Finally get a break...

on_the_edge

on_the_edge

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Jan 31, 2006
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Well, after six months of constantly chasing my tail at work, I finally got to take two weeks off for a little vacation. The plan was to drive from Tucson through New Mexico and on to Colorado with no particular destinations or activities planned. Just me and my wife, no kids, no pets, and nothing to do but see what we see. :cool:

We decided to avoid main highways/freeways and opted the entire time to scenic routes and backroads, even if that meant "offroad".

Here are just a few of the many photos we came back with. Hope you guys and gals enjoy them.

Here's a natural arch in northern NM somewhere near Santa Fe.
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The Grand Canyon of NM, this was where we camped the first night out. My pic does not do this place justice; it was huge and beautiful. Oh, and we were the only ones there!!!
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An alligator farm in southern CO? Who knew??? And yes, these guys were trembling at the site of my SHBM!!!
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Some folks think "flower children" disappeared in the early 70s. Not so, and seeing IS believing! We found her at our second camp destination. Thankfully, she packed up and left shortly after we arrived. :thumbup: And no, there is no train that comes on those tracks to wake you in the middle of the night. In fact, those tracks haven't seen a train in many years.
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Some Busse love along for the ride...
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As well as the only custom I brought on the trip--my beloved stag hunter by Lin Rhea. For those who don't know Lin, he is an MS that can build one hell of a GREAT knife!
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A big stream located just on the other side of Miss Flower Girl. Sparkling clear water, icy cold...
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Went by this place and thought it was too funny. I guess crime isn't much of a problem in Hartsel.
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Awesome shots, Chris! Glad you had a good time. That's some beautiful country. :cool:

I'm also glad to see the NO got to go along. :D
 
This pronghorn that was next to the road was a little...camera shy and didn't feel like posing for a photo. I think I need to get with Justabuyer and find out how he gets all his photo subjects to cooperate!!!;)
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A distant view of Pike's Peak on the way up to over 14,100 feet. Pike's Peak is the high point about 40% across the top of the photo from left to right.
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At the top, probably the world's highest land-based Busse (actually, I had all three up there), at least for a few minutes.
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A visit to the aquarium in Denver...
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Well, it was not a zoo, but it was slightly more than an aquarium. This guy was about 2 feet from me when I took the pic through glass. Not too bad, eh???
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Some variety of jellyfish, just because I thought they looked cool and I wanted to play around with my camera.
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The knives, background compliments of Rocky Mountain National Park.
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What's that licking my weiner??? Oh, it's just some flames on another overnighter in some beautiful campground!!! ;)
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Your humble narrator enjoying some fly fishing just outside of Walden, CO. For those that don't know it, CO has some of the best trout fishing in the world. This beauty was released just after this pic was taken so someone else could enjoy this great sport as well. And BTW, this is where I saw my first bear in the wilderness as well. Not to bad for not even being in a National Park.
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The stream at first light right behind our campground on our final night of camping. One can't get too much of the great outdoors!!! :thumbup:
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Saw this guy on our way out. In fact, there was a whole family with a den right next to the road. There was a sign warning that one had to slow down (from the posted 30 mph) if you wanted to avoid hitting them with your car as they just tended to dart across the road completely oblivious to motorized traffic. Fortunately, the few cars that went through there all heeded the call.
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And last, but not least, a pic near the edge of one very deep gorge. Between the extreme wind and my somewhat controllable fear of heights, I wasn't going to get any closer!!!
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Great pics. I really need a good camp. Have not been in well over a year.
 
That last pic looks MORE than close enough to the edge!!!
GREAT pics! It looked like an awesome trip!!
 
Very, very cool pics. Glad you had a great trip! :thumbup: When I was stationed in Colorado Springs I went to most of those places in Colorado and loved it. I had a hard time breathing walking around at the top of Pikes Peak and I was used to running 4 days a week at 6,000 ft. :eek:
 
AZTimT said:
Very, very cool pics. Glad you had a great trip! :thumbup: When I was stationed in Colorado Springs I went to most of those places in Colorado and loved it. I had a hard time breathing walking around at the top of Pikes Peak and I was used to running 4 days a week at 6,000 ft. :eek:
Click to expand...

Three things about Pike's Peak really surprised me:
1. There is ample opportunity to kill yourself if you are not paying attention. Many, many times, we were driving up hill and it seemed like all we could see in front of us was sky. I don't think they have much of a guardrail budget in Colorado either, at least not for PP.
2. There is a marathon where people run up to the top. :eek: That is hard core!
3. More than hard core, there is an annual car race to the top of PP. That is just insane. A little loose dirt in the corner, no guardrail, and you're easily history. And where do you pass??? Amazingly enough though, I never heard anything about any fatalities from such an activity.
 
Great pictures glad you had a great time ! :thumbup:


You're playing in my backyard, I ride the roads up around Walden on the weekends, and your right about our fishing, Shhh!


I'm going camping in the morning, I have some property near the Rio Grande sw of San Luis (~ CO/NM border), looks a lot like your pronghorn pic.
 
on_the_edge, that last photograph of the gorge is incredible. great picture; i imagine it was even more impressive live. thanks for sharing :thumbup::thumbup::cool:
 
Looks like a good way to recharge the batteries. Thanks for sharing!
 
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