All of Colorado Fall in a Day

September in Texas is a source of frustration. With warm plaids and sweaters, adorable jackets and boots hitting stores, it looks like fall. And with schools and football gearing up for another season, you want it to be fall. However, when you walk out of the AC and into 92 degrees of sunny Texas day, fall seems eons away.
Not so in Colorado. Even though this September is "unusually warm" (temps have camped in the mid-seventies all month), the nights dip into the crisp forties. Bring on the plaids and jackets!

Best of all, the mountains are beginning to wear their autumn finest, too. Because this is the first Colorado autumn we have seen since we were kids, my sister D and I took a drive.
Our plan was to tour Gold Camp Road, where groves of Aspens canopy the drive. The trip had to be a quick one since clouds were rolling over the mountains and threatening us with rain. Along the highway to get there, patches of brilliant yellows and golds, and even some oranges, dotted the mountain sides, but most of the trees had yet to change or even hint of color. Determined we had timed our trip well, we figured the higher up we went, the deeper and more consistent the colors would become. With that theory in mind, Gold Camp should be beautiful.

Every few minutes or so, we would pull over, get out of the car and admire the views. But with each mile we climbed, the temperature dropped several degrees. By the time we reached the Gold Camp turn off, we regretted leaving our plaid jackets at home.

We made the turn and waited for a herd of cows to meander across the roadway. It had recently rained, making the world shimmer in the sun. We slushed along the muddy road, hoping to be ensconced in autumn color, but instead the trees stood tall in their summer greens. They were beautiful, but still maddeningly green. Only in the chilly shadows were some Aspens gold.
Electing to try the drive again in a couple of weeks, we made a 200-point turn and headed back toward the city. We had not gone a mile before the rain caught up with us and turned to sleet in the dropping temperatures. We kept going and the sleet eventually lightened to snow flurries. By the time we hit Woodland Park, the sun was out again. We knew the day served as an example of what to expect in the weeks to come. Saturday I bought a pair of snowboots.