We woke up after our last night in the tiny house and began packing up. We had planned to cook a breakfast of pancakes, but the kitchen was not well stocked even though there was plenty of room for everything we would need. We thought about asking for a skillet the night before, but we decided to just go out for breakfast since I had scoped out a great breakfast place in town before the trip and because we would need to buy our morning coffee somewhere anyway. We loaded everything up and punched in directions to the Barking Dog Café only to discover that it is permanently closed. We decided to go back to The Stone Cup, where we had found our coffee the day before.
A note about the people of Colorado: they are very into all things natural and earth-friendly. At dinner the night before, we asked for some sweet n low to go in our tea and the waitress didn't seem to have ever heard of this unnatural substance. She did finally say with confusion, "We have the pink packets?". Yes, dear, that's sweet n low. I'm sure if I'd asked for "organic stevia in the raw" it would have been produced without hesitation. At The Stone Cup, they do have disposable coffee cups and lids, but they are clearly labeled to be compostable and recyclable. The coffee stirrers are sticks of pasta, which worked really well actually. We ordered breakfast sandwiches for breakfast, but Caleb didn't eat much so we wanted to take it with us. I could see some to-go boxes behind the counter and asked an employee if we could get a box and gestured to the boxes I had seen. He was practically panicking at the thought of giving me one of the boxes and insisted he would bring me a small sheet of foil instead. It was barely enough to wrap up the sandwich, but we managed. I'm all about eating real food and being earth-friendly, but they seem to take it to a whole new level here.
On the agenda for the day was a lot of scenic driving. We began our drive towards Rocky Mountain National Park on the Peak to Peak Highway. This took us through the southeastern portion of the park through the Long's Peak section. Long's Peak is quite impressive at 14,259 ft above sea level.
We stopped in Estes Park to spend the kids' college funds on gas before continuing on to Trail Ridge Road. We planned to take this scenic drive all the way through the park today. And what a beautiful day it is!
Trail Ridge Road is a stunning scenic drive that takes you from Estes Park in the east to Grand Lake in the west. It is absolutely gorgeous at every point, but the main attraction is that it travels for several miles above the treeline into the Alpine Tundra. Because this area is usually covered with heavy snow, the road is only open a few months of the year in the summer.
A view of the winding Trail Ridge Road as it climbs higher into the Rocky Mountains.
It became colder and colder the higher we got. The kids didn't even want to get out of the car to see the beautiful scenic views. Caleb spent a portion of the drive completely covered in a blanket. He's missing some amazing things!
A good view of where the treeline ends and the tundra begins. Very little plant or animal life can survive in the harsh conditions of the tundra.
While there was quite a bit of traffic on this road today, we were amused by this traffic light. It was actually set up because of some construction, but we still found it very out of place at the top of the world.
We finally arrived at the Alpine Visitor Center and actually found a parking space. It was a busy place for such a remote location. Just the fact that we could even be here in the first place is impressive to me. The roads and trails that have been built to allow regular folks like us safe and easy access to such amazing places is humbling. I am thankful to the thousands of people who built these paths and the visionaries who made them happen.
The kids had completed their Junior Ranger booklets so they took them inside to turn them in.
The kids saying the Junior Ranger pledge.
Two new Rocky Mountain National Park junior rangers!
This was in the visitor center. Note the temperature: 45 degrees!
Despite the frigid temps and steady mountain wind, we took a hike even higher on the Alpine Ridge Trail.
It was another steep one, but only .3 miles this time.
This sign shows a picture of what this area looks like in winter. The entire visitor center can be covered completely with snow.
We made it to the summit! 12,005 feet above sea level.
We made our way back down and stopped at the large gift shop next to the visitor center. Morgan picked out a bag of polished stones and Caleb chose a shot glass.
When our shopping was complete and we had thawed out enough, we started our descent down the mountain. This portion of the road was much less crowded. I assume that if you are staying in Estes Park that you would only drive as far as the Alpine Visitor Center and then turn around. Since we are headed to Glenwood Springs, CO as our final destination of the day, we can follow the road all the way out the other side of the park. We stopped briefly at Medicine Bow Curve to get a look at Wyoming in the distance!
We really hoping to see a bear today on our way through the park, especially since we were in the car and not walking around! At one point, Rodney saw an animal in the distance and got really excited. He said "It's a bear! No, it's a moose! No, it's an elk!". It was indeed an elk so our bear sightings were still at zero. The kids really got a kick out of his excitement, though.
The next highlight was the Continental Divide. It was being overshadowed by several huge elk grazing at the lake next to the Continental Divide, though. They were large and impressive with big, furry antlers. We were able to get so close to these amazing creatures.
Selfie with an elk!
The Continental Divide at Milner Pass.
We found another beautiful spot for a picnic near the Colorado River.
We were sad to leave RMNP so soon. We could easily have spent our entire vacation here. Now I see why most of Texas migrates to Colorado every summer. Our scenic drives were not over for the day, though. One section of our trip was on a packed dirt road called Trough Road. It was surprisingly easy to travel and had a lot more traffic than I expected. The views did not disappoint either.
Caleb's souvenir at a scenic overlook.
At one point on the road, we spotted a sign telling us to watch for big horn sheep. We immediately started scanning the steep cliffs on either side of the road. I briefly saw 2 small mountain goats or some kind of similar creature scaling the cliffs. Unfortunately, it was at the worst possible moment. We were on a curve with oncoming traffic and steep cliffs on one side. We stopped at the nearby scenic overlook, but we couldn't see them from there.
Once we left Trough Road, we soon found ourselves on the interstate. It was around 4:00 by this time and the 75 mph speed limit was actually a welcome sight. After a long day of driving, we were ready to get to the hotel in Glenwood Springs. Then, with 10 miles to go, we run into a lot of traffic. We crept along for several miles, eventually going down to one lane and never seeing any reason for it. This delayed us for at least half an hour. If you have to get stuck in traffic, though, this was a beautiful place to be stuck. We will actually be back in this same canyon tomorrow for some white water rafting. We should be moving a little quicker for that!
We ended the day with swimming and ordering pizza at the hotel pool. Tomorrow we raft!
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