Click on a photo to enlarge it.
On Monday and Tuesday we worked on the computer and did the washing and cleaning and watched a film in the evening. On Wednesday we took Winnie in
for an oil change and drove along a very scenic route through snow-capped mountains and found a spot to stay on the side of the road, next to a
river.
On Thursday we drove along the I-70 interstate which takes you through a slot canyon. A super drive! We stopped at a scenic picnic area and then
continued east heading towards Rocky Mountains National Park and found a spot to stay just outside the park.
The campground cost $28 per night without any facilities which we thought was extortionate, but then this is one of the most visited National Parks
in the US.
On Friday we went into the park and stopped at a visitor centre to find out if the road through the park was open. There is still a lot of snow
around but the road was open for the moment.
Then we did a nice 7 mile walk on the western side of the park up to cascade falls. We met some american republicans who couldn't believe that when
we spend months in Mexico, that we actually eat the food!!! They weren't amused when Kirsten fired back that the fruit and veg in Mexico tastes a
lot better than in the US because it isn't genetically manipulated!
On Saturday, we drove through Rocky Mountains National Park. We did a total of 6 miles walking in Coyote Valley, and Lulu City. Fantastic scenery along
the park road. Winnie was mainly in first gear - the highest point on the road is 12,183 ft (3,713m) - but he managed, despite the lack of oxygen!
At Forest Canyon we watched Marmots fighting and chasing each other and, of course there were lots of photo stops on the way over to the eastern
side of the park. There were huge banks of snow on the side of the road which was closed the next day due to snow!
We drove down into Estes Park which is a quaint tourist town and packed with Memorial day tourists. The campgrounds were all full, both in the park
and in Estes but because of the prices we weren't going to stay there anyway.
We hunted around for a place to stop but there were "No overnight parking" signs everywhere. Eventually we found a place a bit further out of the
town next to a river. We made tomato soup with garlic bread and were doing the washing up when there was a knock at the door.
It was already dark outside and were surprised to see a lady outside who told us we would get a ticket of we stayed here for the night. Her name is
Judy and she works on the water supplies for the park and she invited us to stay on her grounds for the night. She said we could park here for as
long as we want!
It was really nice of her to pull over and warn us about the city regulations and let us park by her house. We were very grateful.
On Sunday, we left a thank you note for Judy because we didn't know if we would be returning, gave her a copy of our website on CD. Then we drove
back into the park and went to a visitor centre and watched the video about the park.
As we drove further into the park we hit huge parking problems and traffic jams. It's a bank holiday weekend and because Americans only get two
weeks holiday a year, the park was jam-packed full!
We had to change our plans and managed to find a parking spot miles away from where we had originally intended. We had some lunch and then walked
4 miles up, up and further up, to Bierstadt Lake.
Then we did a short walk towards Cub Lake but had to turn around as it started raining and we could see a storm coming through. We saw a rainbow
and lots of elk, we even had to stop on the road on the way out - elk crossing! Then we drove back to Judy's for the night.
