Fall leaves have blown, snow flurries are here, and bye bye Star Mountain until next year

It's that time again. After a whirlwind last10 days we are closing up the house and leaving for Florida. We enjoyed every bit of the remaining fall color with our great neighbors and our last group of guests The leaves have virtually all blown off on the last few days and a snow dusting  has ensued. Clearly time to go to balmier climes.

Tommy fishing in the Crystal River

Slab of marble from Marble, CO. Famous places have this marble including Jefferson Memorial.

We took our good friends Kathy and Tommy over to Crystal Mill. Their first visit and I think they'll be back. It's so gorgeous and we picked a perfect day. Of course had to enjoy the barbecue too. It's the only restaurant in town but absolutely yummy food. 

The deer are dwindling - off to lower ground for the winter

The last of the color and a nice grouping of elk outside Crested Butte. They have been scarce (probably because its hunting season).

Such fun with Buddy and Peggy. They zoomed up from Texas for a look at mountain fall before it disappeared. Ohio Pass and the magic spring. Secret Stash and W Cafe were also part of the mix. Gotta experience the mainstays in food around here. We jeeped over Paradise bowl but alas no views as the snow rolled in. They were good sports anyway. Definitely our last jeeping adventure for the season.

More elk sightings, this time right in front of our house. A bull (6x6!) and his harem wandered on by. Amazing to watch. Buddy and Peggy enjoyed the spectacle.

And so it ends with freezing temps at Star Mt. and high 80's in Naples. It definitely will be a bit of a transition. Back next year...

Nature at it's finest - peak fall color in the mountains

Another week gone by with family back for another great visit. This time Paul and Sherry were back for hunting week and fall color. The elk hunting sadly was not successful but the fall color certainly was.

Gorgeous color and people everywhere - photographers galore.

We trekked up to CB and Gothic to take a look at the color there too. 

Fun dusting of snow on the peaks. It is that crazy time of year when you don't know from day to day what the weather will bring.

The end of the bull saga. He refused to leave for a number of days but finally was escorted out. Bye.

Hawk, cowboys, bull, and travel

 Lots happening here. We have been doing a little traveling of our own this time in between company. A lovely trip to NY visiting friends in the Hamptons and a quick trip to Santa Fe were completely different and fun. And fall is quickly marching to peak color. We're down to our last few weeks at Star Mt. before we leave for the winter to Naples (Florida, not Italy...)

A vineyard stop as one of the many fun activities on our visit to Alex and Donna's home in the Hamptons. What a gorgeous area. Golf, restaurants, museums, shopping. Thank you Alex and Donna for a wonderful time. 

Our quick trip to Santa Fe was so great. Seeing the family after two years was terrific. A magnificent outside dinner with sunset at Charles and Lisa's lovely home. And they sent eggs home with us from their chickens. Thanks for everything!

Per Lisa's suggestion we made a detour in Antonito on the drive home. This is Camo's Castle - mostly made out of beer cans and miscellaneous metal by a veteran who lives across the road, not in it. Not safe? He's been working on it for 35 years and still going. It was worth the stop for sure.

Taylor Reservoir. Another moose sighting - one quite small with a larger female. Just off the road paying no attention to the people and cars.

The cowboy was here at Star Mt. with his partners moving the cattle out. It's always a fun sight to watch. And an interesting development since my last post. Remember that steer I took a photo of and said how much it looked like a bull? Well, it was a bull and is still here wandering around Star Mt. It belongs to a neighboring rancher and they have yet to come get him. I walked by him many a morning thinking nothing of it. Ha.

Red tail hawk in flight. Scared it off our fence as we drove in from our trek to Santa Fe. Keeping watch while we were gone I guess.

Santa Fe company and all the mountain delights

 

Whee, the days are flying by. I mean as fast as they can go. We've had a continuous stream of fun company and still more to come. We are actually going to take a trip next week to NY to visit friends. We get to go places too you see...

Drove to Cumberland Pass for a fun side trip, something we had not done for years. Still beautiful but slightly different as now there are four wheeler trails all over. Not a big fan....

The 4 amigos except they added one

Doe and fawn turning gray. How does that happen so fast?

One of "our" steers. They are extra enormous this summer from all the rain/great grass. Looks like a bull right?

The latest critter sightings. My one and only bear sighting - half grown cub right by the road on Ohio Creek. Mark has seen this one three times - doesn't seem to understand the dangers of the road. I theorize it's an orphan cub. Hope I'm wrong.

Our last bit of mushroom hunting. Almost no mushrooms of any kind this time. Clearly the end plus it's hunting season, so not safe to go again. I debated on whether to post the above photo. We don't know what kind of animal but it (actually there were more skulls around) was clearly marking a place for hunters to set up. Kinda creepy...

More visitors! Nancy and Rod popped over from Santa Fe. It had been way too long since they'd come. Great visit - they went kayaking with their new matching kayaks and then cooked for us. Green chili pepper bison burgers and pisole. I've only recently learned about pisole- a marvelous corn side dish. Don't wait so long to come back!