Rocky Mountain National Park Part 1

 

I love the mountains and have spent many years visiting the Smokies, the Blue Ridge and Pisgah National Forest.  And I still love these mountains, but it was one of the coolest things ever to see the Rockies!  They are huge!  And magestic!  And magnificent!  And bare compared to the mountains in the east.  And full of wildlife!  We had the best day!  We had our entrance pass for 6-8 in the morning and we got there close to 6.  We planned to do the Vacation Races Trifecta by starting with driving the Trail Ridge Road and climbing the short hike at the highest peak on the road.

But before we got there, we saw lots of other things!!  First were the elk in the meadow.  They just stood by the side of the road.  We didn't get to close them, but close enough to take some cool pictures.

My selfie with an elk!

Dave in his cammo by the elk

We continued on the Trail Ridge, increasing in altitude and decreasing in temperature.  And of course stopping at all the overlooks to see the views!  We drove the 48 miles from Estes Park to Grand Lake and made it to 12,005 feet above sea level!  

A view of Long's Peak.  Too high for us to hike that day, but maybe another trip!

More chipmunks...skinnier, but still looking for food!

The snow and tundra at the top of the park

Deer on the tundra

Marmots at the coldest part of the road trip!

The boys didn't want to take their masks off because they were so cold!

Snow in August!!!

By hiking to the top of this mountain, which was a short hike, but still left us winded at that altitude, we finished one part of our trifecta.  It was downhill from there to Grand Lake, but that will be for another blog!

Race Day!

Saturday was race day for me and the reason we took the trip.  Dave got up with me and took me to the race and then went back to get the boys.  While I finished the race, they ate breakfast and got to the finish line in time to meet me.  It was a great race and totally worth the trip to Colorado.  

And we had a great day in Estes Park that Saturday.  Estes Park is like the Gatlinburg of the Rockies.  It is full of cute shops and restaurants.  One of my favorites was the glass shop where we were able to watch glass being blown.  It is such an interesting art! 

We were going to get burgers for lunch, but the line was too long, so we ended up going to Lonigans and having a very tasty lunch that hit the spot after running...Rocky Mountain trout and fries.  The boys decided to order Rocky Mountain oysters!  I tried one too, and they weren't too bad if you didn't think about what you were eating!

We went in almost all of the shops, bought too many souvenirs, and then toured The Stanley Hotel.  This hotel was the inspiration for Steven King's "The Shining" and was where they filmed the second version of "The Shining"...the one in which Stephen King had a part.  There was a couple taking wedding photos there.  Although it was a grand hotel that would be a good backdrop for a wedding, I think it would be strange to tell people what the hotel is known for as you are talking about your wedding!

This is a piano that John Philip Sousa played.  When he played a piano, he would scratch his name on the underside.  A zealous piano tuner cleaned it up and smoothed out the scratched name.  Oops!

A Stanley Steamer

Old fashioned room keys

  

Dave showing off elk rubbings

Camden looking at the bunny

When we finished touring Estes Park, we took a brief rest and then drove to Loveland for dinner.  I think Saturday was a day for eating!

The road on the way to Loveland.  Very cool, but the sign said watch for big horn sheep and we did not see any...I was disappointed!

Downtown Loveland had their streets blocked off in order to accommodate outdoor eating.  We still had to wait a long time to get a table...lots of people tired of eating at home!! 

That ended our Saturday in Colorado.  I slept well that night!  One more day to soak in the Rocky Mountains!