Twist of weather...

Living here in Colorado for so long, you’d think we wouldn’t be surprised by its sudden mood swings. Just two weeks ago, the weather shifted dramatically - from warm and pleasant to full-on snow (click here to see that story - Two Days, Two Weathers…), ending with feet of snow covering the ground and flowers (click here to refresh your memory - Beauty of Snow...)... So why were we surprised again last weekend, when everything changed overnight? A beautiful, warm Saturday turned into a bitterly cold Sunday.

 

From flowers to wilderness

I left Denver Botanic Gardens, where I had spent a couple of hours looking at plants buried in snow (click here if you’ve forgotten what I found there - Beauty of Snow...), but decided against heading straight home. I was curious to see how much snow the plains had received, so I drove to Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge to follow the Wildlife Drive. My first stop was right at the beginning, where I took a picture of my favorite trees just uphill :)

 

Beauty of Snow...

Last time I wrote about the crazy Colorado weather - when one day the sun shines brightly and the next day snow covers everything (you can find that post here - Two Days, Two Weathers…). On Friday, roughly a foot of snow fell across most of the area, and on Saturday I simply couldn’t stay home. So… you guessed it - I drove to the Denver Botanic Garden to see how much damage the snow had caused. Everything was covered with a thick blanket of snow. Everything. Leaves were poking through the snow here and there and, surprisingly, they actually looked pretty cool - bright patches of color breaking through the endless white.

 

Two Days, Two Weathers…

It was a surprisingly warm Thursday, so I drove up to the mountains to spend some time in the woods. Before starting my hike, I stopped at the Buffalo Overlook to see if the bison were around. And they were :)

 

Slow morning, snow morning...

Sometimes you wake up in the morning, open the curtains, and are surprised to see that everything around you is covered in fresh snow... And you quickly get dressed and go outside to take a walk, breathe in the frosty air, and enjoy the untouched white snow before it's spoiled by the footprints of people and animals...

 

First snow...

Well... you get me... technically it was the second snow of the winter. But... the first one covered ground more than a month ago and... felt more like fall snow than a winter one ;) This morning, though, a light snowfall blanketed the ground and finally created that real winter feeling...

 

Oh, these frozen tulips...

Yeah, I know - just a few days ago I shared those beautiful tulip photos (click here to refresh your memory - Oh these beautiful tulips...) and I was really hoping we’d enjoy a few weeks of warm weather. But… this is Colorado, and sure enough, just a week later, we got snow.

 

It happened again!

There has never been a year in Colorado where it hasn't snowed while the flowers were blooming... And this year is no exception, so it happened late last week when a fresh (thankfully not heavy) snow covered the area and the flowers that were already blooming...

 

Faded day...

An arctic storm slowly crept up and made its way to Colorado last Saturday with below freezing temperatures and light snow. When I opened my eyes that morning and peeked through the window, I was amazed by the light, fluffy snow that covered everything...

 

Chilly day...

Saturday morning was chilly... Hmm.. I guess it was even cold, with about 20F and fog, covering some streets and disappearing from others. Despite the forecast, there was no snow on the ground, but there was a lot of frost on the grass and trees. So I went to the Botanic Garden in hope to find some frost there. But to my surprise, there was none. But the road and trails were dusted with a light layer of snow...

 

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.

 

Breckenridge Budweiser Snow Sculptures Festival 2013 - one of the very best!

Breckenridge Budweiser Snow Sculptures Festival is an absolutely amazing event. No matter how many times we visit it, each time we are amazed by the huge and beautiful sculptures carved from monstrous cubes of snow... But the visit always begins with a walk through the streets and admiring the mountain peaks just above the town...

 

White... white... white...

One cool Saturday morning, I woke up and looked out the window... Surroundings looked so ordinary just yesterday, but that morning everything changed... The colors faded and disappeared almost completely and the world around me became dull and boring...

 

Granby

Staying in A Frame Club was nice and cozy. The cabin was warm and quiet, we had a good breakfast and really didn't want to leave. But... we needed to... so at some point we checked out (contactless again) and were back on the road. But before heading back, we decided to look around and went to see the town of Granby...

 

A night in an A Frame Club ;)

As I already said (Winter day, winter travel, Winter Park), we chose Winter park because of the hotel. Hmm... can I call this a hotel? Maybe... A Frame Club is a bit more than a simple hotel or motel on the side of the road. This is more about style than an overnight stay... It was built less than a year ago and can surprise you not only with its buildings ;)

 

Winter day, winter travel, Winter Park

As usual, the thought of a quick escape flashed through our minds, and the next moment we were already booking a hotel somewhere close, but far away... And a couple of days later we loaded the car, drove out of warm and snowless Denver and crossed the Continental Divide. The highway wasn't busy (even though it was Sunday) and the weather was beautiful, so it didn't take long to cross the Berthold Pass and to see the snow... A lot of it ;)

 

The night in Breckenridge. Budweiser Snow Sculpture Festival 2019

Breckenridge is a great place to relax... It's especially beautiful in the fall (don't believe me? click here to check it out - Fall colors). Summer is good too... but winter is truly the best time... Especially two weekends in late January when the Budweiser Snow Sculpture Festival attracts teams from all over the world to carve blocks of snow and create some beauty (click here - Snowflake plus snowflake... finally we can make a snow sculpture, can't we? or here - Breckenridge Snow Sculptures Festival 2015 to see some of them).

 

Breckenridge Snow Sculptures Festival 2015

Do you know what is the best day to visit Breckenridge to see the snow sculptures? I can say... Super Bowl Day ;) Why? Because most people sit at home watching TV and leave the roads empty... And at the Breckenridge Snow Sculpture Festival, it's not crowded at all and you can walk between huge snow sculptures and admire them ;)