today we decided to visit the lake. Angel Lake is a relatively small mountain lake that sits in a rocky "bowl" surrounded by mountains. it's at such a high altitude that many of the trees and flowers are just now beginning to really get leaves and blossoms. it was a beautiful day to be there.

i so rarely take photos that aren't macro that it feels very odd to do so and i really REALLY need to practice~!!~but here you have it; a landscape/lakescape shot. so now i'll get back to the more comfortable realm of the macro.

found these mushrooms by a very tiny stream (created by snow melt). they were growing all stacked up on top of each other like little apartment houses . . . the light was very dappled due to the dense foliage over their "heads" which is why i got the wonderful glow in this shot~!~it's a fairey tale shot . . .

this is a tiny grass flower that was nestled in with a thick layer of mosses.

this is what greed looks like~!~

:)

this ant (and some of it's buddies) were busily licking out (all) the nectar from the middle of these blossoms.

yum. yum. yum.

not sure just what kind of butterfly this is. it's very small and much bluer when it's wings are spread open.

i can never resist

taking a closer look

at the lichens on the rocks.

they can be so varied in their shapes and colors~!~

we found a water snake that allowed me to get a few shots. you can see the very tip of his tongue if you click on the photo to enlarge it.this shot makes it look a bit menacing but it was just very interested in getting back into it's own environment and not at all looking to hurt us.

i'm very happy to have gotten to spend some time with my daughter in this beautiful area today. it was her idea to go up and i'm glad that we did.

tomorrow we will be taking an early morning trip to the airport to send her off to Honduras. everything seems to be in order and she is VERY excited to begin this newest adventure in her life.