Taking in Life Around Me.....#lens-artistchallenge #405: Adventuring

This weeks Lens-Artist Challenge prompt is hosted by Anne-Christine. This weeks prompt is all things adventure!! How fun. I love a good adventure, whether near or far! 

After reading the book Free Country: A Penniless Adventure the Length of Britain by George Mahood, where at the end he says "It is amazing what adventures you can have when you step outside your front door. Get out there. Take a look for yourself. You won't be disappointed", I started to look at adventures differently. Sure, it's fun to travel, and I'm grateful we've been able to do more of it, but it's equally fun to explore what is right in our own backyard so to speak. I live in the PNW in the SW region of Washington state and there is much exploring to do. 

If you were to ask me where my favorite place to visit is, I couldn't choose. There was something I've loved about each one. There were things I didn't care for, but it was an adventure to somewhere I might never visit again and I always want to make the most of it. On my trips tab at the top of my blog you'll see posts and photos of many of our trips. I'm still working on finishing a few. You can also find me on my personal FB page where I have lots of albums from trips/adventures. 

So how to decide what to post here? This is a struggle for me. I've started and deleted this post many times. I've had so many amazing adventures, how do I even choose. I think I decided rather than try to find a photo from different adventures, I'll focus on our adventure to Colorado which was a sort of bucket list item for me. I've always wanted to go, so back at the end of September of 2025 my hubby and I set out for a nearly 2 week trip around the state. We started in Denver where we landed (we didn't spend much time here), and drove up and around the state. 

I actually almost deleted all of these and went with local adventures, but I just knew that if I did that, I'd just give up and not do anything! 

We spent a lot of time in the Rocky Mountain National Park. It was rut season for the elk and we often spent the good part of the day and evening driving around (it's HUGE). 

I kicked myself for not renting a large lens. That would've been amazing. 

The fall colors of Colorado are absolutely stunning. I feel like we hit everything at the perfect time. 

Another bucket list item has been to see a moose. I never saw one when I visited upper New Hampshire, and I've never seen one when I went to Canada. We don't have them in our area of Washington state. This was so cool. We saw him, a cow and a younger one earlier, then on our hike we spotted him on the other side of a fence (which he walked over, thankfully ignoring us and off into the woods). This photo was after he wandered into the woods and we saw him in an opening we walked by. 

I'm also a sucker for old buildings. 

This state had everything from plains, rolling hills, colorful mountains and valleys, to red rocks. We saw it all!!!! This was in the garden of the Gods. 

Drove to the top of Pikes Peak! That was an adventure. Yikes!!! Have I mentioned I'm afraid of heights and I don't like roads that don't have guard rails? A few times my hubby would say "what's it look like?" and I'd respond "I don't know, I can't look".

He also climbed the manitou incline! So proud of him. He did in about 45 minutes. I didn't do it because I've been suffering with some achilles tendonitis. 

In Ouray, we went to Box Canyon Falls. We walked to the lower portion and then up to a higher spot. Definitely worth visiting. 

When I asked on a local page for things to do and shared our itinerary, many people couldn't understand why we'd go to Grand Junction. Well, above is why. This was stunning! Staying there was cheaper, AND it made for some great scenery to drive around. 

With Joy Unquenchable,

Kirstin