A lovely mountain trip

On Sunday we were able to take a drive up to Rocky Mountain National Park. This park has become one of my favorite places on the planet over the last couple of years. It's just gorgeous. It was a picture perfect day for the trip, too. It was about 80 degrees in Denver, 76 in Estes Park, and as you drove up Trail Ridge Road further into the park, the temp dropped quickly to about 62. Just beautiful.

We packed a picnic supper. Stopped at a lakeside picnic area to eat and enjoy the beauty.

This was the lake we were beside. How awesome is this?

We pulled over at about the highest point in elevation that the road hits (the road can be seen in the bottom left-hand corner of the picture). Then we hiked up the mountain a few hundred more feet. I think being above the treeline in a place like this really does make you feel like your on top of the world.

All in all, we had a very leisurely road-trip up to the park (we were still driving our very nice new-model Chevy Impala rental car at the time, and that's a comfy ride). Then we poked around the park for a little bit, mostly making our way through it on Trail Ridge Road. As I said before, the weather was perfect. The scenery was breathtaking. Our picnic supper was tasty. At one point we pulled over and saw a huge elk with antlers the size of most mini vans about 25 yards away, which was beautiful. Then, a little bit further down the road, we pulled over because we saw... a MOOSE!!! First time either of us had seen one of those. It was awesome. Those things are stinkin' HUGE. He was probably about 40 yards away, but then he made his way toward the road until he was about 15 yards away. He seemed a little nervous about the people looking at him, so he decided not to cross the road right there (good thing for drivers -- if you hit a moose, your car and possibly your life are in real trouble!) and meandered back into the woods.

If you continue on Trail Ridge Road it'll lead you out of the park on the opposite side, so then we had a longer road-trip home, but it was a path through the mountains we'd never gone before, and as the sun fell low in the sky and the shadows lengthened we were able to take in even more mountain beauty! This was pretty much a last-minute trip idea because my wonderful baby brother let me know about free National Park weekend, but it was so relaxed and beautiful that it really refreshed us both. We felt like we'd taken a whole vacation, even though it was only about an 8-hour trip from start to finish!

RMNP

Wednesday afternoon we drove up to Rocky Mountain National Park, because a) National Parks are free this week (through Sunday, I think), b) that's the closest one to us, and c) it's one of the prettiest places I've ever been.

We had a really great hike, but we didn't get all the way to the summit of our trail because the trail became covered in snow as we went up in elevation, and we don't have the proper gear for hiking through deep snow. We also didn't continue along the trail because the forecast called for a lot of rain, and it looked like it was moving in pretty quickly. Fortunately for us, we made it back to the car, then we drove through the park for a ways and got to see some pretty views, and it wasn't until we were leaving the park that it began to rain.

Here are just a few of the photos from our hike and drive. In the third photo you can really see the darkening clouds start to swallow up the mountains. That was happening right before we made our way back down and out of the park.

First Anniversary!

Last weekend Elizabeth and I went away to Vail, Colorado, in celebration of our first anniversary. We had an awesome time.  Our hotel room was much more fantastic than either of us thought it would be, our hike up the mountain was littered with scenes of beauty, culminating in a super sweet water fall at the end, we took a gondola to the top of Vail Mountain to eat at a restaurant out on the deck overlooking some snow-capped mountains, and we walked around Vail Village to visit local shops and sample the tastiness at the farmer's market.  The whole time, our cell phones were off, and we were relaxed!

On the hike

The waterfall at the end.  We look a little awkward because

there was no one around to take our picture, so we had to prop

the camera up on some rocks, set the timer, take a guess as to

where we should stand, and take a few wobbly steps across

unstable stones to get into the picture before the timer went off.

On the gondola ride up the mountain for dinner.

I'm on... top of the world lookin' down on creation...

That's our 1-year anniversary cake.  It was gooooooooood.

Hiking

My wife's pretty cool.

Elizabeth and I have been hiking every chance we get, and since we're still pretty new to the area, we tend to choose different parks or different trails almost every time.  Today we were fortunate to have selected a rather magnificent little stretch, and had a fantastic hike.  Along the way, I came to a realization that's been months in the making.  While I tend to get most excited about grand scenic views and big-picture atmosphere of nature, Elizabeth is much more likely to enjoy the little detailed bits of creation.  I like getting to the top of a hill and looking out over the mountains and valleys and rivers and lakes.  I like trying to see how deep into the woods my eyes can look.  She gets a thrill when she spots colorful wildflowers, or when even the smallest of butterflies comes to rest alongside our path.  She pauses frequently to admire the budding pinecones on the trees, or to point out the goofy looking insect that she almost stepped on.  Hiking with Elizabeth is rather refreshing.  I think we both add a little something to the other's experience, and in turn, we each get a slightly fuller picture of our omnipotent creator.

(note: the late post is the result of me not being able to sleep, and my blog winning the debate between writing and reading yesterday's TIME magazine)