Woodland Park

Wednesdays this summer have been our days for field trips since BigBuddy usually has the day off.
Last Wednesday we ventured to Woodland Park, about 45 minutes away, picnic in tow.
We found a shaded picnic table right on the main street in town, and enjoyed the fact it was ten degrees cooler here than at home.
Pike's Peak is just south of here, and the views were lovely! Looks like the snow is finally about melted up there.
We walked through town and found this cute guy sitting on a park bench. There were some fun Western shops and even a cute craft store with amazingly good prices. I helped the economy there.
We like antler arches. It reminded us of Jackson Hole, but of course, there are more there and they are much bigger. We also stopped by the visitor's center, just to see what they had to tell us, and found there are about ten different cool places all less than half an hour away. My boys were thrilled to hear about the Colorado Wolf and Rescue Center about ten minutes away, so we went to check it out.
Tucked back from one of the mountain highways, this was a fascinating place. It houses 17 wolves, 2 coyotes, and 6 foxes.
We learned a lot in the hour plus tour we received. Some wolves prefer to live alone, but when they mate its for life, so sometimes they live with their mate. Other times they just live with a friend, if their mate has passed away. That was true in this case.
This was Princess. She lives alone. She is a diva and can't share or get along with others. The fences are all electrically charged. We were reminded to keep our distance regularly. Princess is probably one of the reasons why.
Wolves come in many different colors and sizes. Some of them are grey, black, white, or mixed. Very few are just true brown.
We were there in the afternoon. Several were laying down in shady places. Some were asleep.
One thing I learned was that some wolves are very friendly to people. At this facility, some get taken for walks on a leash. Others are so friendly, they are offended if you don't physically touch them and love them. In fact, a wolf accepts you into their pack by licking you. We were told that to really let them love you, you should open your mouth so they could lick inside. You COULD NOT PAY ME to let a wolf do that to me, but there were six people who had paid $75 that day for the opportunity. They get a more "advanced" tour. No thank you! ICK!!!!

The funniest part was at the end of our tour. We were told to communicate with them and howl like a wolf. It was funny, and of course, my gentlemen were the loudest howlers of our group. We heard one, and then several began to howl back. The kids loved it. Now they want to practice in our backyard the next time they see a coyote. The neighbors will love that I'm sure.
This was a unique place, and one my children will not likely soon forget. Now we have a new list of fun adventures all less than an hour away that we want to try.