Pagosa Springs

Recently Mr X and I took a trip to the southern region of Colorado. We were headed to Durango but we decided to stop for some rest and relaxation along the way. There's a place about an hour away from Durango that is famous for it's abundant natural sulfur hot springs. The facility has kept everything quite natural looking yet they've forced the spring water into many various small pools of differing temperature. The hottest ones were 111 and 109 degrees. I quickly touched my toe into those and that was about it for me. It felt like dipping my finger into a pot of boiling water - not pleasant. But most of the rest of the pools were in the mid-90 to the mid-100 degree temperature range. I pretty much couldn't handle anything over around 102 or 103. Mr X was a champ and took on the 111 degree one for about 30 seconds. It was incredibly relaxing and wonderful except that afterward we really smelled awful. It was worth it.

No break from wildlife pictures!

Okay, after this I swear I'll give you a break from wildlife photos for at least a week or two. How does that sound? I just had to share this photo because, even though it's in captivity, this is a caribou. I've never seen one in real life before so I was excited to see this guy. The owner/rancher told us that this particular caribou has been separated from the rest of the herd because he's deaf and since it's rutting season he's particularly aggressive. I don't really know what that has to do with being deaf, but what do I know? Regardless, this guy was awesome! The second he spotted Mr X and I he started running around like crazy and snorting loudly and desperately attempting to escape through the fence to maim us. It was a great show. And I'm glad he was behind that fence.

On another note, during this same road trip Mr X and I also spotted several antelope. I didn't even know they had antelope here in Colorado. It was all very thrilling for me.

RMNP Elk

On yet another recent trip to the Rocky Mountain National Park this fall, Mr X and I saw a beautiful  herd of elk. It was also a noisy herd of elk due to rutting season, so it was great to hear. In this first photo below I actually captured the elk in the middle of a bugle.



This one is slightly blurry because I didn't have my camera on a fast enough shutter speed to catch this little baby elk running. I wish I had had the forethought to change that setting - it would have been a really great picture otherwise.



More Moose Sightings

While wandering about hiking and exploring, Mr X and I happened to see a few more moose. That brings my total sightings this year to three and Mr X's to six. We were so excited with this moose because we thought he had actual blood on his antlers:

  

Later Mr X learned that moose antlers are naturally red when their velvet rubs off. So under any freshly rubbed spots it's reddish. I admit I was a little bummed to hear this. I prefer the story I had made up in my mind: This particular moose just finished a gruesome brawl with another moose (who clearly didn't fare well) over some lovely little she-moose. *sigh* Oh well.

Here's the second moose we saw that day. He wasn't shy at all, he almost seemed to be posing for our photos. It was great.

How Sweet is Mr X?

Mr X is this sweet:

(And that's a whole lotta sweet in my book!)

RMNP Lake Loop

These are photos from yet another Rocky Mountain National Park hike that Mr X and I took in late summer/early fall. This hike was a 12 mile hike. I think the whole hike took us to about 5 or 6 different lakes/ponds. The lakes were beautiful, of course, but the views surrounding the lakes were even more incredible.

From what I understand, this is believed to be the oldest tree in RMNP.

If you look closely (or click on the picture to enlarge) you'll see that this Jay has a peanut in it's beak.

RMNP Sky Pond

Mr X and I have been lucky enough to be able to explore Rocky Mountain National Park several times this summer and fall. It truly is an majestic park and I'm very thankful for people like Enos Mills, James Grafton Rogers and President Wilson for preserving it's beauty and wonder. Here are some interesting facts about the park (courtesy of Wikipedia):

The park contains 359 miles of trails, 150 lakes, and 450 miles of streams. The park contains over 60 named peaks higher than 12,000 feet , and over one fourth of the park resides above tree line. The highest point of the park is Longs Peak, which rises to 14,259 feet above sea level.

Mr X and I have done several hikes within the park. My favorite hike was the Sky Pond trail. It's a 10 mile round trip hike. The elevation increase from the start of the trail to the actual lake is not quite 1,500 feet. Parks of the hike are rather strenuous, especially the last part, which involves some rock climbing (nothing major for which you would need serious gear, but it is a bit precarious nonetheless).

Here are some of the photos from our Sky Pond excursion:

Crab Avocado Soup

I recently made Bon Apetit's Crab Avocado Soup. I was skeptical about it but still too curious to pass it up. I wasn't sure I would like it. Turns out I quite liked it. It was refreshing and satisfying. (And incredibly quick and simple to make!) Here's the recipe in case you are interested in trying it out yourself:

Avocado and Crab Soup

4 servings

Ingredients


1/2 cup lump crabmeat


1 celery stalk, diced


1/2 tablespoon chervil, chopped


1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest


2 avocados


1 cup vegetable stock


2 tablespoons crème fraîche


1 tablespoon fresh lime juice


3/4 teaspoons kosher salt


Preparation


1) Mix crabmeat, celery, chervil and lemon zest in a bowl. Cover and chill crab salad.


2) Halve and pit avocados; scoop flesh into a blender. Add vegetable stock, crème fraîche, lime juice, kosher salt, and 1 1/4 cups water. Purée until smooth. Season soup to taste with salt and pepper; chill.


3) Divide soup among 4 bowls. Spoon crab salad into center of each bowl.