Photoblog April 23, 2011 (Rocky Mountains in Colorado)

Boulder, CO.

Golden, CO *The Old Western Gold Mining Town*

Pikes Peak in Colorado Springs, CO.

Mt. Morrison sprinkled with snow in Lakewood, CO.

Columbine Park in Littleton, CO.

Heading to Evergreen in Mountains roughly the 7,000s in elevation.

Boulder, CO.

Heading to Evergreen, for perspective: note size of suvs next to mountains.

Rocky Mountains in CO.

Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO.

Mt. Morrison with Red Rocks and Red Rocks Ampitheater below.

Pikes Peak - the mountain that inspired the song, "America the Beautiful".

Snow Clouds over Mt. Morrison

 Forgive More, Be Forgiven.  Love More, Be Loved, Give More, Be Given, and believe God can do anything for you, and he will do it!


Love you all.  Happy Holy Week!

If you woke up breathing, God still has work for you to do.  Keep smiling and keep loving others and praying for those who wrong you.  Keep faith because without it, you lose everything in the end.  But with faith, you gain so much more than you ever imagined!

I absolutely can not wait: The Stanley Hotel

This hotel is my favorite in the entire world.  I actually have a favorite hotel.  That seems impossible but it is a favorite of many including the very talented and famous writer Steven King.  This is where he stayed and had *according to the stanley employee we spoke with* an encounter - as legend has it, with some sort of ghosts.  However, Steven *off the record* claimed them to be friendly and harmless, but that it was the inspiration he got to rebuild a story about the infamous novel "The Shining" in regards to very evil spirit(s).  This bone chilling novel was written all based upon the imagery and surroundings of the Stanley Hotel.  Many often mistake this hotel as the place where the Jack Nicholson version was actually FILMED.  That is incorrect.  It was born here in theory and in story and written based on this location - but the actual filming was done in Canada at another hotel a bit more spooky than the Stanley in looks.  However, the more recent remake of "The Shining" WAS filmed at The Stanley Hotel.  As well as "Dumb and Dumber" and several ghost hunting television shows such as "Ghost Hunters" and "America's Most Haunted".


This Hotel is said to be haunted and people from all over go to stay the weekend or night and see if they can capture some sort of spirit or ghost.


The story of  Mr. Stanley is that he had made a motor car that everyone told him would never make it into the high elevation of Estes Park, (before it was named Estes Park) but his car not only made it but it was so beautiful he had built The Stanley Hotel.  The miracle in this tale is Mr. Stanley had TB, and was given a short time to live.  Again, legend has it that the dry climate and higher elevation CURED him of TB.  The doctors could come up with no other explanation so they assumed that was it.  Mr. Stanley was considered a ladie's man and it was rumored that he would entertain many ladies there.


The green motor car is inside the Stanley Hotel and is absolutely beautiful.  This hotel is nothing short of absolute perfection in design.  It is so rich and nestled so perfectly in the Rocky Mountains, that I think I could honestly live there in that hotel for the rest of my life.  The scenery surrounding this hotel is breath-taking.  Please enjoy your virtual vacation through my personal favorite hotel that I couldn't afford to stay at but I got to visit.  Note that the basement is basically a museum of artifacts regarding the movies and tv shows filmed there as well as memorabilia regarding a very legendary man with a dream to do what he wanted and did it against the odds that he would survive accomplishing it.  Perhaps that is what attracts me to the hotel as well.  The spirit that exists inside of it - not in the ghostly sense, but the inspirational sense of a man who made a dream happen when others told him his dreams could never come true.

"Race ya to the top!" Jim Carrey Dumb and Dumber

Photoblog 3 (I think?) Kind of been lagging on the blogs.

Here ya go again for some more photocations.  With my blogs, you don't have to leave or pay for gas to get away from it all.  Haha.  Enjoy!  Sending my love as always.  This one is themed on animals in Colorado.  

This seagull spread his wings and swam.  Don't knock it till ya tried it.

I love love love prairie dogs.  LOL, Coloradans would chuckle that I thought they were so cute, to them it was like someone looking at a gray squirrel here and taking pictures and going "Awww."  These guys were new to me.  And soooo cute.

These baby geese were born and grew up within a matter of weeks.  It was unbelievable.  Very bold, would already know to walk right up to humans for handouts.

So this is a bit of a funny story - as my love for Colorado, wildlife, and photography got the best of my common sense and I hopped out of the car and ran down the hill to take pictures of wild elk.  I didn't think they were dangerous - because I am used to Lone Elk.  But as I heard and learned after the fact, the wild ones can be pretty nasty if frightened.  Oh well.  Got my picture!

This goat is from white fence farm - what is funny is he is using his horn to scratch his back.  What a smart goat!

This mule deer was strolling down the road in Colorado Springs the first week we returned to Colorado, as if he was running errands.  They are bold.  Not like white tails, they will do what they want, when they want to.  lol.  Pretty cool deer.

Yup, the Pelicans are wild in Colorado and near impossible to photograph.  Unlike geese and ducks, these birds do not cooperate with photographers.  In fact, they will have nothing to do with humans.

The Denver Zoo on my birthday April 29th, 2009

Told you we had a lot of seagulls.

See?

This is so sweet.  I believe this was spring of 2009 when this duck was so cozy and comfy  and just fell fast asleep near the flowers in the pond.  I watched her nap and she looked so happy and content and peaceful.  Gotta love those ducks.

 The last one is my sweet sweet Sally.  Sweet Dreams wherever you are!