Sightseeing
This past weekend, I had the great pleasure of being able to host a dear friend from St. Louis. We only had two days, so we had to make the most of it! She was not a stranger to the Rocky Mountains, she had been here before several times with her husband and kids, but that didn’t matter. I am now a local. I can see things (and explain things) differently.
We ended up with a perfectly gorgeous day in the mountains, which is rather rare here. You never know what the weather in the mountains is going to do, and it is not unusual this time of year to have afternoon thunderstorms. But we headed up early, to beat traffic and road closures (one road of the park is undergoing extensive restructuring) and got in the park before 9 a.m. We headed straight up Trail Ridge Road, vowing to get to the continental divide. Before going a half a mile into the park we saw deer and wild turkey. Later we would see marmots, elk, and chipmunks. We stopped often to take pictures, and ate lunch at one of the highest points we reached. We visited the gift shop at 11,700 feet. We saw snow, and green grass, and colorful wildflowers. The vegetation above the tree line has only 2 or 3 months to complete its life cycle, so it is in a big hurry to do so.
I’m including some pictures below. Many more will be shared in the next two weeks on the 365-Degree Blog. Make sure you check it out!
The view from 10,000 feet, looking eastward.
Tater looking contemplative.
Yellow wild flowers.
Me in front of the Trail Ridge Road store sign.
Me on the hiking trail.
My camera even on sport setting isn’t quite fast enough to catch this guy…but it’s a decent picture anyway!
