A New Favorite Place

Frequently, I tell you about our trips to our favorite places in the West. As we explore in our LabMobile, we search for new "favorite places", but very often, we end up in less-than-optimal new campsites during our explorations. We visit those sites once (and you never see photos of them here), and then we start searching all over again for new beautiful spots.

This summer, we camped in a new spot that I think is going to become a favorite for us. It was at almost 12,000', high above treeline. It was chilly and a little bit stormy but the surroundings were gorgeous.

There was almost no one else around so the dogs could play in the mountain tundra as I mountain biked and the Runner ran. We started out each morning as a pack, and it was fun watching the Duo run together.

After R and the Runner went off to tackle a high peak (too steep for a mountain bike), Shyla and I explored the trails and small 4wd roads.

She loved clambering on the boulders that speckled the tundra. Don't worry - there's no cliff behind her. Rather, there's a gentle slope down into a deep valley.

An upside to the tumultuous weather during our visit was that we saw more rainbows in a few days than we usually see in an entire year. The pot of gold looked very close based on this late-afternoon rainbow on our first day there!

Then, as I sipped coffee the next morning, a double rainbow appeared. Have you ever noticed how the order of the colors is opposite in the second rainbow? I wonder why.

Rain sprinkled from the sky intermittently that morning. Between rain squalls, it was bright and sunny. Sometimes it was both raining and sunny at the same time, like during my bike ride with Shyla.

Shyla seemed to dance among the rainbows.

After one last smattering of rain during our ride that morning, the rainbow show abruptly ended.

And Shyla and I proceeded with our mountain bike ride in bright warm sunshine. The banks of clouds stayed on the other side of the valley.

What fun days those were! I have the feeling we'll be back to that spot again. I love being so high among the Rocky Mountains.

I have no doubt that Shyla approves of that idea!

Alas, summertime is fading here. The first "chance of snow" has appeared in our forecast for later this week. So it's a good time to look back at our summertime adventures and to plan for our autumn adventures.