The night we were in Red Rocks, we stayed in a place called Bonnie Springs Ranch. I knew of this place–I’m a bit embarrassed to say–because an episode of Ghost Adventures took place there. Bonnie Springs is nothing fancy, but it has horses, a little Western town (where they stage shoot-outs and hangings during the on season), and A FREE PETTING ZOO. (Sadly, no ghosts, though.)
But the most amazing thing that happened to me happened unexpectedly, as most amazing things do.
After coming back from my sunrise expedition, I see that there are peacocks wandering around the grounds, only they’re super shy, and I can’t get close enough for any pictures. All of a sudden, one of the kitchen workers comes out and asks, “Are you trying to take pictures of the birds?” I tell him yes, and he says to wait a moment–that he has something for me.
And then he comes back with some slices of bread. And I sit down on the ground and hand-feed the peacocks (and the peahens, who were far braver). I was basically in the middle of a huge swarm. I took a bunch of pictures, realized AGAIN that I forgot to check my shutter speed, fixed it, and managed to still get some decent shots.
It. Was. AWESOME.
all other priorities rescinded 
