Skiing in the Rockies...

Had a great day of skiing last week in the Rockies, the last one of the season..... even my bad knees cooperated!!! Went with the Kodak Ski Bus to Copper Mountain..... what a day!!

Mexico Trip to View Monarch Over Wintering Sites

What an exciting experience: to be surrounded by thousands and thousands of Monarch Butterflies whose last summer generations fly every fall between 1500 and 2000 miles to escape the cold and snowy winter in the north so their species can survive, before they head back starting in March. We did not have too much time for a visit: flew into Guadalajara where we spent the first night at Lake Chapala. This beautiful area reminded me of the lake area in Northern Italy, a very similar mild climate with beautiful palm trees, only year around, which attracted about 80,000 Americans, Canadians and Europeans to purchase homes here!

Our second day's drive, with lots of birding stops, brought us to Angangueo, Michoacan, where we ran into Bob Pyle. He was there to make a movie with a German TV crew, filming for "Highway der Schmetterlinge", to be shown in Germany on ARD on a March or April Monday night at 20:15! The next day we drove and hiked up, to over 3000 meters, to visit the El Rosario over-wintering site where we were impressed with the number of fluttering, roosting and mud-puddling Monarchs. But it was nothing compared to the swarms of butterflies that surrounded us in Sierra Chincua..... we rode horses to that site high up in the mountains.... it was like being in a blizzard, but an "orange-out" instead of a white-out!!! They were fluttering around everywhere, covering wet spots on the ground, they seemed to start to get ready for their long trip back to their breeding grounds in the north, looking for water and nectaring sources, some mating going on.

Then we headed southwest. After a morning looking for butterflies and birds in the area of Jungapeo (west of Zitacuaro), we headed south: a long and challenging drive through the mountains, wild canyons, lots of big holes in the road, rock slides, sleeping donkeys standing in the road..... you get the picture! It was after 9 PM when we finally arrived in the Ixtapa area. We felt lucky to still find a nice smaller hotel in Zihuatanejo on the Pacific. After two nights in the area, a birding boat trip to Barrio Potosi, we headed north along the coast. One more night on the Pacific in Playa Azul, and we went inland: another windy road through the mountains led us for one night to Uruapan. The next day we rode horses again, this time to a site where a fumarole came out of a corn field starting in 1943: nine years later the twin volcanos (Paricutin)had covered a town of 6000 people and the only thing still visible in the lava flow is the front entry wall of a big church, and the altar area in a distance of about 50 meters! Arriving back at the car I noticed that I had successfully locked the keys in the car. We found out that it is not that easy to find somebody to get into a locked car, even in Mexico!!! But a couple of hours later we were on our way, back on more windy roads full of pot holes to Lake Chapala for one last night..... before we returned our little rental car at the airport and headed back to snow and reality in Colorado!

Visit with Susan & Tim, March 2007

We had a lovely long weekend visit with Paul's son Tim and wife Susan... drove around Loveland and up to Rocky Mountain National Park where we saw elk, big horn sheep, and many birds. The highlight was a walk across the snow on the Fern Lake Trail. Some of these pictures show scenery from the trip.

Evi's Blog

Welcome to Evi's Blog!

My husband, Paul Opler and I love to travel and take pictures. My son, Hans-Eric lives with his family on a ranch in Montana.