Une Envie de Sel

Each fall, we try to estimate the peak week for color, and do some sort of a loop drive through the mountains on just the optimal day. It's sometimes difficult to judge, since the fall season moves very quickly here in the Rockies, and if you wait just a day too late, if there's a high wind one evening, you can miss it entirely.

 But this year, like last, we hit it just right. (Rare family photo thanks to our friends who came along!)

And just as it was a banner year for fruit trees, so it is for the fall colors.

 We headed up Guanella Pass outside of Idaho Springs, with some friends and the dogs in tow.

Stopping for a snack and a dip by a high-mountain lake.

As if we weren't lucky enough with the leaves, we also happened upon a small herd of young mountain goats.

Q begging a piggyback from daddy.

Like my mother before me, I am a compulsive rock collector. Near Echo Park we found heavy deposits of flake mica in the rock by the side of the road. Of course, I brought a few pieces home in my pocket. Do you suppose Q will pick up this habit from me as well?

Outside of Evergreen, the passes open out into vast golden meadows.

Lucky us, what a beautiful day trip!