rocky mountain national park
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→ we drove through rocky mountain national park on a little road trip week before last, we can’t believe we have such an amazing park only an hour and half from home. have you been? we drove trail ridge road, a byway within the park that’s only open a few months out of the year because of snow and switchbacks, pretty amazing if you get the chance! at the top of the mountain the temperature had dropped 30 degrees and the wind was unbelievable.. i don’t think it’s ever truly summer at the peak. (last year we tried to visit in early july and it still wasn’t open..)
at the other end of trail ridge road (and opposite entrance to rmnp), is the town of grand lake, gorgeous!! we had a picnic lunch on the docks overlooking the lake, walked around town (such a fun spot.. arcades, paddle boats, ice cream shops, touristy but so quaint at the same time), and then turned around and drove back the same way so that we could see the park all over again.
see the mister and the pole he’s next to (above)….those line the entire trail ridge road to mark where the road is when it snows. can you imagine? see how tall that marker is?? and the grand finale of the day…when we drove back through estes a huge herd of elk and their babies were lounging by the road.
Filed Under: travel
Tagged: colorado, denver colorado blog, elk, estes park colorado, grand lake colorado, rocky mountain national park
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The beaver pic is my favorite…so cute! Love the road trip and you guys look like you had an amazing time!!!
it was the best day.. we love a roadtrip.. we have a fun one coming up soon that we can’t wait for (;
oh yea…hmmmmmm, I am guessing …and all I hope for is that it has lots of sun, water and sand my dear:)
Great photos! Makes me want to go there right now. Love the pics of the elk – how crazy they were just hanging out.
in a million i wouldn’t expect a huge herd of elk right on the side of the road (that wasn’t in a national park)… only in the west (;
Glad ya’ll finially got to this park. I went a few years back in August and needed a jacket at the top. The road up to the Alpine Visitor Center was a great drive. When you have a few days go to Black Canyon of Gunnison, then to the Great Sand Dunes NP via HWY 149 / The Silver Thread. What a great drive !
thanks billy! we’ve been wanting to go to the great sand dunes but this year has been so unseasonably hot for colorado that we’ve waited to go till later in the summer but god to know about the drive, then we can do it all in one big trip (; and it was *very* brisk at the top at alpine visitor center and the wind was absolutely unbelievable.. discouraged more walking around that we wanted to do, but fantastic all the same, and we have a pass so we’ll be going back later this summer….