Author: Steve

That’s not a lizard.

That’s a skink!

Well, technically, a skink is a kind of lizard, and they eat the same stuff as other lizards, but they look so different.  Smooth and shiny, more like a salamander than a dull dry lizard.

Go to every county in Colorado to make sure we’re not missing anything.  The method is to record bird sightings in every county we visit, and they’ll show up as satisfied on the eBird map.

Before this most recent trip.

We had a few counties to go.  Missing the counties for Durango, Silverton, Pagosa Springs, Lake City, Saguache, Del Norte, Alamosa, Antonito, and Fort Garland.

The final tally.

That makes Colorado, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona; we’ve recorded ourselves in every county.

Out the north end of town to some serious mining ruins.

And from there down out of the high country to Alamosa in the San Luis Valley.

Alamosa

From there it was all downhill through the Texas heat and air conditioning to home at Sandpipers.

And it’s good to be home too.

Haviland Lake to Marshall Park

Over Wolf Creek Pass

And another forest service camp, just west of Creede.

We drove further up to the other end of the Rio Grande.

We essentially live at the mouth of the Rio Grande, where it empties into the Gulf of Mexico.  The headwaters are here in the Colorado high country.

A night at Ridgway State Park, then over Red Mountain Pass.

Ward Lake to Haviland Lake campground

…to Havilland Lake Campground between Durango and Silverton for a couple nights.

Then back to Silverton for the steam train.

Twice a day it chuffs and chugs into town.

Then it waits.  I swear that steam locomotive is a living breathing machine.  In-between runs it’s at rest, quietly standing by, breathing softly but steadily with an occasional huff.  Lingering next to it, I can feel the heartbeat from that massive mechanical beast. 

Then it’s back to work, hauling the next load.