I promise, I will get back to the last part of the Utah trip, as well as, finish my Colorado posts, but before that I want to share a cool place we discovered on a day trip to Austin earlier this week. It is perfect for a photo-filled blog post created on my phone.
300+ Miles to Utah, no problem! Part 2: Dinosaur National Monument
It’s been a while since I posted about the Bittersweet Farewell to our new family in Estes Park, and we have had a whirlwind of activity at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, and then a week-long visit to Southeast New Mexico as well. I have lots to write about from both of these visits, but I am determined to finish parts 2 and 3 of our visit to Utah and Western Colorado and a few more Estes posts before that.
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A bittersweet farewell…
I am interrupting my three-part series about our long weekend adventure to Utah to bring you a near-real-time update. I will pick up later and finish all the posts about the fun we had this summer…soon! We left Estes Park, Colorado, and Rocky Mountain National Park on Monday, and suffice it to say, we are sad about that! But this last week and the whole summer has been magical. I will try to share the feeling here.
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300+ Miles to Utah, no problem! Part 1: Flaming Gorge
Since we have been in Estes Park, I have been obsessed with seeing a few sights/National Monuments in far eastern Utah, and far western Colorado. In the spring of last year, we spent two months exploring National Parks and Monuments (and other scenic stuff, of course) in Southern Utah and Colorado. But we did not make it north of I-70, so we missed a National Recreation Area and National Monument in Utah, and another National Monument in Grand Junction, Colorado. So, with three days off coming up, we planned a grand adventure motorcycle ride of 900 or so miles, in three days!
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Guanella Pass Scenic Byway
Waaay back in the middle of August (how can it be the middle of September already?), Jerry and I were itching for a motorcycle ride. There was an ulterior motive for my dear husband, which will reveal itself later in the blog, but generally, we just wanted to get out there, see some beauty, while running up some miles. Since we are fortunate enough to still be here in Northern Colorado, we had endless options for spectacular scenery.
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Rocky Mountain NP: Sky Pond
Yes, folks, another post about Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP), one of the most spectacular parks in our very spectacular National Park System. This time I have a story about a hike that started out mild and ended up wild! As usual, this hike took place a couple of weeks ago, on August 9th. We thought some of the summer crowds might be dissipated due to school starting in some areas of the country, so we headed off to the most popular trailhead in the park, Bear Lake, where you can access no less than 10 magnificent hikes. Warning: This is a long post with tons of pics. 🙂
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Colorado 100,000 foot ride
As many of you know, the love of my life, Jerry, has an early August birthday. Well, being here in paradise, the options for celebrating his birthday were absolutely endless. So, when asked what he wanted to do, he said he had read about an annual event the BMW Motorcycle Club of Colorado organizes which happened to be on his birthday. It was a fun-filled day of riding, which is reportedly only geographically possible in this part of Colorado, where you ride at least TEN 10,000 foot or higher passes in a single day! Well, if that is what the birthday boy wants to kick off his birthday month, that is what he gets! 🙂
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Rocky Mountain NP: Deer Mountain
As I have said several times about Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP), despite being here in Colorado for THREE months (!), we never tire of the park and all its many incredible features! Today I will tell you about a lovely summit hike (just over 10,000′) that is only 6.9 miles from our campsite, Deer Mountain. I am still trying to catch up the blog; this hike was completed on July 31st.
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Around Estes: Lily Lake & Moose Mania
Just about 4 miles up the road from our campground is the beautiful Lily Lake, just on the edge of Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP). We have been there a number of times during our time in Estes Park, to hike the lake loop, the Lily Ridge Trail, or have a picnic lunch, but I have not written about it since this post early in our stay. Recently, we had heard about several bull moose sightings at Lily Lake, and a bull moose was still on our must-see wildlife list. 🙂 On a recent evening, we took our camp chairs and went on a moose hunt.
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Around Estes: Twin Sisters
As I type this post, in early August, we are beginning to notice hints of fall in the Rockies, although the crowds in Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) still scream of summer! 😉 Today I will describe a hike on July 24th, a Tuesday, where we got an early start which allowed a peaceful and uncrowded hike up to Twin Sisters Peak, but then we encountered the masses going up as we headed down in the early afternoon. Yes, it was a long hike!
curvyroads 