Rocky Mountain National Park 7.06.17

Today we visited Rocky Mountain National Park! Jeff really wanted to drive up the often closed Fall River Road, which is gravel and dirt, one way, (up) and has lots of switchbacks and steep climbs. We were all game and piled in the Jeep!

I could definitely see why this road was often closed to vehicles! It would be absolutely impassible in wet or snowy conditions, but this day happened to be a perfect day to drive it.

We made stops along the way up to sight see.

One of my favorite pictures from the trip. I'm wearing my cute shirt designed by my friend Michelle, and standing in front of the Roaring River, a tributary of the Fall River.

A great spot to get out and see some amazing views from part way up the mountain.

We also saw some beautiful scenery right from the car:

I will never, ever tire of Colorado blue skies, mountains, and lakes. It's just amazing.

Once we got to the top, we decided to hike up to the tippy top point at the Visitors' Center. For Kathy and Andy, this was NBD. For Jeff and me, it was a VERY big deal. We were crazy winded by the time we got to the top, but you know what? We did it! I couldn't do it two years earlier, so I was really proud.

We're a bunch of freaking rock stars!

We took our time looking around and of course, souvenir shopping at the gift shop!

As we left, we drove down Trail Ridge Road to the opposite side of the Rockies and into Grand Lake, CO, where none of us had ever been.

We found a picnic spot right on the lake. Gorgeous views!

On the way back to Estes, we stopped at the Continental Divide and saw a few other special sites as well.

How about some elk? Anyone want to see a herd of elk?

That was pretty cool, and a great use of the Jeep's retractable sun roof.

Our day wasn't done, but I'll save the evening's activities for the next post.

Happy camping!
Peggy

Ghost Tour & New Belgium Brewery Toury

Day one of the Estes trip was a relaxing one. We spent time at the campground, and Kathy and I did a ghost tour at The Stanley Hotel!

We opted to do the latest tour, around 8pm, in hopes that it would get dark and be a little spookier. The tour began in a room in the basement level of the Stanley Hotel where they give you a little history, the movie, "The Shining" plays on a TV, and rules and expectations of the tour are discussed. We toured the ballroom, which was incredibly gorgeous, the basement of the ballroom where the old caretaker, who died years ago, reportedly still shows up to work, and also is home to a woman named "Lucy," (I think) who was a bit of a mystery. We also toured the billiard room which was decked out in lots of wood and large fixtures, making what I'd call a handsome room.

We were encouraged to take pictures and ask questions, speak to ghosts, and try to connect with the tour. I took a LOT of pictures, and had some interesting results like green lights.

I would LOVE to show you the pictures, but I can only share one. Want to know why? All but one disappeared. I'm not kidding, it was the weirdest thing. My phone automatically sends photos to my Google photo account, and saves them there. This worked for every single photo on our trip except the ghost tour! I even checked Google before clearing them from the phone to make sure they were there... they were... and then... they weren't. Draw your own conclusions, but I found this really suspicious!

So, here's the one pic I have. I took it because it reminded me of furniture my grandma used to have. LOL!

Exciting, huh?

As far as the tour goes, you get out of it what you put into it. If you're not into ghosts, I think you'd find the tour exceedingly boring, and I'd suggest you do the architectural tour instead.

4th of July also included matching t-shirts, and Andy's sister, brother-in-law, and niece came up from the Denver area to visit. (Sorry guys...apparently we didn't take any pics???)

On the 5th of July, we took a road trip to Fort Collins to do a tour at New Belgium Brewery!

I still don't know why they don't call it a "brewery toury," but I always will!

This tour was totally worth it! It took a few hours, included lots of walking, and many, many samples of products. The really interesting part, to me, was the fact that 1) the brewery is employee owned, and 2) employees get some really cool perks for working there. I also loved the decor- touches of bicycles everywhere and cool sculptures and light fixtures made from beer cans and bottles.

Luckily for me (and now you) these photos were saved. Take a look!

Shout out to the expert photobomber behind us! 😆

There was also cool educational stuff.

They even trusted us to tend bar at one point!

There were goofy touches for pure entertainment.

Many different rooms with different purposes.

These giant barrels are where they make their sours.

Jeff likes sours, so this was a favorite for him on the tour. (Kathy, being gluten free, was given Glutiny beer samples all through the tour. Nice touch, New Belgium!)

This was the first time I had ever tried a sour beer. Guess what I thought of it? (Andy got to finish my sample.)

Kathy is hilarious. She noticed this barrel had a particularly funny sign, but felt it was missing the "F."

The bottling line. Brings back Laverne & Shirley memories, and if you don't know who that is, don't tell me!

When you finish the tour, you have the option of going down a tornado slide back to the tasting room/bar where the tour began. Heck yes, we did! There goes Andy!

It was a fun day, and I would definitely recommend the tour to beer enthusiasts. They do a great job and make it entertaining.

We headed back to our campsite to enjoy the evening, and the next day we went to Rocky Mountain National Park, but more on that in my next post.

Happy camping!

East Portal Campground in Estes Park 7.3.17

Looks like we made it!! Here we are in spot A14 at East Portal Campground.

So pretty, so pretty, so pretty! We didn't even have to rotate the T@b because the kitchen faced away from everyone else, which is exactly what we want! A couple more views because mountains.

Fred and Lucy were out front to greet visitors, and there were a few! We even found another T@b in the campground which was awfully exciting. Unfortunately, we didn't have a spot right next to Jeff and Kathy and the Scamp, but we were only about 5 spots away, so not too far!

They had a nice big spot too, and were across from the playground. We even went rock wall climbing!

Look how high! These guys are surely expert climbers to make it all the way to the top!

Hmmm...or maybe it had something to do with perspective? LOL!

The view from their campsite sure was spectacular though, wasn't it? We were kinda bummed that the plastic rock wall was there, but we made it work.

This campground was extremely well planned with spacious sites and water and electric right at each campsite. The hardest part was walking up the very steep hill to the bathrooms on day one. We weren't quite acclimated to the altitude yet, so walking up made for some rather labored breathing. By day two it wasn't as noticeable. It's also very rustic with winding, bumpy, dirt roads with sharp switchbacks, making it inaccessible for larger campers. Ours worked perfectly! We even had lots of opportunity to see wildlife in the campground.

This friendly deer hung around a neighboring campsite for a long time. Must have been finding some good treats, and didn't seem to mind the people too much.

Then there was this fellow... This was the LARGEST elk I have ever seen! I didn't want to get too close, so this is my very, very zoomed in photo of him. After banging his antlers on the tree, he came sauntering right through the campground, to everyone's delight! Those of us who weren't from the area were in extreme awe of his size and confidence!

We enjoyed some campfires and night time scenery.

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Here I am with my Silipint Happy Camper cup. I think the photo does everything justice. Mountains, campfire, (with dinner cooking) and beverage. What's not to like?

Evenings got a little chilly, but we were OK because we went shopping and bought big, warm hoodies!

I just love this shot of a wispy cloud and the moon. This was the view behind the Scamp one evening.

If you're a tent camper or have a small camper, I highly recommend this campground for an absolutely perfect Colorado experience. We. Will. Be. Back.

In my next post, I'll take you through some of the activities we did during our stay in Estes Park!

Happy camping!