Jackass Bloopers

The weather this winter; make that spring, here on the front range has been nothing short of beautiful. We've had nary a bit of snow and nothing but reoccurring days of sunshine and warm temperatures instead. It's no surprise that we take advantage of the days that we can and get out and about to enjoy it. Let's take Saturday for instance. The high was 70 degrees. We made use of our day and headed West into the mountains to take a drive along Eleven Mile Canyon*. We made a quick pit stop at a General Store before heading into the canyon and as we were departing a cat greeted us with meow after meow. It rubbed up against Keven Jr. waiting for attention and Isaac chased it around the porch until we could convince him to just get in the car already. Then Isaac started in with the questions asking over and over and over again if we could take this poor little kitty home. No, I told him. I told him no again, and again. And then finally I just explained to him that I was allergic to cats (which I am) and that we'd never be able to have a cat for a pet for that reason. We talked about how it was a possibility that Keven Jr. was allergic too. And so guess what Isaac retorted with? Isaac isn't allergic to cats, he's allergic to bears and mountain lions - oh yes he is. Oh he's funny that child of mine. The road that we followed eventually led us to Eleven Mile Reservoir, which gave us plenty of opportunity to get out and enjoy the scenery. We've been here several times before but as always, it's always a spectacular sight. There were actually some people ice fishing, which I thought was pretty risky considering the reservoir was partially frozen over.

After we hung out along the shoreline for a little bit we got back into the car and started driving again. We followed along the reservoir and at one point we drove into an 'open range'. We quickly spotted a group of cows......and donkeys. A photo opportunity that I could not pass up. I had Keven stop the car so I could get out and photograph them from a distance. Before I knew it I had six curious donkeys making their way towards me so I started to head for the car. And then they stopped dead in their tracks. When I thought it was 'safe', I got back out of the car and took a few more photos all the while Keven kept egging me on to try and pet one. But instead I convinced him to do it. As soon as Keven touched it's head, it sort of jerked away and Keven retreated for the car as did I. We made our way to the passenger side of the car and low and behold the damn donkey followed us but got distracted when he discovered that the drivers side window of the car was WIDE OPEN. So he did what any curious donkey would do - he took a peek inside. At this point I was sitting in the passenger seat. The kids were observing (sort of freaking out but not really scared/freaking out) from the backseat and Keven was still outside the car. We could not get the donkey to move. I thought that if I rolled the window up some that he'd back his head out, but no. He just got more comfortable. After laughing our butts off for what seemed like 20 minutes at this donkey with his head comfortably perched INSIDE our car, and really not knowing what to do (they really are THAT STUBBORN) he finally realized that we had nothing to offer and moved his head out just far enough that I got the window rolled up. I hopped into the drivers seat and slowly drove away as Keven walked down the road thinking that by doing so it would be enough of a distraction to make the donkeys leave, but no. They just continued to stand there in the middle of the road making an obstacle course out of the path for other approaching motorists. Then we spotted some Pronghorn Antelope making their way across the prairie. Isaac chimed in from the backseat 'Cantaloupe! Cantaloupe! anytime he thought he spotted some out his backseat window. We even got lucky and saw a huge jackrabbit darting left, then right, then left again as our car approached. He did manage to stop for just a second or two before hauling off across the landscape and eventually becoming camouflaged in the brown ground around him. These are the reasons why I love living in Colorado. The wildlife is amazing.

Our last stop put as at the frozen banks of the reservoir where we were in awe of the ice that had formed as the frothy water slapped up against the shore. While standing alongside the waters edge you could hear the ice shifting and creaking with the flow of the liquid water beneath. It was sort of creepy, but in a cool way. I could have stood there forever and just soaked it all in; the water, the clouds.....just amazing to look at. It really is pretty even if the grass is dry and brown.

The sun had started to set and it was time to head for home. Yet another exciting day in the beautiful state of Colorado. *As I wrote this post I realized that we didn't really drive through Eleven Mile Canyon. We must have missed the turnoff and just by chance ended up at Eleven Mile instead. I guess we'll have to save the canyon drive for another day. You can see some other photos that I took that same day here.