Trail Ridge Road

Just a few more pictures from the mountains. This is our trip up Trail Ridge Road on our way out of RMNP. Amazing ride, albeit a tired one. A long hike the night before and then a cold night in a tent was a enough to wear out one or two of us that were in the van. We all still had a blast, just a little tired and some of us were just not as peppy as usual.

A nice view of Long's on our way to the trail.

The first point where you could really get a feel for the elevation. This was a much needed pull-off. I have a new appreciation for my dad and how calmly he drove up this road. I caught myself looking over the edge a few times before I thought better of that move. A hunk of curb is not much of a guard rail. Curious how many people make that same mistake and end up down the mountain. At least that was what I was thinking of when I looked over the edge. And...that is why I stopped looking over the edge while I was driving. :)

Almost at the top. The sky was unbelievably clear and crisp. Very refreshing.

Hugging Dad...or keeping warm, not sure which.

Mom, deserves a hug or two as well. There were so many Marmots at this stop i thought they might hop up and give us a hug as well. But they didn't. Must not be into PDA.

Saw a few really impressive Elk at the top.

A few pictures of the alpine tundra for your viewing pleasure.

Yes there was still snow. Quite a bit of it. And snow is still cold...even in July.

Erin told me what these mountains were named but I forget. Something like Neptune, Alpha, Scooby, and Papa Smurf I think. Or maybe that was the show Avery was watching in the hotel before she fell asleep tonight. Either way.

What an amazing experience. I am thrilled that my family got to experience it. Erin said that she was equally amazed and even got a bit emotional a time or too looking at the view. It's hard not to. The stars at the campsite Wednesday night, then the mountains here, puts everything back into perspective quickly. My inner mountain man has been appeased...for now.

Camping at RMNP

So after a longer and steeper than expected drive from Dillon to Estes Park we made it to RMNP. We found our campsite in Moraine Campground and Avery was excited to see that we had our own mini-mountain on our campsite. Had a hard time figuring out how to pitch the tent on that thing but after a little thinking and a lot of rope we figured it out.

This one is for Grandpa Hamm. Saw this on a boulder next to the river on the Fern Lake Trail. Just checking to see if this was your handy work.

One of my favorite flowers on the trail. Beebalm. Erin took a mighty nice picture of it.

This is a rock.

Notice the pep in her step. A sure sign that we are on the First leg of our hike.

This guy doesn't have to worry about maintaining pep, just as long as his papa does.

(Mom even took a turn with this one when dads pep was required to give a piggy back ride to the pep-less one.

Another rock or two. Avery tried counting them and determined that there were 16.

This one was in the wrong spot so she moved it over.

I was certain we would run into some Sand People in here but no. Erin and Griffin were on bear alert. They just don't understand the real danger that Sand People pose.

Proof.

And finally, this one is for Paul. He says Hi.

A little Apple pie in the pie iron does the body good after a long hike.

We have a bunch from the next day on Trail Ridge Road which we will be posting soon. But for now, just look at these over and over to pass the time.

More Colorado Excitement

Yesterday we spent the day in Breckenridge. It's only like a 20 minute drive from where we're staying. We took a gondola (free!) up to Peak 8 where they have lots of kid activities to do. You can buy a pass and do the stuff all day long, or just buy passes a la carte- that's what we did. Chris & Avery decided to do the Alpine Slide. I really wanted to, but I had a bout with altitudeness yesterday (yes, that's a real word) and after taking the gondola up, I didn't think I'd make it up a ski lift too. Anywhooo...check out Chris & Avery behind the girl in the forefront.

Here we're taking the gondola back down. It was a pretty view. We didn't get to stay up high for long because it started storming. We paid for a bouncing thing for Avery and she did it for like 2 minutes- seriously. Oh well.


Here is another gondola passing us. We went over a fire truck soon after this and we were low enough that the firefighters waved at us. Griffin is actually falling asleep here.

After lunch at a really good pizza place in Breckenridge, we went to Country Boy Mines, an old gold mine. They have burros there (donkeys). Avery & Griffin got to pet them- they were very friendly. What was not friendly was the pit toilet.



Here is a snort that they have on the property. Avery loves the book "Are you my mother" about a bird looking for his mom. One of the maternal possibilities is a "snort" and here we witnessed a live one. It was very exciting.

Everyone had to wear a hard hat in the mine. We just walked in about 1/4 mile- we didn't have to go underground because we were already underground- like 1,500 feet. It was thundering a bit while we were in there and it was really, really weird sounding. Avery actually liked this a lot. The yellow sack thing is for ventilation if needed. There is a lot of water being pumped out of the mine right now because of the record snowfalls this year and all the rain they've been getting. It was under our feet- some in a pipe and some just trickling out.

After the mine tour we got to take a stab at panning for gold. Avery (in yellow) didn't have much luck. Chris was able to get a tiny piece though.

Can you see it? It's the tiny bread-crumb thing at the bottom left of the quarter. We'll put in the bank for the kids' college fund.


We got home in time for some storms to billow up. Chris had just said earlier in the day, "man, the storms never make it to us". Well he shouldn't have said that. The storms started out nice and rainy like this.
And then got all crazy like this. This is only one of 5,000 lightning strikes we saw within 30 minutes. It then rolled in to Dillon and it was totally crazy. We tried to catch so many of the strikes but were always a little too slow. Glad this one turned out. Reports said that Breckenridge had 2 inches in an hour. I overheard a lady in the common area this morning say it was the worst storm she's experienced in the 4 years that she's lived here. Impressive! Stay tuned to what other information I hear from eavesdropping on another lady tomorrow.

So, this morning we went on a hike. It was next to a creek and you can see what happens to creeks when it rains a whole lot. Don't worry parents- I zoomed in on this.

It was a really nice hike, although it wasn't the trail we thought it was. We ended up on the Straight Creek Trail, called that because it followed a creek that was pretty straight- that's my guess anyway. Avery spent most of the time picking wildflowers. Shhh...dont' tell the rangers.






It was a cool, brisk morning after a good rainfall, so there was a lot of evidence of runoff, but it was also very beautiful. Buffalo Mountain is in the picture below.

Stopping for a snack. We saw a mule deer and her fawn right after this.


And of course a little boulder climbing. Chris first, then Avery.

We went to a fun place for dinner, but I don't have pictures. They actually have a hamburger called the "Pregnant Elvis" that is topped with peanut butter, bacon and pickles. Chris was too afraid to try it. I had the Breck Mac which was their version of the Big Mac. I've actually never had a Big Mac so I felt like I had a rite of passage or something (even though it was a veggie burger).

Ok, until next time!

Colorado Part 1

We made it to CO! So far we've had some beer, taken a few walks around town, taken a little hike to see chipmunks and walked along the lake.

The view from our place is pretty special. You can actually see Tenmile Peak (Breckenridge) when you walk through the front door. You can also see Swan Mountain and Buffalo Mountain from our deck, but my directions are messed up so I can't tell you which is which.

We really have to time our outdoor mountain activities for the mornings. Pop up storms have been an occurrence everyday so far and looks like that is the plan for the rest of the week too. Very pretty though. We saw a rainbow around the kid's bedtime last night and then soon after the sky got red. Can you find the rainbow? It's not a double.

We went to see the chipmunks today at Sapphire Point. There were some kids there with bags of sunflower seeds, so they weren't really interested in us. Some of those chipmunks are sure fat.

Griffin had his inaugural hike in the Kelty backpack. He liked hiding under his hat and just relaxing. He's ok. He's not smooshed. He loved watching the chipmunks too. Griffin will be the one who saves us from a wild animal attack because he is always on alert for any sort of wildlife. Anytime he sees an animal (bird, chipmunk, dog, etc.) he does this blowing thing with is mouth and goes "mmmppphhfff". Save us from the bears, Griffin!

And Avery was excited to take a break and have her sandwich. Obviously.

Later, her and I went down to Dillon Lake and threw rocks. She insisted that we take our shoes and socks off and put our feet in. So, we did. My feet felt seriously frozen after a few minutes. It was kind of refreshing though. She looks goofy because the water's so cold. Or maybe not.

P.S. there are a lot of dead pines in the area due to the Mountain Pine Beetle. Sapphire Point is currently being logged to get rid of the dead trees to prevent a forest fire. I overheard some lady say it was "disgusting". I'm not sure about that assessment. Chris thinks that once the dead trees are gone (due to logging or forest fires), more Aspen might emerge, which would be pretty.

That's all for now! More things planned!