almost as tall as the building, was now dwarfed to half its usual size. The heavy snow bent the branches and it didn't look good.

 

First snow...

Yep, it happened again! The first snow fell unexpectedly ;) The forecast promised some snow on Monday, but it didn't happen... So we relaxed and weren’t too worried until Wednesday morning, when we found two inches of white and fluffy snow covering the ground all over the neighborhood.

 

Before the storm...

Fall is still here and the leaves are still colorful... But there are fewer and fewer of them still left on the branches. And the forecast promises some wind, rain, and, maybe, snow... so I guess today was our last chance to see some color in Denver before it finally disappears. So let's go outside and enjoy another day that is still warm and sunny (actually, it's unbelievable to see all of this in November, but I don't complain).