Colorado Camping

We have just returned from Colorado where we had a camping trip to Rocky Mountain National Park cut short by the tremendous rain and flooding
in the mountains and foothills.we were very fortunate, after one night  and reports of more rain and flash flood warnings, we decided to pack up and head home. Just in time too as the floods were to flow through the town of Estes Park, in our wake.

Before we left the park,  we bundled up in our new rain gear (thank you to Chi at REI Santa Monica!)  and took a rainy day walk around Sprague Lake. 

Back in Denver, during a pause in the rain, we visited Hudson Gardens 

for a little more time in nature before returning home.  They had a wide range of gardens to choose from including a chocolate garden, where all the blooms represented the feel, taste, look or smell of chocolate, and a conifer forest so we could get our forest pine fix that we missed out on in the mountains.

They also had several bunnies dotting the gardens 

and these amazing Victoria water lily pads.  These massive lily pads first made their appearance in Britain's Crystal Palace in 1851, when they were brought there from South America.  These photos do not quite convey their massive size.  Each plant produces flowers that bloom at night for 48 hours and are pollinated by the scarab beetle.

We weren't fortunate enough to see one bloom but we did get to see on of the huge tennis ball sized buds.