Colorado Road Trip (9): After Thunder

Distant rain storm from Mesa Verde National Park

I found the skies of Colorado to be dramatic and atmospheric.  They were such a contrast to the skies of my hometown, Seattle, where thick gray clouds roll in like a blanket, unchanging for days on end.  Our Colorado mornings typically started out clear.  Then white, puffy clouds would arrive like a pleasant flock of lambs.  By afternoon, we would often see storm clouds in the distance; sometimes lightening would flash or the clouds would burst in a release of rain.  Occasionally we were caught in a rain shower — heavy, but relatively brief.  I found the weather exhilarating.

After Thunder
by Timothy Murphy

Storm, thunder no more.
Arroyos, dowse your roar.
Rubber rabbitbush,
Antelope bitterbrush,
Mormon tea, saxifrage
and Great Basin sages,
sweeten the sorrel plain.
No passion without pain
nor blossoms without rain.

Afternoon thunderstorm near Ft. Collins

Drama in the skies near Ft. Collins

Gathering storm near Mesa Verde