Alamosa and Creede

 The past few days we have been enjoying Creede and Alamosa, Colorado.  We used to come to Alamosa to ride and Rio Grande Scenic Railroad trip up to LaVeta Pass.  The train was pulled by an old steam engine and a fun ride through scenic areas.  It has become one of the many casualties of the Corona virus pandemic.  The owners are looking for someone to buy the train cars and start the rides again.

This is pretty country.  

The highway follows the Rio Grande River much of the way.

On our way to Alamosa, we drove through Monte Vista. Sand Hill Cranes migrate through the San Luis Valley, which includes Alamosa.  About 20,000 cranes make a stop in the valley.  Monte Vista pays tribute to the cranes with a number of images of the birds on the main street.

Monday we drove to Creede.  The annual Woodcarvers Rendezvous was in progress.  I didn't take any photos there, but we did see interesting sights in the town of Creede.

We passed on old train station along the way. 

Creede is in a narrow canyon.  Shops line the main street and the carving show is held in the underground community center, located in old mine shafts.

Here is a scene in town showing a old home and yard.

This mural shows images of nearby scenery.

It was a fun excursion.

Today we drove to a trail near the golf course.  Along the way we saw these train cars.

There were several tiny houses in one place.  Don't know if the are individually owned, for rent, or displayed for sale.

I took a picture of this primrose along our trail.

And we enjoyed this peaceful view.

This was the only wildlife we saw.  The sign below warns of other critters but we didn't see any of them. 

 

State Park Wildlife

So far this summer we have spent nearly 5 weeks in Colorado state parks and we have 3 weeks to go. Two of the parks, Chatfield and Cherry Creek, are in the city. Nevertheless, we have seen quite a bit of wildlife. Nothing dramatic but interesting for sure.

We have seen deer in each state park. These were crossing the road right behind our trailer yesterday.

We have seen great blue herons here at Cherry Creek and at St. Vrain.

Today we saw this egret.

This little cottontail rabbit came to watch John carve the other day.

This is the 3rd bull snake John has seen, a first for me this year. I know they are harmless but I don't like snakes of any kind or size. This one is pretty, though, isn't it?

Of course, we see Canada geese all over the place  in Colorado at this time of the year.  They are on both land and in the water.  They leave a real mess.

And these turkey buzzards  are seen all across the country.

Bears and elk and maybe a mountain lion would be good to see, but we are enjoying the animals we have seen in these state parks.

More Yellowstone

There are so many and varied thermal features in Yellowstone we got tired while looking at all of them but not bored. Here are a few that didn't erupt.

Yellowstone also has lots of wildlife--some easier to spot than others.

We saw elk a couple of times. These were near Yellowstone Lake.

Buffalo are more plentiful and often cause buffalo jams, either by slowly crossing the road or causing motorists to stop on the road for a better look.  Notice the calves in these two photos.

There are also wolves in Yellowstone, or so these people told us. Whenever you see people looking out from the road, especially if they have spotting scopes, you have to stop and see what they are looking at. They told us there was a pack of wolves in the valley below. We could hardly make out the black dots, much less tell what they were. We did believe them, however.

Thankfully, not every visitor to the park drives their own vehicle. The roads were crowded as it was. These neat old buses and tour buses take many visitors from place to place.

The Great Northern Railroad built at least one of the beautiful lodges in Yellowstone. This is the interior of the Old Faithful Lodge. If we didn't have an RV, it would be neat to stay there.

A Lot of Fun, Too

Our two weeks here at Chatfield State Park has been very busy and very stressful. But we've had a lot of fun, too. One evening we boated on the lake here with Eric, Liz and John. We had lots of time to talk and they had a cake to celebrate my birthday the previous week.

We really enjoy our stays at Chatfield every year. We saw deer right near our campsite one day. Many mornings hot air ballons are launched in the park. One day we watched one balloon come down right next to a group or boy scout campers and another right on the road at the edge of the campground.

The 55th reunion of the South High School class of 1961 was held Saturday night. We had a good time at the dinner talking to Beverly and Bill Totten, Don Morgan and Kitty Bowman Hadji. Kitty lived across the street during my high school years but this was our first quality visit in years.





Chatfield has a model air plane field. During our first weekend here there was a "Warriors Over Denver" event. Only planes painted with military paint schemes and insignia could take part. Most were made to look like World War II planes with both American and Japanese insignia.

Grandson John has competed in two swim meets during our visit. We were able to attend both. His smile shows how happy he was after a great time in one of his free style events the first weekend. At the second meet I got this shot of him diving in at the beginning of the 50 free (I think) event and one of him in the water, so far ahead of the other swimmers. He was several lengths ahead of 2nd place and made another really good time.

For Father's Day yesterday, Liz prepared a great meal and they brought it to our campsite where Eric and John cooked the steaks. Kylie was wearing her new sunglasses. Aren't they cool?

Our last night we attended grandson John's Boy Scout Court of Honor.  He received three merit badges and moved from the rank of Scout from Webelo.  Each time a scout moves to a higher rank, he receives a pin and his parent--either mom or day--also recieves a pin.  John put the pin in his dad Eric's ribbon.  His sister Kylie was there to see it.  Mom Liz was out of town.  We are so proud of the work John is doing in Boy Scouts.



We worked hard during our stay at Chatfield but we also had a lot of fun.