Rocky Mountain National Park

Beautiful! Breathtaking! Awesome! That's the mountains of Colorado and Rocky Mountain National Park! Vacation was great and way too short! I hope that next year our whole family can go and enjoy the wonders of the Rockies! This is my reflection picture of Lily Lake taken on one of our morning walks. Isn't it beautiful?

We left Friday, June 30th around 9:30 a.m. from Dubuque. We stopped at my daughter's in Ankney for lunch. She made us a great lunch of hamburgers and pork chops on the grill, salad and corn on the cob. It was great! Thanks Barbie!

We drove as far as Kearney, Nebraska on Friday. Had a great supper at a place called "Whiskey Creek" and got an early start the next morning for our destination of Estes Park, Colorado. Got into Estes around 2:30 p.m. (our time -- we lost an hour in the mountain time zone). Couldn't believe the streets of Estes -- it took forever just to go 3 or 4 blocks and get to our cabin. The cabin hasn't changed a bit. It's still as charming as ever and a great home away from home!!

Marilyn wasn't feeling very well the first couple of days and we all worried about her. She finally felt like herself on Tuesday and even better on Wednesday. Glee, Darlene and I headed out to Alliuval Fan on Sunday morning. That would be me at the Fan! It's so beautiful. As usual I took scads of pictures. Tried real hard to take a lot of people pictures and not just scenery pics.

Fourth of July was extremely busy where ever we went. We went into the Park early afternoon with the hopes of walking the Sprague Lake trail but couldn't find a parking place so did a "drive thru" and headed back home. We eventually made it to Sprague and did our walk around the lake. As usual, it's a beautiful place.

We did some shopping on Wednesday. We barely got everybody and everything back in the car on Saturday morning for our trip home. I brought back some beautiful Christmas ornaments that I got at the Spruce House. I got the usual Colorado shirts and even found a fleece! We had a lot of fun shopping, but boy was I tired when we got home.

We made our meals at the cabin and also did some out. We had supper at Marys Lake Lodge, Hunter's Chop House and Dunraven. Took a walk around Lily Lake one morning and then came back into town and had breakfast at the "Egg and I." While shopping we had lunch at Poppy's. All were very good. Expensive, but very good! Next trip I hope to get to a couple of Italian places. I'm already planning on a return trip!!!

Everything was so beautiful. We really had a great time! On the trail to Alberta Falls a nice lady offered to take all of us in a picture and here we are. Isn't that a huge rock? Lots of them all over the mountains! That would be Darlene, me, Glee and Marilyn. More pictures at a later time.

We got back to Dubuque aroun 10:30 p.m. on Saturday. It was a long day as we left Estes Park at 6:00 that morning. I got my stuff all unpacked and my suitcase put away but all my goodies are still sitting on my kitchen table. Had a wonderful surprise when my son came to stay overnight on Saturday. He and Mandy found me a turntable for my stereo unit. Jim got it going but it needs an amplifier so that will be a project the next trip 'home.' We had to create another shelf for my stereo unit and Jim took care of that too. Nothing fancy but it loosk nice. It was great having him here for a while. Sounds like he may be back on the 22nd and my daughter will be coming home for a family reunion on the 28th. I love having my children home with me. It's great!!!

Well, the clock says it's 10:00 p.m. but my body thinks it's about midnight -- must be on mountain time yet. Vacation was great and I hated leaving the mountains! I'll add some more pictures later. Best go do a little folding of laundry before I call it a day.

Hope everyone is having a good week. Take care.