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Paco meets the Pacific. 🐶🏖🌊
Of course I had to take a detour to venture down Bussett Road. A different branch of the family tree. Maybe in the future when COVID isn't such a threat, I'll try to connect with some of them and swap family stories. At least now I can confirm Google maps correctly pronounces #Bussett. 🙌
I'm always fascinated by how quickly the landscape seems to morph. This morning we woke in thick forests, high, craggy mountains, and cold temps. Drove a couple hours southwest and now we're in vast swaths of sagebrush prairies, lava, and softer sloping mountains.
Smoke, storms, fresh snow on the mountaintops, and Jack Frost swirls on the hood of the van.
To celebrate Paco's birthday, we went in a seven mile hike that led us to three lakes for him to swim and fish in. Each was beautiful in its own way, but my favorite by far was Yellowbelly Lake (the first of the lake pics). So peaceful, silent, and hidden.  We then headed south where the colors of Autumn began to vibrantly explode along the road. Living in Texas for so long, I always knew I missed the changing of seasons, but these past couple of weeks of cooler temperatures and changing leaves have reminded me just HOW much I have missed the Fall. This was always my favorite time of the year growing up, and even though waking to 22 degree mornings makes it hard to leave my warm blanket burrito, the golden leaves and crisp air makes it all worth it.
And just like that, @punkypaco is three years old! Sticks are still his favorite chew toys, which works great for my wallet. 🤣🐶🐕 Couldn't have asked for a better co-pilot on my adventures. ❤
Nothing like kicking October off with a 14 mile hike through the Sawtooth Mountains. I picked today because it was forecasted to be cloudy - I didn't want us to bake on the granite ridges up top. I absolutely lucked out though, because the lake was sooooo, so, so calm, and absolutely silent. Not even a bird or chipmunk squeaked. It was hard to discern where the mountains ended and the water began. The reflections were so profound and pronounced. Once the sun broke through, so did the breeze that rippled the water and erased it all. So grateful for all of these moments.
Nobody messes with our site when I leave the tent monster in charge of security.
I can't get over how perfectly blue the sky is here. It's as if the landscape is one giant collage of vividly colored shapes pasted onto a pristine cerulean blue canvas. Pretty spectacular. #nofilter