Up The River With No Need Of A Paddle

Well, assuming you read the previous post, you've got a handle on the big picture: the first day was all driving, not taking any time for photography. The plan, at the beginning of the second day, was to drive up CO Hwy 145 from Cortez, through Dolores, up to Telluride, where I'd wander around taking pictures before continuing on to Montrose.

This part of the trip was exhilarating, as much for the clear, crisp, cool morning as for the scenery. Just east of Dolores, on what surely must be a floodplain for the Dolores River, I spied this nice little ranch house with the river at its back door. At that time of the day, before too many of the residents of the town were out and about, this place just seemed idyllic and I thought how nice it might be to wake up there every morning.

Around the bend and not much farther up the road, the river wandered nearer the roadside and there was some evidence on the other bank that not everyone was retired - there might be some work going on, if a little later in the day. Not to get off topic too much, I noticed that since I've been following Stephen's painting, I've started looking for suitable compositions I might paint if I were a painter. This is a nice enough photograph, I think, but I think it would be a much nicer painting.

The highway was running north and south at this point, but about to follow the river as it turned east. The river splits here - or actually rejoins here, since we're looking upstream - around a small, rather untidy island. I suppose it's too difficult to take care of the island on a continuing basis but, though I might think differently if I owned it, the island would be a great place for a small private park. Of course, I'd probably worry all the time about the river flooding and regularly washing my park away.

To all the appropriate people, Happy Mother's Day!