“ There was a time when I didn’t recognize the beauty of Colorado Springs like I do today. I spent most of my first two decades residing here longing for the ocean, the tropical and Mediterranean climates I had grown up with. I missed the trees, blooms and fruits, the quality of gentle sunlight, and the marine layer. I enjoyed summer here but struggled with autumns that seemed only to last a week or two, springs that took an eternity to show up without snow days, and winters that looked like a dead landscape to me.
It wasn’t until I started walking daily when I was pregnant with my seventh child that my view of nature along the Front Range began to transform. I started off walking around Quail Lake in the mornings after dropping my children off at school. It was mid-spring and the mornings were chilly but tolerable. Each day the walk around the lake held new surprises. I paid close attention as the new shoots emerged from under mats of last year's yellowed grass, buds formed and burst open revealing flowers in white, yellow, violet, and pink. Some time in the summer I ended up out at Cheyenne Mountain State Park. Trails were clearly marked and the landscape changed dramatically from grasslands to scrub oak-dotted hills, to cool mountain trails shaded beneath ponderosa pine.
I began walking further, learning the names and uses of native plants and I continued to notice all the little moments of beauty around me. Lifespans can be witnessed across a year of moving through familiar places. Animal behavior and plant cycles can be observed up close. Walking in the winter landscape reveals colors and textures that can’t be distinguished from the road. Even in our longest season, when all things seem dead, there is transformation happening, and so much to look upon and be grateful for. ”
— Lupita Carrasco