Whitewater Preserve

So, our daughter, who is still on winter break (she's a teacher, and so is her husband), PLANNED a day trip for us and their two young children.  This trip was up to the Whitewater Preserve.

Now, let me preface this by saying our two 10,000 foot mountains have... NO SNOW!  No snow in January, 2018!  UNBELIEVEABLE!  Not a drop of snow anywhere...sigh...

So, I wasn't sure how much, if any, water would be in the Whitewater River, which runs next to the preserve.  I was surprised to see that there actually was some.  I think our mountains got their last "dusting" of snow back in October  (I could be wrong about that...)

Anyway, we met them at the Whitewater exit and drove up to the preserve.  It was Tuesday morning, 9 a.m. and the parking lot hadn't filled up yet.

OH MY GOODNESS!

There were beautiful orange, yellow, brown, and even red leaves... EVERYWHERE!  They covered the roofs above the picnic tables.  They covered the tables.  They covered the parking lot.  They covered the ground and the 2 grandkids were delighted to kick them everywhere!  Such joy!  Such youthful pleasure in simple things!

I stood there with my mouth OPEN just soaking in all the colors of the leaves! 

(It will probably take me 2 days to post all the photos I took)!!!!!!!

So, here goes:

 This is the view of the mountains which SHOULD have snow on them this time of year!

 The Whitewater River

 Leaves in the parking lot

 I loved seeing all the leaves on the roof!

 Lots of LOTS of leaves!

 Whee!  Such JOY!

 Awesome!

 More awesomeness!

More photos tomorrow!  Stay tuned!