I'm ba-ack!
Colorado was great! We arrived at Denver Wednesday night around 10pm, picked up our Chevy Trailblazer, and headed off to Rocky Mountain National Park in the dark. We got lost. We wound up driving 40 minutes out of our way, and didn't get to our hotel until 2:30am (which felt like 4:30 eastern time).
Thursday: I got up early, went and bought breakfast, came back and got Jess up around 9am, then we decided to go for a short hike, and headed into the park. We saw some elk, a coyote (rare to see!), some beautiful scenery, and then arrived at our trailhead. We hiked to Alberta falls, took some more pictures, and then decided to head out for lunch. I had an elk burger and a beer. Afterwards, we went back to our hotel, used the jacuzzi, then went back into the park around dusk for a drive through the park to see the mountains/wildlife. We saw a herd of elk - like 50 of them, including around 10 males. It was really cool-I don't think I have ever heard elk calls before. They were really close to us- one of the elk was only about 20 feet from the roadside.
Friday: Got up and went for a long drive through the park- we stopped at lots of pull-offs to take pictures, and ate lunch on the other side of the park. I had a buffalo burger, and we continued back into the park. After unsuccessfully trying to find a moose in the lowlands, we went back into town, walked around the shops, bought some fudge, had some mexican food, and went back to enjoy the jacuzzi.
Saturday: Got up a little earlier, and went for some hikes - up first, a relatively easy 3.6 mile hike to see 3 lakes. We brought a picnic lunch and ate near one of the lakes, while defending our food from a sneaky gray jay. After lunch, took a drive, saw another coyote, and went for another hike- this one for 5 miles, but pretty flat. After an 11 mile drive on a 1-way dirt road up a mountain, we saw some herds of elk on the tundra, including males fighting! Later, we drove into town for some Chinese, and then back to the hotel and put the jacuzzi to work again.
Sunday: I got up around 6am and got into the park by 6:30 to take some early morning photos- lots of really beautiful pics with clouds and mist rolling over the mountains that early. Later, we left to catch our plane. *sigh*.
We're thinking it might be cool to live somewhere near there. Hmmmmm.........
I suppose I should share those pictures with you....
http://picasaweb.google.com/Benjamin.Hummel/RockyMountain
Colorado was great! We arrived at Denver Wednesday night around 10pm, picked up our Chevy Trailblazer, and headed off to Rocky Mountain National Park in the dark. We got lost. We wound up driving 40 minutes out of our way, and didn't get to our hotel until 2:30am (which felt like 4:30 eastern time).
Thursday: I got up early, went and bought breakfast, came back and got Jess up around 9am, then we decided to go for a short hike, and headed into the park. We saw some elk, a coyote (rare to see!), some beautiful scenery, and then arrived at our trailhead. We hiked to Alberta falls, took some more pictures, and then decided to head out for lunch. I had an elk burger and a beer. Afterwards, we went back to our hotel, used the jacuzzi, then went back into the park around dusk for a drive through the park to see the mountains/wildlife. We saw a herd of elk - like 50 of them, including around 10 males. It was really cool-I don't think I have ever heard elk calls before. They were really close to us- one of the elk was only about 20 feet from the roadside.
Friday: Got up and went for a long drive through the park- we stopped at lots of pull-offs to take pictures, and ate lunch on the other side of the park. I had a buffalo burger, and we continued back into the park. After unsuccessfully trying to find a moose in the lowlands, we went back into town, walked around the shops, bought some fudge, had some mexican food, and went back to enjoy the jacuzzi.
Saturday: Got up a little earlier, and went for some hikes - up first, a relatively easy 3.6 mile hike to see 3 lakes. We brought a picnic lunch and ate near one of the lakes, while defending our food from a sneaky gray jay. After lunch, took a drive, saw another coyote, and went for another hike- this one for 5 miles, but pretty flat. After an 11 mile drive on a 1-way dirt road up a mountain, we saw some herds of elk on the tundra, including males fighting! Later, we drove into town for some Chinese, and then back to the hotel and put the jacuzzi to work again.
Sunday: I got up around 6am and got into the park by 6:30 to take some early morning photos- lots of really beautiful pics with clouds and mist rolling over the mountains that early. Later, we left to catch our plane. *sigh*.
We're thinking it might be cool to live somewhere near there. Hmmmmm.........
I suppose I should share those pictures with you....
http://picasaweb.google.com/Benjamin.Hummel/RockyMountain
3 Comments:
At 5:15 PM,
Husband said…
Very nice images! I hope you get some large prints made of them.
Lens/gear theft is common in families... just ask my dad how much nikon gear he has left, hah!
At 5:25 PM,
Kathleen said…
Beautiful pictures! Looks like you guys had a great trip!
At 6:52 PM,
Sunshine said…
Wow, awesome pics! :) Thanks, Dad! You know, there are the Cascades here in Oregon and plenty of hiking...*wink wink nudge nudge* We even have waterfalls! Funny, I have a picture of one of the same lakes from my trip to RMNP in 2000 :) Also, wanted to inquire about getting a copy of #43 from your album - my office needs art desperately and that would look fabulous on the wall (perfect colors!) Let me know :) Good luck with the start of classes and hooray for no jury duty!
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