Our Sunday drive

Charlton was testing his waterproof gore-tex boots in Bear Creek. Rylan decided to follow after dad, but learned the hard way that his boots are not gore-tex!
On Sunday afternoon, we took a drive into the mountains west of town. Over the weekend, they had gotten about 2 feet of snow, but the roads were perfectly clear. I had never been up to Woodland Park and beyond before and it was especially beautiful with all the snow. After driving surrounded closely by mountains we rounded a corner and saw this breathtaking view of Cripple Creek and even more snow-covered mountains in the distance. After driving into the mountains a good distance, I noticed dozens of these small creatures scampering around burrows in the snow. For a long time, I couldn't figure out what they were, then we finally realized they were prairie dogs They were much smaller and skinnier than I had thought they would be, probably because their winter stores of food are running out at this time of the year. I imagine they are ready for spring, too!