Fall is probably my favorite season, in Colorado Springs, or almost anywhere else we go. I love the cooler weather, the color, the lack of crowds (football games excepted of course!), and the general feeling of change in the air. Even the smell of wood smoke at night and of the leaves in the woods when we hike, is special. The smell of apples, cinnimon and other fall food is great too!

We spent our anniversary weekend this year up in the mountains enjoying the fall. It is almost over in some areas, and hasn't hardly even started yet in our own yard. Funny how that works. The weather was such a variety. We left on Friday afternoon with very summery, mid 70's sunny weather. It was kind of cool and wet in Breckenridge where we stayed, and was that way all day Saturday, though it was dry enough for some nice hiking. On Sunday, we expected to wake up to snow, and instead found partly cloudy skies with some nice patches of sun, which followed us all the way to Aspen. Then we ran into snow last night on Independence Pass, coming back from Aspen, a vivid reminder that winter is around the corner.

The 1st shot above was of the golf course in Vail as we drove through yesterday on the way up to Aspen. The 2nd is a stand of aspen up in the Maroon Bells that caught my eye as the classic "aspens again the blue sky" shot. One again, I got lots of photos, and I'll try and share some of them over the next several posts.

The fall color season in the mountains above Colorado Springs has begun. I say begun, because while there are stands like the ones shown above, much of the aspen forest is still very green. Unless we get some nasty windy weather, this promises to be a longer color season, which is great! This shot was taken on 9-20-08, right on Highway 67 near Cripple Creek.
We got some other good shots yesterday while we up there, but I am going to share them over the next few days, so stay tuned.
Fall marks a change in the real estate market here as well. There is a kind of seriousness that grows, less "looking for fun", and more focused buying. The inventory shrinks, as less serious sellers leave the market place. Not that activity stops. In fact, the fall months tend to run at about 2/3 the sales rate that the peak summer months run, so it is still a busy season, it just has a different tone to it.
I'm anxious to see how much of a difference this big bailout program will make in business conditions. Ideally, interest rates will stabilize at a lower level, say the mid 5's, and buying activity will pick up as people realize that this is the time to make their move.

Peak fall color has arrived at the higher elevations around Pikes Peak! This is at the trailhead to Rampart Reservoir, taken just yesterday. We have had a pretty mild fall, and as a result the colors are actually running a little behind normal. It looks like maybe we'll be seeing them into early October, unless a big windy storm knocks them down early (which often happens!). The shot below is highway 67 a few miles north of Cripple Creek. This is a pretty popular route for leaf watchers, I was surprised how many people were pulled over taking pictures and otherwise enjoying a beautiful (but cool) Tuesday afternoon. It started pretty overcast in the morning in the Springs, and I had kind of thought it would not be very busy.

For those of you who don't live here, Cripple Creek is about and hour from the Springs, and is more famous as one of the 3 legal gambling towns in Colorado than as any kind of mountain resort. It was an idea to help revitalize some dying towns, and it has worked to a certain extent, though the character of the town has changed dramatically as a result.
In town, it still looks like summer, but these last several nights have been a lot cooler, so maybe ours will start soon as well. The downtown in particular is quite pretty in the fall as the large deciduous trees start to turn. In the mountains, it is pretty much just the aspens, although you can see they get a beautiful gold color.

I have to confess that sometimes I read what is going on the rest of the country, and get a little confused. Today I saw that the government is considering "temporarily" allowing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (quasi governmental investment in mortgage loans) to increase their loan limits over the current $417,000 to allow more purchases and refinances in the higher price ranges. Keep in mind, that is the loan limit, which is the equivalent of a $521,000 purchase with 20% down. I guess I am just so used to living in a market that has SO much choice in the ranges below that, I forget how many people in this country live in places like the Bay Area, where this is considered "affordable" housing. As an FYI, I just did a quick check, and at least here, 85% of the inventory of homes for sale are below that $521,000 mark, almost 6000 homes.

This mornings paper mentioned fall colors are starting even on Pike Peak. I love the fall, and the colors are really pretty here against our blue skies. This web site is from last year (and is not mine), but I thought some of you might enjoy what is here: http://www.autumn-pictures.com/

Last fall here in the Springs, we had an incredible early snow storm in late October, this picture in my front yard was a bit different look than the one at top, taken in the first week of October of 2005 on Boreas Pass Road near Breckenridge.