Autumnus Interruptus

Whenever I have plans, I am happy.  As long as I have something penciled in on the calendar, I am pretty easy to live with.  (Let's not investigate that too closely this morning, okay?)  So I was very happy to have made a little plan for myself for Friday morning. 

Here was my plan:

1. Drop Bridger off at school
2. Drive up Monroe Mountain
3. Take loads of pictures of the fall leaves
4. Find a pumpkin patch
5. Take loads of pictures of pumpkins

You know what they say about the best laid plans...  Thursday night it started snowing.  Not a blizzard or anything, just a light swirling of snowflakes falling from ominous clouds that nearly touched the base of the mountain.  I kept my fingers crossed as night fell with the flakes.

The next morning revealed no snow had stuck, but it wasn't the warm autumn day for which I had hoped.  THIS is what we saw when we drove over the Joe Town Hill.  Beautiful, but not very promising weather for heading up the mountain.  I didn't care. I had a plan.  My plan did not specify what type of clothing would be required to enjoy this day.  I had a heater in my car. I could still make this work.

Once Bridger and I had said our goodbyes and love yous, I headed for Monrovian Park, my kids' and my favorite place for fall pictures, and walked briskly down the trail toward the stream. The absence of my children was noted by my heart. One reason I wanted to take the pictures is to share our favorite spot with the big kids who have moved away. Dylan is in Saint George in the middle of the desert, and Sierra has moved to Denver. This might be the only way they could enjoy autumn in Monroe, vicariously through me. I wasn't finding large patches of colorful trees, but I found when I zoomed in on the small patches, my lens was full of fall foliage.  I was very cold, but I was happy.

By the time I had climbed to Monroe Peak...oh, excuse me, I don't mean to mislead. I would like to tell you I was hiking, but that would be a bald-faced lie. I was DRIVING in my heated sedan.  I just didn't want you to get the wrong picture. As I was saying, by the time I arrived at the peak, IN MY CAR, it was 30 degrees.  I stopped periodically to take shots of the vista, and closeups of the leaves. My fingers were freezing, my nose running, and my face grinning. I was so happy to be outdoors (intermittently) and to be driving up my favorite mountain while it was still autumn, calendar-wise, anyway.

There was a light dusting of snow on the road that seemed to be heavier the higher I went, which makes sense.  So in case you don't want to brave the elements, or worse, you miss the brief window of time that the leaves are still on the trees, I will share my shots with you.  Enjoy, in the privacy and comfort of your home.