Wordless Wednesday Post on Flora and Fauna of the Rocky Mountain National Park

Wordless Wednesday Post; Scenes of Flora and Fauna in the Rocky Mountain National Park while hiking...... and a picture of a big rock (why they call it the Rocky Mountains) that looks like a profile to me! Can you see it? Thanks for looking!

Carol

Crafting on Vacation......Why not?

I recently told of our trip out west, to South Dakota and Colorado (see prior posts).

In Colorado, we stayed at the YMCA of the Rockies. It was a fabulous place with much to do. I've already told you of the hikes we took during our week stay, in the Rocky Mountain National Park. Now, I'll tell you about some of the other activities! There was so much to choose from!

In addition to hiking, our family road a zip line, went horseback riding, played mini-golf and basketball, took classes on archery, wilderness survival, animals of the rocky mountains, and beavers. Everything was great, except for the Beaver Walk, which has to be another topic! It got to mid-week and we hadn't even checked out the "craft barn". By this time, I was going through a little beading withdrawl so two days before we had to leave; we spent an afternoon at this wonderful distraction at the Y.

Just like the physical activities, entering the craft barn is a little overwhelming! There is just about every craft you can imagine! After spending about a half hour just deciding what to do, we chose the following crafts......my youngest chose a fired "green ware" dragon to paint with acrylics, my soon to be 5th grader picked a frog mosaic to make lively and colorful, and my oldest tie dyed a shirt with his dad. Me, well, I longed to do some beading! How convenient that about half the craft barn is just for crafting.......beaded jewelry!

After picking a small wooden school house structure to paint while keeping my dragon artist company, I wandered over to the beads. Most people seemed to be in the make and take mode. In other words, you pick your beads and then assemble your piece (necklace, bracelet, etc.) and pay for a completed piece of jewelry. The YMCA provided assistants to help with the assembly of your jewelry. This was great if you didn't already know how to make jewelry. I went a different route. After checking, I was told that of course, I could just buy beads!!! Yeah!!! I had a grand time picking wonderful, unusual beads to bring home! They had a great selection.

For me, I like the solitary atmosphere that I have when I create a piece of jewelry and while there was definitely a time and place to create on vacation, I elected not to. I am very protective of my creative muse and sitting at a table with 20-30 other women while creating a piece just doesn't work for me. I also don't like to look at the work of others. I have found that it inhibits the individuality of my pieces. So, given that there were many beautiful and unique beads to choose from I had a good time bead shopping. Which.....if I was creating pieces in my head as I picked each bead......then I did do some crafting on vacation!

I can't wait to share with you some of my pieces that I made with beads from our vacation. Keep watching here for those! In the meantime, enjoy a few more pictures from our stay at the YMCA of the Rockys and Rocky Mountain National Park. #1- Bear Lake, #2- YMCA of the Rockies Statue, & #3- Alberta Falls.

Have a great weekend! Carol

Rocky Mountain High......

Hello!! If you follow my blog, you will have noticed that I did not post last week. My family took a vacation out West. There were two parts to this vacation. First, we visited Mt. Rushmore and the Badlands. Then, we went to Estes Park, Colorado. Both will be memorable for my family!

Colorado is beautiful. We went hiking almost daily in Rocky Mountain National Park! The weather was gorgeous and the humidity was low! I found that it is one of the few places I can go where my hair isn't a ball of frizz!!!!

The staff at Estes Park was very helpful in finding appropriate hikes for our family with younger school-aged children. On day one we hiked from the Bear Lake Trail head to Emerald Lake, seeing Nymph Lake and Dream Lake along the way. It was gorgeous! Of course, I took tons of photos!

Day Two took us to Alberta Falls and beyond, but we tired after being caught in a brief thunderstorm and did not make it all the way to Mills Lake. The thunderstorm was fun and scary at the same time. However, a side benefit was that many hikers headed down the mountain and I was able to get some unobstructed photographs of Alberta Falls.

Day three we did not hike. We needed a change of pace and spent the afternoon in the craft barn at the YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park. We started some very cool projects, which will be a topic of another post!

Day four took us back to the Rocky Mountain National Park for more hiking. We chose to go on a hike that would take us to The Pool from the Fern Lake Trailhead.

This was a wooded hike but very lovely beside the Big Thompson River, where we cooled our feet on the return hike back to the trailhead.

I can't say enough about Rocky Mountain National Park. It is awesome and awe inspiring! The mountains are majestic and of course, rocky! All of the people we encountered were very respectful of the land and pleasant in passing! The rangers were visible and anxious to help provide you with a great experience!

I will be posting a few pictures from this trip (obviously)! You know by now that I love taking landscapes of the places I travel to. I am also very excited to tell you that right before we left on our trip, I sold my very first photography from my shop on Etsy. Here is the link;

http://www.etsy.com/transaction/31048431

This, along with the beautiful scenery I have recently witnessed, has inspired me to post and make available for sale more of my photography. At this time, you can view/purchase my photographs in my etsy shop at;

http://carolsjewelryorchard.etsy.com

Please visit soon! Have a great day! Carol