From the Fridge to the Frying Pan – Welcome back to Texas!

I’ve spent the past 6 weeks exploring and photographing the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. While I love Texas, I also enjoy the cooler temperatures and sweeping mountain vistas the high country offers. From the San Juans to the Maroon Bells to Denver, I head up there each summer in hopes of climbing a few 14,000 foot peaks and photographing the amazing landscapes, including Colorado wildflowers, along the way.

Colorado wildflowers fill a meadow near Vail, Colorado.
A patch of pink paintbrush fills the meadow on a hike to Booth Lake near Vail, Colorado. These Rocky Mountain wildflowers are beautiful in late July and bring color to a majestic landscape.
From one 14,000 foot peak (Humbolt) to another two peaks (Crestone Needle and Crestone Peak), the views of the Colorado landscape are remarkble.
From the 14,064 summit of Humbolt Peak, this panorama shows the majestic Crestone Needle and Crestone Peak, both 14ers, across a beautiful valley of green. The clouds were streaming over the rocky peaks and created a landscape not seen by too many folks.

For most of the summer, we stay at about 9,000 feet in altitude. Most days, the temperatures barely reach 70, but many times we enjoy mid-60s with afternoon rain a common occurrence. But work calls, and I had to return to the Hill Country this past week. Immediately upon my return, I only had time to throw the luggage in the living room before heading to downtown to photograph the Austin skyline. I had a client that wanted a current image – cranes and all – of the downtown area to contrast that photograph with one taken in 2008. When I left the mountains, it was 41 degrees. When I arrived down on Town Lake (aka Lady Bird Lake for the new arrivals), the temperatures were over 100. Good grief! Still, it is nice to be home. And the boardwalk that skirts the waters of the Texas version of the Colorado River does offer nice views of the highrises. I even saw a few bats. Here is a panorama of the skyline taken from the boardwalk that evening.

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Austin Skyline Pano from the Boardwalk 1 : Prints Available

This Austin, Texas, panorama was taken on a very warm July evening from the Boardwalk that runs along Lady Bird Lake. Several images were stitched together to make up this composite of the downtown skyline as well as the path that bikers and joggers enjoy.

Next up for me, weather permitting, is the Perseid Meteor Shower in a few weeks. The moon phase will be perfect (new moon at peak) and forecasts say we could see up to 100 meteors per hour. That would be amazing.

Stay tuned!

~ Rob
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