…you go to the snow.

At least we do. I know that later I’ll regret praying for snow… but I am a cold-weather girl who loves big, forgiving coats and big, forgiving cups of cocoa. It is certainly getting chilly in Fort Collins, but there is nary a snowflake to be seen.

When Dan and I visited Lory State Park we could tell we would be back often, so we purchased an annual pass for the Colorado state parks. On the drive home from Lory, I started reading to Dan about other state parks, and mentioned that State Forest State Park (a humdinger of a name) claims 600 moose and calls itself “the ultimate rugged Colorado.” Dan had been looking for an excuse to burn a vacation day and thus declared, to the moose! 

Don’t get your hopes up, we did not see any moose on this trip. We did, however, spot a herd of bighorn sheep — at street level, no less. I did not take any photos as I was afraid they’d get it in their heads to ram the car if we hung around. (I don’t know. I’m new here.)

We also saw a red and silver fox. My mom and I both think of foxes as totems for my grandfather, so it felt special to me. (Yeah, no pictures of the fox either. I’m the worst.)

And we saw snoooooow.

State Forest State Park (ugh, that name) is tucked behind Rocky Mountain National Park — or, as Dan phrased it: “their butts touch.” The state park felt like a hidden gem, with much of the grandeur of Rocky but none of the people, at least on this weekday visit.

The rest of this post is me shutting up so you can just look at a few of the stunning shots we took over the course of about two hours. Had we stayed any longer, we might have been snowed in at the pass through the mountains.