Tour De Marriage Photos Part Three

At the recommendation of Schnicklefritz Alix, my good friend who lives in Colorado, we drove along Highway 141. It's a beautiful drive along the San Miguel River through red rock canyons filled with box elders, salt cedars and wildflowers.

There were some pretty amazing rock falls and formations.

We found a side road to access BLM land and thought about stopping but between the threat of thunderstorms and the actual rain, we decided to just scout out the area for future travel purposes and keep going. I couldn't resist the wildflowers against the red, though.

We wandered down the road and visited the Colorado National Monument. We followed Rim Rock Drive and stopped periodically so JD (aka The Mountain Goat) could traipse around the ledges. I, being not so fond of heights, contented myself with the wildflowers on the non-sheer-cliff side of the road.

One benefit to the PNW weather we encountered was a rainbow over Monument Canyon.

After the wedding, we spent a day in Fort Collins visiting my oldest friend, Schnicklefritz. My parents drove up from New Mexico to spend a day with us in Estes Park. We drove around Rocky Mountain National Park for a bit before we had to head back west.

We saw a herd of young elk.

some pretty adorable little chipmonks

We drove through Berthoud Pass which tops out around 11,000 feet and saw several warning signs stating “Avalanche blasting at anytime using long range weaponry”! Those kinds of explosives looked totally justified - just look at the snow overhang!

Although we did drive through a bit of snow in Wyoming,

we had a wonderful trip and mostly importantly arrived home married and all bones intact!

Tour De Marriage Photos Part Two

A few more photos from our Colorado trip.

It was still a bit early for the aspens at the higher elevation of Grand Mesa National Forest. The acres of yellow leaves in the fall must be a sight to see!

A marmot watched us carefully from his lair in the rocks beside the road.

A grouse in the Gunnison National Park let us get only so close before flying away.

A yellow warbler was singing to us as we walked along the Gunnison River at the bottom of Black Canyon.

At this lower elevation, the aspens were a beautiful pale green.

About halfway up the canyon road, the aspens were a little further behind and decorated with tiny yellow-green leaves.

Near Placerville, we stopped for lunch alongside another river and found a lovely, coppery birch log shining in the sun.

Next up, red rock cliffs and wildflowers along Highway 141. Cheers!

Tour De Marriage Photos Part One

Here are a few more photos from our wedding trip.

We usually ended up out in the middle of the day taking photos. The sun is directly overhead and results in harsh shadows and washed-out colors. But the flowers were lovely and species that we don't ordinarily get to see so I couldn't resist. (Schnicklefritz, if you can identify any of these, I'd be obliged!)

Some kind of mallow, I believe.

I've never seen these before but they looked like little aliens.

A pretty little yellow flower only about two inches tall.

We had a little extra time and elected to drive through Arches National Park in Utah. I loved all the plants that grew in crevices in the rock.

One of my favorite plants: lovely, twisty juniper.

We expected Clint Eastwood to come riding along at any minute.

This photo doesn't really portray Grand View Point Overlook in Canyonlands National Park, Utah, very accurately. We were up on a high bluff overlooking a canyon that contained another canyon that was at least as deep. It's was pretty incredible and I recommend a trip here if you can make it. And, yes, that is snow at the edges of the lower canyon, so bring a jacket.

Haphazard Wedding In Colorado

Despite the best efforts of the weather in Colorado last month, we managed to have the ceremony we wanted - outdoors, solitude, and sunny skies!

Our plan was to find a peaceful, isolated spot on some BLM/National Forest land and camp out for a few days. The weather made that a challenge, even in western Colorado. It clouded up and rained so much that we thought we were back in Oregon! But on Thursday around noon, we headed into the Wild Basin Area of the Rocky Mountain National Park and found a lovely little spot along a waterway. The sun came out and, being midweek, we were surrounded by nothing but trees and willows and peacefulness!

We changed into our fancy clothes and took a few before photos.

Then we sat down and married each other. It was just about perfect!

I'm no good with off the cuff speaking so I had organized my thoughts into "What I like about you", "What I promise to do" and "What I'm asking in return” and wrote it all down. JD had clearly thought about his side of things but is great at\ spontaneous speaking and just kind of followed my rough format.

I read "Falling In Love Is Like Owning A Dog" beforehand and a short part of "Song Of The Open Road" after, ("I give you my love more precious than money...").

He said some pretty wonderful things, of course, and I managed to only tear up a little!

Then we exchanged rings,

had a toast of some lovely 12 year old Glenfiddich and took a bunch more photos.