"Home" to Estes Park

The Olympia Motor Lodge is a very nice place to stay. The owners are such nice people, the rooms are spacious and clean, the pool and hot tub are always enjoyable after a day's ride, and a continental breakfast is provided. But this morning we are ready to head north and east to Estes Park.

Our first stop was in Grand Lake to sit on a bench to watch the vacationers stroll by, buy a cup of coffee (not me), buy a t-shirt or two, and just soak up the atmosphere of this old mountain town. The sidewalks are actually boardwalks rather than concrete. The overhangs remind you of scenes from old western movies. Also, in the city park, there is a lovely gazebo, and it all sits around the shore of a beautiful lake. We didn't take the boat tour of the lake this time, but don't pass up this experience if you ever have the chance.

Bill & John in front of the gazebo

Becky, Bill and John visiting on the boardwalk

From Grand Lake we entered Rocky Mountain National Park and headed for the 12,000 ft. altitude where the visitors' center is located. The parking lot was full of buses, cars, trucks, RVs, and motorcycles. It was a good thing we didn't need two spaces! The views from here are great, but we headed for the new cafe where the only thing I wanted was their delicious hot chocolate. The whipped cream on the top makes the already good drink the absolutely best, smoothest hot chocolate I've ever had--including that from Starbuck's!

We had noticed trees and whole hillsides looking like this before we got to Winter Park as well as in that town. Our friends, Terry and Donna, told us that they are being killed by an infestation of the western pine beetle. How sad to see so many dead or dying trees!

There were still plenty of snowbanks to observe from the visitors' center. Such a beautiful day!

The ride on down to Estes Park was gorgeous, and we had plenty of time to look all around and enjoy the scenery. Some driver was either taking time to enjoy every rock and tree, or was too afraid to drive even the posted speed. By the time we reached the exit, we had about 15 of us following him/her. We were glad to see that there were hardly any dead trees on this side of the Park. I talked to a park ranger about it who told me, "Not yet." He said that this is a fungus carried by the beetles. The fungus kills the trees; furthermore, the infestation reaches all the way into Canada. There is no effective remedy. The only bright spot is that the beetles attack only lodgepole pines.

These elk were sure stopping traffic while people shot pictures.

John and Becky riding through Rock Cut on TRR

A beautiful scene from TRR

Before heading to the condo to unpack, we grabbed a late lunch at Ed's Cantina. John and Becky did a bit of shopping while Bill and I hurried up to the house to open up, light the water heater, turn on the water and unload. It's great to be "home"!