Colorado Day 3

We moved houses this day. After Mom made pancake breakfast, we left Montrose a little after 8 o'clock. Just east of Montrose is Curecanti National Recreation Area. We wanted to do a few hikes near the reservoir. Luckily, we had an easy day, because we spent a considerable amount of time stopped for road construction. At one of these stops, Mark spotted a big buck sitting on the hillside.

The buck that Mark spotted while we were stopped in construction.

Our first stop in Curecanti was at Mesa Creek. We enjoyed a beautiful hike along the river just below the dam. Dax's toe seemed a little better, and this was the nicest hike of the trip so far. It was right in the bottom of Black Canyon, and the walls towered high above us as we enjoyed the emerald water. There were also a few trains in this area, which represented the trains that used to chug through the gorge. We didn't spend too much time on them, but we took a few pictures.

This hike started near the dam.

It was a lovely morning!

Mom is always taking a million pictures.

This place was beautiful!

We took so many pics with the beautiful scenery.

Walking under the hanging rocks was fun!

Dax taking a break with his broken toe. Poor kid!

It was weird to see this train in the canyon.

Seth really liked the railroad stop.

Peek a boo!

Farther along the road through Curecanti, we came to another short hike. This one was called Never Sink, and it wound through a thick riparian area. Birds were singing and chirping, and we identified a few. Mostly we enjoyed a nice shaded hike. It was much cooler and easier to be outside today.

Yellow Warbler singing in the trees.

Cedar Waxwing

Dax and Seth throwing huge rocks into the river.

There were some beautiful spots along the river on this trail.

They found the only shady spot! 

Mom made lunch at Never Sink on a convenient picnic table. Then we continued the drive to Alamosa. It's around 3 hours between national parks, and with long construction stops, it was longer than that. We finally rolled into Alamosa around 4 o'clock. We made a stop at the store, and then settled into the new house. We were all ready for pasta and meatballs by that time. 

After dinner, we wanted to drive out to Monte Vista NWR. When we went to get in the car, there was a pretty four-point buck, still in the velvet, right in the driveway! We watched him for a few minutes, and then drove out to the refuge.

This guy was right in our driveway.

There were a lot of birds at the refuge, and even more mosquitoes! We quickly covered as much skin as possible, and then completed a short nature walk. We saw a bunch of different birds, but the highlights were the great horned owl and the night herons. There were also half a dozen nighthawks flitting around feeding on mosquitoes. There were so pretty in the twilight. It made a nice end to a much more leisure day.

We had to hide from the bugs!!

Seeing the owl was awesome.

We all love seeing ruddy ducks.

Dad loves his new binoculars.

The sunset was beautiful!

We had a great night together!