Wednesday saw us to the grocery store. Exciting, right? Well, groceries are a must to eat! Though I also pulled some spinach from the garden to add to our salads. Grampa played in Luke's tent with him for a little while, a task not taken lightly in this household. Luke loves his tent and it brings him great joy to share it with everyone. The problem for adults is that it is very much a child's tent, it's staticy, and it gets hot. My dad is such a good sport!
Thursday we made the trek to Cripple Creek. Normally this is a fairly basic task, but today we encountered a thunderstorm with baseball-sized hail. I was able to get stopped, pull off the freeway in a very illegal move (along with just about everyone else), hide under the one-lane overpass for a few moments, then hightail it to the truck stop to take refuge. Thank goodness the hail was still soft and didn't dent the heck out of my 4Runner!! I learned later from neighbors that it also hit here at the house, but no damage. Thank heavens!!
Back on the road we had an easy trip. No signs of wildlife today, but it's a pretty drive, anyway. We skipped the Pikes Peak Heritage Center and just went down to a couple of museums in town. They have a couple of places set like 19th century homes, an assay office, a beautifully restored 19th century train car, and the train station. The train station is mainly a gift shop, but was built in the 1890's and moved twice, once elsewhere in town, once to its current location.
Luke heard the train whistle and immediately grabbed his grandfather's hand to go stake out a better vantage point. He ended up on my dad's shoulders and had a great view. Each time the train whistled we'd get a little smile. The longer the whistle, the bigger the smile. My little man just loves his old trains! Grampa had a couple pictures taken with his boy in front of one of the trains, Luke gathered his first squished pennies, and we just enjoyed the day.
No trip to Cripple Creek is complete without looking for the wild donkeys, though. The gold mines used to use donkeys to haul equipment in and ore out. Some mines closed, some updated their techniques, none needed the donkeys any longer. They were released to roam the town and surrounding areas. Their descendants remain today and are loved by everyone.
My mom is not exactly unafraid of horses and related equines. She was brave enough to get out of the vehicle and take some pictures of me feeding the fuzzy beasts. Two of the younger donkeys saw her, thought she had treats, and started around the car for her. I mentioned I saw them coming and that she might want to head back toward her seat. Those donkeys were quick and my mom was suddenly trapped at the front of the vehicle! Seriously, it was only a matter of seconds! I was trying to talk her calm, figure out how to help her, but was giggling. You see, I had the power-end of a donkey right with me and wasn't sure how he'd react if I pushed him out of the way. Meanwhile, my dad was still in his seat and was laughing hard enough to produce tears, making my dear mom quite angry. He did finally get out and help me carefully push the donkey bum out of the way so we could help mom to a "safe" place. Wild, or not, the donkeys are around humans enough that they aren't concerned about us, despite trying to munch on the camera in mom's hands, so I now know I can move around them with little fear of getting kicked into the next county. (of course, now that I think about it, many donkeys are victims of abuse because they actually WON'T move when you try to force them...therefore they receive a beating...and still won't move. A sad situation, but also a testament to their gentle nature, even when feral and not just wild)
The kicker about that story? None of us managed to get the other camera out and take a picture of my mom surrounded by wild donkeys!! Oh well, it's still a good story.
We didn't just leave town after our visit with the donkeys. We drove around a little bit. Literally over hill and dale, then back down...all to look at the old houses, one of the last remaining for real original boardwalk sidewalks, and get a sense for the town. Bear in mind the entire length of the main street through town is a long row of casinos, but it's still something to see. The town was getting ready for the Donkey Derby Days and Chili Cookoff so we were able to see a couple of the sand sculptures. It's amazing how someone can be so artistic with an unstable and porous medium!
We took our time driving down the mountain. It was a fun day, but certainly time to head home. My man was waiting for us and we spent a delightful night laughing over silly stuff. Tomorrow was golf for the men, a trip to wander historic Pueblo for us. We were looking forward to it....
![](<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/8946426@N04/5240439020/" title="DSCN0785 by LEF's Place, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5246/5240439020_d76df42753_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" alt="DSCN0785" /></a>)
2 comments:
First I LOVE those Boring days. I think they are what help make the fun day even more fun.
Second it looks like to me Luke has a buddy for life. It seems your Dad would do anything for Luke. Hanging out in the tent, giving rides on his shoulders. Anything for his little guy.
Finally, It is probably good you don't have a picture of you Mom with all the donkeys. I know if I was in a scary situation and someone took a picture of me I would only be more infuriated with them. When things like this happen in my family we just encourage them that some day they will laugh about it. Not sure if I works, my Dad is still not ready to laugh about something that happened about 4 years ago. But I still can laugh about it every time I think about it.
I love the pictures of the Donkeys, they are so darn cute. You guys have way too much fun! Your Dad is so cute with Luke, I cannot believe the train reck either what a nut head...
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