When the latest prompt “Gardens, Parks, Green spaces” was announced I thought immediately of the beautiful gardens at Lincoln University in New Zealand (where I was working recently) and how the whole campus is beautiful. This photo was taken in our spring and was a delight to walk through each day.

However as we move into our winter my thoughts go back to my travels once again last year throughout Canada and the USA. At this point it was the last morning of our trip and we had stayed the night in Tusayan which was the gateway to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. We had completed a sunset tour the night before and were still reeling from the magnificence we had seen when we decided we would drive ourselves in that morning and go the opposite way. As we were driving in we were surrounded by bush and flat land which really covered up what we were about to see. There were lots of Elk roaming about quite freely and they didn’t seem to worry about the humans and cars. They also looked really healthy.

Then we saw the Canyon in daylight and were mesmerized once again. It was so green! Not sure what I had expected but it certainly wasn’t the green!

What a majestic place! We loved it and would go back in a heartbeat. We were also impressed regarding how it was being looked after and the reintroduction of the wild life to such a wonderful park.

Will my piece be about the Grand Canyon? Maybe or maybe I pop back a couple of weeks in my trip and visit the road trip up the Rockies in Colorado? I love the markings on the trees in this luscious landscape as well.

Being a country girl I love the landscapes, wildlife and the trees that I see in my travels and am delighted to see people starting to appreciate and care for these special places.

I look forward to all the interpretations of this prompt!