A couple weekends ago my sister and I went to Estes Park, Colorado and the Rockies to catch up and enjoy some photography together. I had never ventured west of the Mississippi to photograph fall, but wanted to capture some of those beautiful Aspen I’d often seen in others’ images.
Here’s some of what we saw in Rocky Mountain National Park just a few days before its first snow.




Aside from the picture perfect scenery, the air was cool and crisp and sometimes cold and windy, especially on the Trail Ridge Road. I don’t have any images to show from up there because the 12,000 + foot altitude made that part of the trip brief. Down in the lower elevations we enjoyed seeing the very large racks on the bull elk, although Park Rangers were quick to caution there had been two attacks on tourists in recent weeks so we kept a respectable distance.
I nevertheless got a few pictures of elk. The two below were taken from our car window. These elk were just hanging out on our hotel’s lawn.


All in all it was a great trip – great to finally see fall Aspen trees through my own lens, great to see some of the treasured landscapes preserved by the National Park Service, and great to be connecting again with my sister and Mother Nature.
Thanks for following my blog. I hope you also find time to get out and enjoy this beautiful time of year.

Gorgeous pictures. Thanks also for picture titles. Glad you had a sister outing. You’re lucky to have each other. Love. M. C.
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thanks & yes!
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Beautiful shots Mary. So different from our East coast fall.
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Yes it is – at least what I saw. I’m no authority but would like to check out more in another year.
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Estes Park is one of our favorite places in the world!! Thanks for sharing these wonderful photos.
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Oh we’ll have to chat about Estes Park sometime. I bet you’ve stayed in the Stanley Hotel. I could write a whole other blog post on that place (and almost did).
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Thanks for sharing your wonderful photos! They would make a beautiful coffee table book, calendar, posters, postcards, etc!!!
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yes, I think so too – it’s just finding the time to do those things
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Wow, these are amazing photos. Reminds me of when we lived in Santa Fe and hiked the Aspen Vista trail – something else you might put on your bucket list. 🙂
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Yes would love to learn more about that!
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