Just happy

Once again an incredible day. I have many many photos of very beautiful sights and beautiful people and a virtual superhighway of monarch butterflies that poured- literally- millions of them- out of the forest and down the road leading up and down the mountainside. This is a regular occurrence this time of year, I'm told, as they are waking up and seeking warm humid air and a water source. Today they were headed down to a spring and we had the chance to stand still on the side of the road as they blew by us and practically through us. Yes I have photos. No they barely capture the magic. Incredible.
The. We hike to the crater of a volcano 12,000 ft up. We drive to the base of the hour hike, which was not so steep but a steady climb at high altitude. And the photos are stunning. Two lakes in the crater, the Lake of the Sun and the Lake of the Moon. These were tempting blips. But the real photo winner of the day was a selfie of me and my eleven year old Brookie. Brooke has been a rockstar, a dreamy traveler and interested, conscientious, grateful and awed human. She has learned a ton in these few days and grown as a girl. How grateful I am!
Stunning volcanos and monarch butterfly streams and even Brookie's grin were topped by the smile on my mother's face as she climbed to the top of the world and gazed into the next beautiful phase of her life as an independent soul. I have not seen her this happy in a very long time. A beautiful trip. We leave for home tomorrow, and tomorrow my blip will be not a photo taken on February 23, but one of the beautiful photos of my mother as she glowed in the past few days. It's the gift she has given us all. Thank you, Mom.