We don’t want to bore you with every day’s activities, we from here on out, we will only tell you the highlights. On the evening of July 4th, we went to a valley across from Creede and watched the fireworks, again, it was another neat experience to watch fireworks set off from the mountain. Saturday, the 5th, we went to Alamosa and the Wal-Mart. On the way back we stopped at a marker for the Spanish Trail wagon route…it looks like another fun dirt road, which we may explore some day. Also we stopped at the museum in Del Norte on the way back. A nice, small museum and it explains how much the Spanish influence had on this area. Also we learned that there had been a German POW camp here in Colorado. And of course we saw artifacts from the days of the “old west”, the wagon trains, the horses, and various barbed wire from the area. We chatted with the people there and got some neat ideas of places to go and things to see here. And lastly, we saw this motorcycle at a taxidermy store…Kate had to get a couple pictures of it. Kate went in to speak with the woman at the store. She proved to be very colorful, in that she shared a photo album with Kate and stories of the wild animals that she and her family had raised. They had bears, coyotes, mountain lions, porcupines, and lots others. The store was neat in that it had many animal mounts, native to Colorado, and lots of hides and leather items. Kate found it very interesting and was impressed. As it turns out, the owner of the motorcycle was there to get a mountain lion to add to his cycle. It already had a bear, deer, sheepskins, raccoons, shark jaws, an alligator, antlers, and lots more…check out the pictures.

Sunday evening the rail cars came by again. There must have been about 10 all together. This is a club of “rail car owners” and they travel all over and ride the rails that are seldom used. The manager here told us that there is talk of a passenger train that will soon be running from South Fork to Creede. Here in Colorado, the tourist trains are great attractions that are full of charm and bring some of the towns together. This future attraction is, like many attractions today, not without its “nay sayers”, the controversy is because of some building that has been done close to the tracks. (If it starts while we are here, we will probably ride it.)

Monday we cleaned the Motor Home and then treated ourselves to a ride back through Creede into the mountains. We did a portion of this the first day we arrived here. When you go through Creede, there is a route called the “Batchelor Loop”. This is a dirt road that is a tour of many old and not currently operating mines. The main mineral they mined here was silver with some other trace metals including gold. These have not been in operation for many years and as you pass by, you can’t help being taken back in time. You can get a free hand out and guide of this “Batchelor Loop” from the Department of Forestry in Creede. The self guided tour is 17 miles long through the mountains. Our goal was to make the entire loop, this quickly changed when we passed the 10th item listed and found another 4 wheel drive road…we decided to go and explore. Our quest was soon rewarded when first we spied a deer across a stream and then Dave saw a moose! This was so exciting to us! It was a male with a large rack (we will try to add a picture of it, you will have to click on it to enlarge it to see him). We shut off the engine and just watched him eat, knowing we were in his territory, we did not try to get any closer. About ½ an hour later, it started to rain so we decided to go back the same way. On our way back, retracing our route, we then found ourselves surrounded by deer at almost every turn! The rain soon cleared and again we decided to try another off road trail. For those of you who might be concerned, we did buy the “official” Department of Forestry Maps and we take our hand help GPS unit and track our route, so we will always be able to return safely. Of interest is there are current mining operations that are planning to start mining here in the near future!

Upon or arrival back at Cottonwood, we shared our “lousy” pictures and story with our neighbors and we decided to all go back tomorrow afternoon and try to see him again. We are hoping to see him again and get better pictures. The news today from Cottonwood Cove is that another mother bear and 2 cubs swam across the Rio Grande River and crossed through the cabin area today! We can’t begin to tell you how neat it is to be among so much wildlife! At this point in our blog, we must say, that Colorado, is very much aware of the danger its wildlife can be. We have been told numerous times and by numerous people how to respond to wildlife and respect their habitat!

Update…Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Yesterday, our group of friends decided to go and hopefully see the moose, we arrived there at about the same time, and after about an hour of waiting, they elected to go to a great little restaurant for their famous hamburgers. So, off to Freeman’s we went! Along the way, we finally finished the “Batchelor Loop”, seeing another bear and deer along the drive. Once back on the main road of Highway 149, we passed a herd of Elk in the distance, too far away for a good picture.

Freeman’s was a neat little road side restaurant, the menu, of which you go to the counter and place your order, consists of only about 5 items, hamburgers or hotdogs! This and ice cream is what they do, and they do it very well!

Once back at Cottonwood Cove, Dave grabbed the couch, so Kate went over to the “wreck hall”, which is a 3 sided building that the RVers use for their “get togethers” and games at night. Kate learned how to play the “Colorado” version of “hand and foot”, apparently there are many ways to play it. While she played that with a group, another group we busy playing “Mexican train” dominoes! Everyone here is so nice and welcoming!

Wednesday, we worked with another couple and Kate finished her day by dusting and straightening the gift shop, and Dave did some maintenance and sharpened a chain saw! After work it was time to do laundry and then kick back! What had originally been planned as a “kick back” evening, was short lived when at 6:30, Dave decided to go back to the mountain to look for wildlife. Cramming the Jeep with 5 of us, we headed back up the mountain. Earlier, Dave had stopped and reported our “Moose sighting” to the Forest Office, they like to know. The rager told Dave that it would be likely to see him in the same area at the same time. Also, that it was the 1st report of a moose in that area in a while and that there have been reports of a cow and a calf mooses, or mice…whatever!

We went up to the same area, and did not see our moose, but did see a “whistle pig”, deer, a beaver and stopped when we got to 12,000 feet and the Continental Divide. Another place, we are sure to return to often…stay tuned for more of our adventures!