Home

I think it was around 5:30 when we left our cabin, and all was quiet and dark for a long time. Then, some big excitement at daylight when this cute little feller was across the creek which paralleled the road. We watched him for a good long while, marveling that we got to see the elusive black bear (brown?) at the very last possible moment!

Finally got a picture of the hundreds of calves at one of the massive feedlots we passed in Nebraska. Impressive.

Lots of snacks and a few movies made for a happy bunch as we flew along home.

So good to go; so good to come home.

And yet, like Tori’s new t-shirt says - - -  The mountains are calling, and I must go…

Ouzel Falls

I really like how this vacation was a mix of repeat hikes from former years and new hikes that we’d never done before. So on Friday, our last day in RMNP, we went on this 2.7 mile hike to a beautiful waterfall called Ouzel Falls. This hike was recommended to me by Julie, a new friend from Iowa I made along the trail. We ran into her, her sister Jenelle, and their families on Wednesday and Thursday both! So on Thursday I chatted with Julie for a bit and she told me about this hike and a few other places of interest nearby. This trail was in the southern part of the park where we’d never been before; and, turns out, I think it was my favorite hike. It meandered along a woodland river with a few pretty sites along the way.

First milestone was Copeland Falls, which according to our trusty guidebook, was “pretty but unspectacular.”

I concur.

On we went to the next milestone:

It was here that we ran into Julie and Jenelle for the third time!  Julie hadn’t mentioned that they were planning to come here today, and I certainly made her no assurances of our plans, so we were all pretty surprised to meet up yet again. We all agreed that for some reason God wanted us to be friends; with Facebook, all sorts of things are possible now that weren’t years ago, and so, for whatever reason we may never know, meet my new friends Julie from Iowa and Jenelle from Texas who greatly blessed my visit to Rocky!

Meanwhile, kids of course found lots of rocks to climb.

Our destination:

Nothing super spectacular until you make your way (no specific trail) past the bridge to the waterfall itself.

Find four Kaisers:

(hint: look at the top)(of course)

More climbing on the way back down.

An art gallery/community center/souvenir shop in which I *finally* found the exact sweatshirt I’d been looking for all week. *I might or might not be a little picky about my sweatshirts…*

Friday evening after supper we wandered back into Estes for a little more shopping. Found a few bargains for Christmas gifts and a vintage candy store which of course everyone enjoyed. My favorite antique-ish sign on the wall there:

         The problem with quotes on the internet is that you can’t always depend on their accuracy. ~Abraham Lincoln

Wandering on past the shops, we went through a tunnel decorated with kids’ artwork. It was some sort of “art walk”.

And since it was an “art walk”… we found a few musical instruments as well.

Sweet times.

And- - - wouldn’t you know it? (I maybe should’ve expected it but didn’t…), we ran into my new friends Julie and Jenelle yet again - - -

Grand Lakes

Thursday morning our goal was to get to Grand Lakes, the “quiet side” of the Rockies, and do some hiking and touring there. A great thing about vacation is no schedule, so we stopped and started whenever we wanted. This was a hike we enjoyed up near the top point of the trail.

For obvious reasons, this formation was called Mushroom Rocks.

Next stop was an interesting tour of one of the first guest ranches in the park, circa 1917.

I spy a trout!

22# buffalo skin coat.

Continuing on our west side tour, we circled the lake where we stayed in 2012, and Josh fished a little at the creek where Levi spent so many hours way back then.

Next stop: Adams Falls.

Short easy hike with lots of rocks to climb.

On to the races!

On to the quaint burg of Grand Lakes. Its tourist section was a fraction of the size of Estes Park and a fraction of the people also. Definitely the quiet side of the Rockies. We did a little shopping before we enjoyed supper at a grill that we remembered from 2018 (well, some of us remembered it anyway). It was memorable partly because of the delicious food and partly because of the peanut shells strewn all over the floor. Interesting place, with lots of antique décor in addition to the trademark peanuts before the meal.

Heading out of town back to Estes Park, we saw our first and second (and only!) moose (mooses? meese??). Was a mother/calf pair that rangers were trying to dart and mark, but we left before they got their mission accomplished.

More wildlife as we headed east.

Enjoyable (no rain!!) journey back over the mountains. Thankful for safe travels all week!