1115 August 24, 2024 Estes Park

I took an early morning walk on the frontage road.  Highway 76 was on one side and farmland and a pond on the other.  It was a gorgeous morning. 

Today we had just a two hour drive.  We began to see the shadowy outline of the Rocky Mountains from about 50 miles away. 

Loveland.

As we continued our drive, we entered Thompson River Canyon.

We arrived in Estes Park.  We will use this as home base as we explore Rocky Mountain National Park over the next several days. We settled into our site before noon.

This magpie greeted us and was looking for lunch!

The National Park works on a timed entry system.  We did not have a permit but we knew we could enter after 2pm.  We packed a picnic and set out.  The line to get in was long and it took about 30 minutes to get through the gate.  We saw several mule deer.

We drove to the Upper Beaver Meadows and took the gravel road all the way to the end.  There were about 90 elk in the field. It was amazing!  We stayed and watched them for about an hour.

This old guy had the biggest rack.  He had a hard time getting up and walking to follow the rest of the herd.

Tim found us the perfect spot for dinner.  We enjoyed our tuna poke bowls with quinoa and cucumber and mango. 

Our dinnertime view!

After eating, Tim asked if I wanted to see more of the park…of course!

We stopped at a scenic overlook at Many Parks Curve.  WOW!!!  The scenery was breathtaking.

We tuned around there and went back to the RV.  We have an adventure planned for tomorrow!

Even as we were enjoying our time here, our hearts were sad and heavy.  We knew that Dre’s father was very ill.  He passed away this evening surrounded by his family.  Rest now Jorge.