What a difference a mile makes

We just got back from a long weekend in New England. The impetus for the trip was the 30^th anniversary of a graduate program where my partner used to teach. The bonus (or, alternatively, the real reason for the trip, with the anniversary simply an excuse) was an opportunity to visit friends from our years in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.

Due to radical changes in the available flights to our old stomping grounds, we ended up driving a lot, which also gave us a chance to remember how lovely spring in New England can be. Like Colorado, New England has four actual, more or less distinct seasons. But given its lower elevation (a mile, give or take a few hundred feet), springtime in New England was in beautiful, glorious bloom.

Here’s a peek at the contrast between late April in New England and late April here. What a difference a mile makes!

April 28 in Western Massachusetts, with bushes and trees decked out in bright spring blossoms:

April 29 in Colorado, with spring just barely beginning to peek out of buds:

 

It’s always a bit disconcerting to come back from the lush, heavily forested East to the dry, open West. I can see, in these moments, why visitors and newcomers to Colorado—today or back during pioneer days—might see it as barren and harsh. But a glimpse of the white, white 1400’ mountains standing against the blue, blue Colorado sky eases any ambivalence in this old Western heart.

I love spring, wherever it is, blossoming or barely budding.