Today, we landed just after 8am local time in Denver after a nice flight. We rented a Chevy Impala with leather seats and XM satellite radio (both given to us at no extra cost), and drove to Estes Park. We checked into the Twin Owl Motor Lodge, then headed to Rocky Mountain National Park.
In Rocky Mountain National Park, we hiked around Bear Lake. While not a difficult hike and only 0.6 of a mile, we took it easy to make sure that the altitude didn’t get to us. The highlight of Bear Lake was seeing trout swim upstream on one of the creeks that feeds the lake. While hiking, we also found snow drifts to the side of the path. Pretty impressive, considering it was about 82 degrees.
 
From Bear Lake, we hiked a mile to Alberta Falls. The hike was up and down, but we crossed streams several times and saw many breathtaking views along the way. The hike was worth the view, and we were able to hike back to a shuttle stop going mostly down hill.
 
After Alberta Falls, we drove to Sprague Lake, which was the home of a resort from 1910 until 1940. We hiked the flat trail around this 13 acre lake, enjoying up close views of fish and a mother duck as we walked.
 
During our entire time in the park, we saw blue birds with black crowns (I’m not sure what they’re called) and also pika, a chipmunk-like rodent. As we were driving out of the park, we saw about ten cars stopped on the side of the road looking at something. We couldn’t see what it was, but we decided to stop. It turns out that three elk were laying in a meadow very close to the road. Easily worth the stop.
 
For dinner, we ate at a rooftop Mexican restaurant in Estes Park. The food was good, and the view even better. I ended the day with a dip in the hotel’s hot tub (the pool was too cold) while my parents shopped the boutiques in downtown Estes Park.
Tomorrow, we’re doing a five hour drive through Rocky Mountain National Park, which includes many famous sights and will take us above the tree line. After that, we’ll head for Glenwood.
As usual, click on any picture to enlarge.