Friday Skyday

We were beyond thrilled when we arrived at our new campsite outside Crested Butte to find clear skies! Based on our web research, Crested Butte looked like an island of drier weather in the midst of our rainy state - so we immediately made a beeline for it.

Our campsite had incredible wildflowers all around it with sunshine making them glow.

It also had a pond about 50 yards away! R perfected his takeoff technique over the coming days. Lift off...

... and flight!

Shyla was watching his technique, and we saw her take flight for the first time in her young life. After leaping and flying for her first time, Shyla decided that she loved it, and we saw her do this many times in the following days. The "butt up in the air" pose was Shyla's unique twist to the Lab diving technique.

On that first evening, the sunset was beautiful - even more than usual because we hadn't seen sunshine in days.

The few clouds in the sky dissipated after the sun went down. The stars twinkled overhead with the bright moon up just after sunset. It was so bright that it was tough to see shooting stars, although there is one short one toward the upper right of the photo. This photo was taken with the camera pointed to the east while the moon was still up.

Then, after the moon set, I programmed the camera to take photos while we slept. The camera took many 4 minute exposures (with 5 seconds breaks between them) over the course of two and a half hours. You can see how many more stars were visible without the moon in this photo than when the moon was out (above). The North Star is at the center of all those circles.

While my camera was making star photos, we drifted off to sleep, eagerly anticipating riding/running on the many gorgeous trails near us the next morning. It was amazing how sun and clear skies lifted our spirits!

Lots of Fun!

Life is starting to return to normal around here, after some fun in the Rockies. Many of you know how much we adore the high mountains of Colorado. We love camping up high where we are surrounded by high mountain peaks. We spent a couple of weeks with only rare visits to anyplace lower than 11,000'!

Of course, the Labraduo was with us, snuggling into our sleeping bags every night.

It's no surprise that they love swimming in high mountain lakes. R's enthusiasm is over the top. He literally quivers with anticipation when someone is about to throw a stick in the lake.

Then he launches himself like a flying Labrador.

On our recent trip, Shyla found an intensity level about retrieving that I didn't know she had inside her. She awaited the throw...

And she launched herself high above the water to retrieve the stick.

Seeing the Duo's enthusiasm for something as simple as fetching puts life in perspective. After their intense races to the stick, they often carry it back together.

It's been a wonderful few weeks, replete with long mountain bike rides on the Continental Divide, lazy afternoons soaking up the sunshine, and glorious wildflowers all around us. This is an Elephant flower. Do you see why that's its name?

Yes, there was some inevitable rain too but the bright sunshine is what I remember most. I hope to tell you all about it and to catch up with your summer news!

Happy Summer Days

Yesterday I told you about my bike ride to an incredible campsite in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado. It was a long journey but it was worth it! The view captivated me for our entire stay at the campsite.

Not only was there a great view but there was also a lake very nearby. Our Labs thought that was divine!

It's interesting - for the entire time that K was alive, she took the lead in retrieving objects from lakes. R would wait on the shore to try to grab hold of the object when she brought it in, even after he was fast enough to win the swimming race sometimes.

Now, R always takes the lead in retrieving, and Shyla plays the role of "poacher" on the shore. Even when we throw two objects, Shyla doesn't go after the second one. Rather she waits near shore for R. Perhaps this is a common older-younger dog interaction.

On most retrieves, Shyla swims out to meet Rono about 10 yards from shore so she gets wet!

We had lots of fun playing in that lake while the weather stayed good. As you'll hear in the coming days, we were in for a huge change in weather which made swimming not fun. Snow will do that.

Back in camp after a day of mountain biking, running, and swimming, I adored the sunsets that bathed Shyla in warm light that made her chocolate fur glow. Some evenings, the sunset was clear.

Most evenings, it was not.

But, the unrelenting clouds led to some incredibly fiery sunsets.

We had such fun in this campsite. It's one of the "happy places" that I keep in my mind to get me through tough things like root canals. Everything about the spot where we camped is etched into my memory, and I think of it many times during the year. I love it!

P.S. Today is the last day to vote in the Trailcampro.com contest that I've entered a photo in. Please read the last paragraph of my previous post if you want to vote (one vote per email address). Thank you so much! I promise that this is the last reminder.