Janet, my old friend Bill Hayward, and I traveled to Crested Butte, Durango, and Sedona a couple of weeks ago.  We had a grand time and I took lots of photos of the spectacular scenery.  However, what I want to write about today is a couple of small things that caught my eye, and gave me great delight.  The first photo came about as Bill and I were waiting for Janet to browse in a downtown shop in Crested Butte, Colorado.  The town does a nice job of planting hanging pots and large tubs full of flowers in late September.  One tub just in front of Bill and myself was filled with bright snapdragons, and we noticed that bees were having a great time with the flowers.  Bill and I both leaped at the chance to try our luck in photographing these busy creatures.  My best shot is shown first – this one was emerging from the flowers, and if you look closely, pollen can be seen all over him!

The second shot that I wanted to share came from further down the road in Sedona, AZ.  About 30 miles south of Sedona is an ancient cliff dwelling called Montezuma’s Castle.  It’s a spectacular, slightly rebuilt cliff dwelling that reminded me of the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde near Durango.  The Montezuma site is well maintained, with a nice park and a well-signed walking trail showing the cliff dwelling in its best light.  As we wandered around the site, we noticed several small lizards scurrying across the trail and in the underbrush, but we couldn’t get close enough for a good photo.  However, on our way to Big Red in the parking lot, Bill noticed the largest lizard of the day sunning himself on a white rock next to the walkway.  We were able to get quite close to him, despite him keeping a wary eye on us all the time!  My best shot was taken with my new 100 mm Canon Macro Lens – I just had to try it out!!