Yesterday I decided to take a break and take off into the mountains to see the aspen turning!

I even convinced my mom to take off and come with me. I'm very glad we went!

Follow up:

We started by going up to Left Hand Canyon. That led us through Ward and joined up with Peak to Peak highway. Then a quick jaunt up to Brainard Lake and then down Peak to Peak through Central City and then back home.

The day started out nice and sunny. A perfect backdrop for the aspen! And most of them had turned colors and were yellow, orange, and red.

I had not realized before that aspen would turn red. I guess I should have known but just didn't realize the variety of colors. Though we saw plenty of trees in spectacular color, we never saw any wildlife. But then in the middle of the day you really don't expect to see any.

The Aspen weren't the only thing that we saw. There was a large variety of wild flowers as well. This one is Chicory according to my mother. Considering she is a Master Gardener, she should know.

By the time our trip through the mountains was coming to an end there was a storm coming in. Yet still the sun persevered and we got this glimpse of a valley with pine trees and a large grove of aspen in a wide variety of colors. In the background there is the faint view of the next mountain. If you didn't know better, you would think someone took a giant paint brush and dripped color onto the mountain side. Though we were there and seeing the color dotted amongst the green of the pines, it was still incredible to see. If you weren't there you would think that we doctored the photos. But no, this was mother nature working her own magic!

Shortly after that, we were getting low enough in elevation that there really were not the large areas of aspen like we had seen. So with things to still get done we reluctantly headed home. Our cameras were full of pictures and minds full of memories of a wonderful afternoon.

I hope you have a chance to enjoy the beautiful colors of fall where ever you live.