Rocky Mountain National Park

We only have a few more days here at our premium site at the Elks Lodge. It will be sad to leave our new found friends but it is time to move on. We have had such a wonderful visit. We have been busy, but we have spread out all the great things to do over a three week long visit. Now we are rushing to get the last few things in. Rocky Mountain National Park is free those with an access pass. You just need to get a Senior Pass and use it. We have saved lots of money this trip staying in Corp of Engineer sites for half price and going to the National Parks using our pass. We left early to go to the park.But by the time we found all our gear, packed a picnic lunch and filled up the truck it was midmorning. We decided to go to the park through Estes Park and come back through Grand Lake....about a 200 mi trip when you add the trip back to the "premium site". Our first stop was an overlook, but the trees had grown so high you could barely see. We did see one of the "fourteeners" We stopped for our picnic right before we got into the park thinking that it would be crowded in the park. We stopped at the Alpine Village at the top most part of our trip. the ranger there said they get over 250 inches of snow in the winter and that it takes over six weeks to dig out the village. The wind speed there can get as high as 150 mph and blow continuously in the winter. The logs on the roof are to hold the roof down during a wind storm. That would be something to see......Other than that he was definitely not one of the friendlier rangers. These people apparently never saw what was behind them. I took so many pictures but as I look at them they all are the same...mountains and valleys. When reading someone's blog one mountain looks like all mountains, but there was one that startled us. Does this look like an old man to you? Maybe someone of George Washington's era? As we headed out the other side of the park I wondered if we would ever see animals. Mr.Unfriendly Ranger certainly was no help.But being the experienced lookers that we are we know if there are cars on the side of the road for no apparent reason, there must be animals. Sure enough, up close and person I present Mr. I am eating don't bother me.... and his friend, Mr. Bashful. Later in our trip we saw herds of elk and a few moose. But the most amazing thing was this "Premium Campground".I think the guy in the background was not so pleased with his visitors. Driving home we took another winding road. This is my favorite sign....

Things I learned today:

1.Water is at such a premium here that Colorado has an entirely separate judicial system just to judge water rights. 2. It rains to the East. It rains to the South. It rains to the North and to the West, but rain does not fall in Westminster at the Elks Lodge. 3. There is such a thing as dry lightening. And a dry rain----rain that evaporates before it hits the ground. 4. In Minnesota stop lights are called "Stop and go lights".