Friday, June 7, 2013

Garden of the Gods

Colorado Springs, CO  High 57  Low 42

Wednesday, we woke up to a cloudy, drizzly, gloomy day. But we don’t have time to be sitting around.

Kissing Camels

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P1030819I figured with the weather so lousy, the Garden of the Gods would be quiet and peaceful. Boy was I wrong. It was the day for field trips. Bus loads full. If they went left, we went right. We stopped and let them pass us by. The children were excited about being outside but had absolutely no interest in the beautiful rock formations. They would have been just as happy with a walk around the block.

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Getting pictures without people in them was a real challenge. But there are some gorgeous formations to enjoy in this park.

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These next two pictures, I’m really excited about. They are bird pictures and turned out pretty good for me.

I don’t know what this first one is. Neither did the Ranger. But he was singing his little heart out and the Ranger said he had been hearing him all day.

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This one is a baby Peregrine Falcon. The only reason I know that is because the Ranger told us about him. We saw the mother fly into the nest and then leave. As we kept watching, this little one hopped to the opening and posed for me. He’s still got his baby fluff on.

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After getting our morning exercise with the walk through the park, we drove down to Balance Rock. Once again, lots of people. So I clicked very rapidly.

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Since by now it was lunch time, we drove into Historic Colorado City and went to the Mountain Shadows Restaurant for lunch. What a great place and our waitress was wonderful. Even sang for us as she cleaned tables. Loved it.

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On our way home we spotted this Giant Beetle. It is advertising an insect museum. That is one museum I would NOT go to. I hate bugs.

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17 comments:

  1. I looked in my bird book and I think that might be a black headed grosbeak. Judy will know for sure though.

    Great job capuring the baby falcon. Was there another one in the nest?

    What a beautiful area, and such nice photos.

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  2. Garden of the Gods is lovely. We were fortunate the day we visited that there were no field trips.

    We saw Sunday night a show about North America. One of the features was the Peregrine Falcon. It was so cool to watch how the mother protects her young at all costs.

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  3. Cute little falcon. Horrible bug!

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  4. Karen is correct. Black-headed grosbeak. :)

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  5. I really enjoyed the Garden of the Gods too. Glad you are also enjoying it. How is your ankle?

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  6. It sure is annoying to try and enjoy the beauty of nature with all those kids running around.

    Sure glad I was never one...

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  7. We have seen the garden of the gods a few years ago. It was a very hot day with very little traffic :-) Loved it!

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  8. You probably passed my granddaughter (Ara) and a friend of hers who are driving from PA to CA. The last I heard, that's where they were.

    I have pictures of every one of my kids posed with the balancing rock, as if they were pushing it over! Some things never change.

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  9. you captured some good photos at the Garden of the Gods..those darn people 'horning' in on your pictures!

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  10. Haven't been to Garden of the Gods yet. We have to visit Colorado again! Isn't school suppose to be out already? Poor you and poor kids!

    Your choice for lunch looks way cool.....we love small places like that!

    I'm with you.....no bugs!

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  11. We loved Garden of the Gods too. Unique. Like the baby falcon shot. Enjoy

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  12. You're right. It is hard to get pictures around people. It's also hard to get them to move especially when they're trying to take pictures too.

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  13. aw, cute little baby falcon and the other guy too. Garden of the Gods is unique ... beautiful and THAT restaurant is exactly the kind of place I seek out...

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  14. Garden of the Gods is simply wonderful. You did a great job keeping people out of the pictures - I just gave up. What an experience seeing the baby peregrine falcon!

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  15. The bird is a Black Headed Grossbeak. The black on the head of the Rufous sided towhee extends further down and has a white breast.

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  16. The first bird I should say. My wife and I saw a peregrine falcon on a spire this weekend at GOG. It was looking a pigeons on another spire. I wonder how that will turn out?

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Thanks for visiting today. I look forward to reading your comments. Have a beautiful day.