We're here in WY for roughly two more weeks. Autumn officially begins Tuesday, with the autumnal equinox, but it arrived here in the high country before Labor Day. Highs will be in the low 70s and high 60s for the next week, low 60s by the time we exit.
We could stay through October but we've a river cruise to go on and flying there from our winter place is easier than from here. So we are "eating down" the refrigerator and freezer, moving the deck furniture indoors, and packing up our suitcases.
Time to shut down what we wistfully think of as Brigadoon, our Shangri-La in the aspens. Its formal name, given decades ago and seldom used, is Aspen Lodge. Our Nevada place is nice too, but the Wyoming place has our hearts - green beats beige and brown in our book.
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Later ... we just got back from a roundtrip up the Snake River Canyon to Jackson. The shrub-like mountain maple is doing peak color now. You see everything from orangish yellow to pinkish orange to orangey red to purplish red; maple is having a better-than-usual season.
The cottonwoods stream-side are showing some yellow, as are the many aspens. The evergreen fir provide a solemn backdrop against which all this color is displayed.
Next week when we repeat this drive the aspens should be in full, pale yellow leaf, while their white bark with black accents shows through. Autumn, while brief here in the Rockies, is an especially beautiful time. And then it's time to leave.
