Columbines and Irises #OpenBook Blog Hop

January 5, 2025

Now that it’s the new year, tell us a favorite holiday memory. (Any holiday!)

There’s over a foot of snow on the ground, and the winter holidays are over.

Every morning for the past week or more, I’ve had to clean off my Jeep before going anywhere. So let’s talk about a special Fourth of July from over a decade ago. (Side note- why does a decade sound like a longer time than 10 years?) Anyway, that year the Fourth of July fell on a Friday, and we decided to make the drive up to the mountains, one of our favorite things to do.

There were several routes we’d take from Cheyenne, WY, most of them going through Walden, CO, then to Fort Collins, and returning to Cheyenne. (Or the other way around.) I made a game of it – how many routes could I find to get to the same places? I jokingly called them my smuggler’s routes. Several of them weren’t available in the winter, when snow covered the mountain passes.

Back to the memory.

That year, we took off early in the day. The round trip took about 4 hours of straight driving. We never drove it straight. There were many possible stops along the way. Perhaps Jelm. Maybe the green house along Route 230, owned by the state of Colorado. Or Cowdrey Reservoir, where we first spotted the flock of yellow-headed blackbirds. Or one of the many small pull-offs along the way.

One of them was where I spotted the first wild columbine I’d ever seen. I’d heard of them, of course, but it was like spotting a legend. Then it became a quest, looking for more along the road. Wildflowers of many shapes, sizes, and colors bloomed everywhere we looked. I don’t know the names of most of them, but the pictures I took that day are backed up in three places.

That same trip, I spotted a field of irises on a side road out of Walden. Not just a few scattered plants here and there, but a wetlands area filled with them. (To consider how unique that was, Walden is in a high desert area – elevation over 8000 ft.)

I don’t remember how long the trip took that day – probably closer to ten hours if you consider the stops for meals and exploring. It wasn’t long enough, but we ran out of daylight.

Feel free to share your favorite memories in the conducts. Other authors will be sharing theirs on their blogs, found in the links below.

As always, please stay safe until the next time.

Goal accountability. (From last week’s blog.) I broke 25000 words and did some basic editing on my WIP. I feel good about it.)

January 5, 2025