Great Sand Dunes: Winter

Last stop on my way out of Monte Vista actually involved a bit of a detour.  I have a hard time resisting the lure of a national park under any conditions, let alone ones as beautiful as this late winter morning. So after my sunrise shots south of town and a hearty breakfast back at the Monte Villa Inn I headed northeast to Great Sand Dunes National Park.

I didn't even have to get to the park before seeing scenery that took my breath away, like this view of Little Bear Peak and Blanca Peak.

I normally like the effect of leading lines drawing your eye into a photograph.  But even with the snow-covered road providing that here, I think I still prefer the previous peak shot.

Once in the park it wasn't like the views dropped off, like this look at Mount Herard with the dunefield starting to rise to the left.

The dunes themselves were even more magical than normal, the mix of dry sand, wet sand and snow combining to form truly unique patterns.

Quite a few hardy souls had made the trek into the dunefield.  If I'd had more time, I might have joined them.

Even with the fairly harsh midday light there was still plenty of texture in the landscape.

In hindsight I wish I'd gotten down on my belly to make the horses more prominent in this scene.  But there was no easy way to tell what was under those few inches of fresh snow; and I didn't really need to smell like manure on the four-hour drive back to Denver.

A fantastic end to the weekend -- really the cherry on top of a terrific trip!

Horsing Around in Texas

Horses have always intrigued me, but I've never spent a lot of time around them. I get excited to see their relatives like bighorn sheep, elk and moose in the wild, and horses are no less beautiful and interesting just because they've been domesticated.

Danelle's sister has owned horses for years, but I've never made the trip down to Texas to visit until her son got married last weekend.  So in between tuxedo fittings, rehearsal dinners and the like I spent some time in their pasture.

Pistol is wearing what's known as a fly mask.  I wanted to spare his dignity a bit and not post a picture of him wearing it.  But when you stick your tongue out to boot, you're kind of begging for it.

They have one mare, Bopper.  Between her black coat and slightly more skittish nature she was tough to photograph.

Pistol without his mask looks much more noble.

Their third horse, Breeze.  When I first met him he rested his head on my shoulder in a sort of "horse hug."  I was admittedly a little concerned he was going to bite my ear off or something.  They're just huge, powerful animals.  But I guess working with them is sort of like handling a piece of heavy machinery -- treat them with respect, and you should be fine.

The three didn't spend a lot of time close together, which made getting all of them in one photograph a bit tricky.  But they did give me this interesting arrangement.

It didn't take them too long to ignore the stranger with the little black box.  Once they realized the camera wasn't food, anyway.

Pistol has one brown eye and one blue eye.  The shape of a horse's head and where their eyes are set made it challenging to get both in the same shot.  A pile of hay to munch on did the trick.

Their neighbors have quite the petting zoo coming together -- peacocks, guinea hens, goats and even a couple of donkeys.

They say everything's bigger in Texas, and the grasshoppers were no exception.  Vibrantly colored, too.

Even with the overcast conditions that persisted throughout most of the weekend, there was a pretty sunset to close the day.

I hung out in the pasture for an hour in the afternoon just snapping away, then went back in just before sunset.  I can definitely see the appeal in owning horses -- they're interesting and affectionate animals with distinct personalities.  Looking forward to spending more time with them in the future!