Our Wild West Girls

This was taken in Estes Park, Colorado.  I think we have some real westerners here.

Final Day At Estes Park

Fortunately, Tuesday dawned much warmer and with no clouds in the sky.  It was still windy at times, but the day was beautiful.  We first headed off to a nature talk about the Big Horn Sheep.  Really enjoyable learning about these animals the love to butt heads just to see who is the most manly. 

After the nature talk, we headed up to Sprague Lake Nature Trail for lunch and a hike.  It wasn't too long of a hike, but with all the things to see on the hike, it took much longer than you would expect. 

 At lunch ... next to the snow.  This picnic table wasn't ready for use, so we picked the one next to it.

 Then a beautiful hike around Sprague Lake. 

 Anna has become our newest photographer, so that Kristin and I can be in the picture.

 Jenna and a chipmunk face off.  The chipmunk had been following her for some time, and Jenna just decided it was time to see exactly what the chipmunk was up to.  They had a short chat, with the chipmunk getting closer than Jenna would like several times.

 So dad tried.  The chipmunk gladly came up to me, his paws on my jeans, as he checks out what is in my hand.  A quick nimble at my figure proved that I didn't have any food.  I guess too many people feed these little guys.

 Anna fording a stream ... but the bridge is just to the left.

 After our hike, we stopped at another visitors center so that the girls (Anna and Emily) could turn in their Junior Ranger books.  This ranger is going through the books with them to ensure they understand what they saw. 

 Don (the older ranger) introduces to new rangers. 



The Mountain Begins To Snow On Us

Monday in the mountains proved to be a very different day than Sunday.  The winds blew, the clouds rolled in ... but we headed for Bear Lake anyway.  It didn't take long until the snow flakes started to fall; heavier and heavier; and by the time we got to Bear Lake, it really looked like it was snowing.  There was quite a bit of snow still on the ground and everyone was too cold (temperature and wind) to get out ... so we ate our lunch in the car at Bear Lake.  We drove around several other places, but the cold and wind continued to blow.  We did get out for a hike at one of the visitors centers ... and you can see how bundled up we were.  We finally ended back at Estes Park to find a nice Italian dinner waiting for us ... AND the snow started again.  The girls were definately in favor of calling it a day and staying warm.  So - that's what we did.

Off To The Rocky Mountain National Park

After church on Sunday morning, we headed off to a visit to the Rocky Mountain National Park.  We had a million layers with us, ready for anything.  Trail Ridge Road was not open yet, so we could only get as high as Rainbow Curve, which we were told was very busy.  But, we headed off to find some fun anyway.  After a visit to the Fall River Visitor Center, we headed to hike at Alluvial Fan, which is a small water fall with lots of rocks to climb on.  From there we headed up Trail Ridge Road to see how far we could get.  We quickly found snow, then snow drifts, then snow higher than our car ... and finally turned around when we got near Rainbow Curve and the traffic was stopped.  Back to Estes Park for a walk around the town, eating an Elk Burger, and shopping.

 Driving up Trail Ridge Road

Just after we turned around, we took a picture of the Elevation ... 10,703 feet. Peoria is about 700 feet.

We stopped to admire the snow drifts and compare them with us.  Much bigger then we are.

Emily chasing Kristin with a snow ball.

We think these were taken from Many Parks Curve, Elevation 9,640.

More wildlife.  We have seen a number of baby elk.

This bull elk was in the town of Estes Park.

Climbing the rocks at Alluvial Fan.

Family picture at Alluvial Fan (there are water falls in the background).