Lake Pueblo State Park and Reservoir

Wow, today was a scorcher, even by our Florida/South Texas standards!  Pretty sure we hovered around 100 degrees, most of the day, even though we started at a cool 71 at 7 a.m.  Too hot for strolling around the Riverwalk, the campground pool water is too cool (it's a whopping 70 or so!) and most museums are open few or no hours on Sunday.  Soooo, off to the Lake Pueblo State Park reservoir we go!  Turns out, Colorado is offering veterans and their guests free entry to all State Parks every day for the month of August.  Whoohoo, score!  On our way to the Visitors' Center to purchase our pass, we rode by the dam.

There are two (!) marinas, right in the park.  They have seasonal AND year-round slips for rent, along with all the other usual and customary services and facilities.  Looked like most slips here were occupied too!

My back is still pretty messed up, so we can't go horseback riding, boating or tubing right now, nor can we hike too awfully far.  Besides, we had the pup with us, and while she has her booties, it's pretty warm for her to be out there with her fur coat and all.  We ended up riding around the loop in the cool comfort of our car, following the park roads. 

There are several camping areas, and each one has its own registration checkpoint.  

There's a fish hatchery too, but only one pond had water, and it didn't appear to be very deep.  There were no fish in there, either, that we could see.  Most of the ponds looked like this.  Empty and furrowed, like they'd been plowed.  ???  The actual building was closed, so we couldn't learn about the processes, but it looked like maybe they've shut down production for the season? 

The lake was formed by damming up the Arkansas River, but they do allow a bit of water to keep flowing from the bottom of the dam.

There were probably a couple hundred people out on the water, but it was so vast, everybody had plenty of space to do whatever they wanted.

We stopped in one site (there are about 500 sites, all told!!) and got out to check out the water.  Most sites had lovely views of the lake; this one had a cool cedar tree as well.

And a couple of cairns, as well.  And quite a bit of trash, but we picked it all up and carried it out in a Publix bag.  Why is that even significant?  'Cuz if you've been following our journey for any time at all, you know it's been 4 months since we've had the pleasure of shopping at Publix.  No telling what else is in the back of that car!  Or how LONG it's been there!  Maybe we should take a day and clean it out.  I guess we could wash the outside, while we're at it.  And if we had time, maybe we should give the dog a bath too.  Or not.  That's a lotta work!

Eventually, we'd seen pretty much everything there was to see, and gone everywhere there was that we could go.  On the way home, we stopped at a roadside tent (no, not a stand, a little tent!) and picked up these beauties!  Two of 'em are already gone....just sayin.  Six bucks for these, 2 ears of yummy corn (also already gone) and a lovely homegrown tomato for our BLT's tomorrow.  I debated getting MORE peaches, but I knew if I did, I'd just have to turn them into cobbler, and who needs all those calories?  So I refrained, and no cobbler for us.

Then, to top it all off, on the way home, what did I spy with my very own little eye???  Well, not this beauty, he's not my picture, he comes courtesy of The Denver Post.   But, YES, we saw TWO ANTELOPES!  What's the plural of antelope, anyway??  Yep, two of 'em!!  I'm pretty sure we had spied one on the day we arrived, but Driver was driving and didn't see it, and I wasn't sure if it was a deer or an antelope, so I just called it a critter out in the field and didn't make a big fuss over it.  These two, I squealed like a stuck pig.  😃😃

Tomorrow, we both have phone calls to make.  Dick has to find a dentist (he popped a crown off with vigorous flossing), and I have to call a rheumatologist in Phoenix and Newmar (to see what to do about our cracked floor).  After that, who knows where the wind will blow us; being Monday, most museums and attractions are closed.  The hot springs will have to wait till they reopen on Wednesday.  We still haven't decided if we will go au natural or not...what do YOU think we should do?

Till next time!