Rattlesnake Kate

 After talking about it for six months we finally made the trip up to Greeley to see Rattlesnake Kate Slaughter’s dress. We learned about her on a podcast we listened to towards the beginning of the pandemic, and once we knew the dress still existed, knew we had to see it.

 

It was just about as creepy as you would expect a dress made 100 years ago out of rattlesnake skins would be. We’ve agreed we don’t need to see it again... ever. 

It was a fun day though. We walked along the Cache la Poudre River, ate a bit of fast food and spent a lot of time in the car. I even found an old trunk in the museum that looks a lot like the one S gave me... giving me maybe a little hint as to it’s age. 

We even saw what looked like a giant paper mache man... not sure what was up with that! 😂

 

At long last...

 ...after looking for months, R finally saw a Great Horned Owl! 

And she (we) actually ended up seeing three, an adult on the nest and two fuzzy white babies who stuck their heads up while we were watching. 

(Second nest from the top, you can just see the adult’s feather tufts sticking out)

Such a special day...

Super moon!

 

Hidden Mesa hike

We hiked a couple of miles at Hidden Mesa park today. It was just a beautiful day... warm and sunny after days of cold and snow.

We were looking for a cave someone told us was close to the park and had been used by the Native Americans in the area back 150-200 years ago. We looked but didn’t find the cave, but we did find this HUGE tree that had fallen down years ago. It even had a trail through the trunk and roots that we climbed through to the other side. 

And we found an old outhouse... 

And finally, I found what might be a leaf fossil... but I’m not sure. 

It looks like a cottonwood leaf to me, but I suppose it could be anything... 

I wish I had a geologist friend. 

Castle Rock incline

We were looking for a  good picnic spot and ended up at the Castle Rock incline... which we had to try, of course. 

It was a hard one... not sure we’ll try it again. 

 

Castlewood Canyon hike

 It was a lovely day for a hike at Castlewood Canyon... one of our favorite places. 

Tava was so beautiful from the top of the canyon! 

We hiked down into Wildcat Canyon where we ate a picnic lunch by the creek before making the looong hike back up out of the canyon. 

Castlewood is so beautiful...there is always something there to see.