Wish you were here!

There are still peaceful places in this state, places free from construction and noise and commerce. Wild places. Places where you can hear a mouse sneeze.

White River National Forest consists of 2.25 million acres, many of which encompass Colorado's ski resorts, mountain towns and vacation spots. There are, however, places within the vast wilderness worth writing home about: Yeoman Park and Fulford. The 17-mile drive south from Eagle, Colorado takes you through picturesque meadowlands on Brush Creek and a new addition to Colorado's state parks, Sylvan Lake. The welcoming committee at the cozy campground of 23 sites is an extensive and long-standing beaver colony that resides in the surrounding wetlands.

The few miles to Fulford are slow and bumpy, but well worth the pain. Only one man lives in the town year-round, and for that the residents call him "Mayor." What began as a mining camp is slowly blossoming into a community; what was just a strip of seven or eight houses has turned into a sanctuary for about 200 summer residents. The original mining cabins pepper the town, as well as the surrounding valleys and mountains. Some fields even contain clusters of petrified core samples, long cylinders of earth pulled from the ground in the '30s during man's last search for gold and wealth in these parts.

These two locations recently escaped the fate of joining the larger portion of White River's industry acres when the white flag was raised in a 30-year battle between a greedy developer and numerous local citizens.

Then there are bizarre places, places that became what they are because enough people decided to get out of the car and stretch their legs and see what the fuss was about. These are the places that invented the photo-op. Side-of-the-road places.

The Colorado Gator farm started innocently enough: the owners needed a solution to the fish byproduct problem at their Tilapia farm, so they went ahead and bought 100 baby alligators. Sounds logical. Soon after, tourists would stop and take a peek, and in 1990 the farm was opened to the public. It has since become a wildlife refuge where pet owners, police and animal control agencies deposit unwanted exotic species such as parrots, pythons, rattlesnakes, a few 100-pound turtles and ... a goat.

For ten bucks you can wander the farm, go fishing, hold an infant gator, wrestle an adult one, feed the ducks or agitate the angry ostriches, amongst numerous other animal interactions.

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