Red Rocks at Jemez Pueblo

Some people I know -- wildflower experts -- invited me to go with them to the Jemez mountains today. In general, these are the only people I know who actually hike slower than I do. But by their standards, there were very few wildflowers so I had trouble keeping up.

One of the things that slowed me down was a spotting of several Milbert's Tortoiseshell butterflies. I also ran into a Desert Black Swallowtail, another butterfly I'd never seen before.

We were near Valles Caldera, aka Valle Grande, which is stunning (in an understated way) even at its worst. As soon as we got back to the car, it started raining. The rain turned into violent hail which went on for quite a while. We pulled into a restaurant to warm up with a cup of coffee -- but it was so chilly that, even by the time we left, it looked as if there was snow all over. The car was fishtailing all over the place.

We came down out of the mountains and the light was pretty nice. One of the wildflower people convinced me to ask the driver to pull over -- this photo was one of the results.

I love New Mexico, I really do.