Walk and Click Wednesdays #1: Join the linky party!

Welcome to the very first Walk and Click Wednesday linky party! Yay! I finally got my ideas connected to my actions. I sure hope lots of you will join in.

We all know that walking is good for both our physical and mental health. I don't know about you, but it makes it a whole lot more fun for me to get exercise when I'm out looking for nature treats. You could just walk outside your house and click away, but my hope is that you'll go a bit farther than that. Find new walking paths in your neighborhood or county or state. Explore your neighborhood. Find public art displays. If you live in Colorado, particularly the Denver metro/Boulder County area, feel free to follow me as I post where I've been.

The party will open on Wednesday and close on Saturday with the idea that most of you will have more time on weekends to get out, then have some time to process your photos.

If you're ready to link up, just move on down to the end of the post for the guidelines and linkup.

In the meantime, here's a little bit about my Labor Day adventure.

I tend to get a late start ... unlike my mother who would wake everyone at 3AM so we could be on the road by 4AM and stop for breakfast by 7AM. There are definite advantages of waiting until noon, as I did yesterday, to get on the road. As you can see in the photo below, the opposing traffic was a virtual parking lot! I suspect they were all heading home to "beat the rush" at 1:15pm!

I was actually on my way to Granby Lake in Colorado, but found an interesting detour that went to a place called Jones Pass. I didn't make it there either as I stopped at a little picnic area at Big Bend to visit the outhouse. As I returned to my car a young lady named Angela asked if I knew of any nice paths for dog walking. Hark! Do I hear an invitation? I said I didn't, but she had maps and I got my bearings and gave her some direction, then asked if she minded if Kobi and I joined her. Not a problem. We drove in tandem to Butler Gulch Trailhead and ended up taking "the road less traveled" ... a little path that followed the creek. We missed the mine and historical sites of the "real" path, but we enjoyed our adventure nonetheless.

I loved the discoveries on the ground. Mushrooms, berries, moss. It's fun to get down low sometimes.

Angela and her teenaged son, Ashanti, and Angela's sister, Ebony were such pleasant hiking companions. Their Aussie, Cory and Kobi just had a hay day running, playing, and splashing in the creek. As you can see, Kobi is ready for another bath! It doesn't take much.

We parted with smiles and promises to exchange pictures and I drove on toward Jones Pass. I didn't get far when I discovered a really nice pull-over (lay-by in British terms) where I wandered beside the creek, had a snack, and listened to the rush of the water, which always clears my mind. On the way back down the mountain I stopped to take some pictures of the early changing leaves. Aren't they gorgeous already?

And finally, Kobi was fast asleep in the back seat in a matter of minutes as we headed back toward the puffy white clouds. Homeward bound. By the way, I also missed the traffic on the way home!

Background texture thanks to Kim Klassen: Phoebe.

Walk and Click Wednesday (WCW) Guidelines are:

Since we're all new to this here, you can link up a favorite easy-peasy image or mosaic of images you took on a walk this week. And in the future you can plan in advance--a great excuse to put your shoes and socks on and get out the door! I also plan to get ahead of this and start posting some prompts as well.

Are you new to Walk and Click Wednesdays? Here are just a few guidelines to keep everyone on target.

• Please link directly to your WCW blog post or the specific flickr image, not to your main blog url or flickr stream url. Please do not link to an online shop.
• Please link back to laf Custom Designs. I'd love it if you'd share my WCW button on your blog (it's over there on the sidebar--see it?--just under the Friends Who Love It Here icons). It will also serve as a reminder to you since I know you all have a lot going on in your lives.
• Please visit the other WCW participants and share the love. Gotta get this party goin' on.