Day 1: (June 9th):
My first flight. I only slept two hours Friday night in anticipation for this flight. I was both nervous and excited for this new experience. Since it was my first flight I had, had silly airplane nightmares leading up to this point. Airplane dreams that weren't even scary just funny. I'm going to do a whole video on my misconceptions of flying in a later post. The problem with taking pictures in Colorado was that you would look at the picture you took, and back at the scenery and the photos would never come close to the beauty in the actual landscape. Same with the pictures I took out the window of the airplane.
We flew into Denver early Saturday morning, getting there at about 7am. We left Milwaukee around 5am. We first went to a car rental place, then to breakfast. (The car that we rented was big but had no storage space. We had to put down the row of backseats to place the bags in. The remaining row, had a spot for the middle but it wasn't comfortable.)
For breakfast we just went to Einsteins. I got a bagel with salmon dip spread, and a caramel latte or maybe it was a mocha. :p There were a ton of dogs walking the streets of Denver, same with Estes Park, it was awesome.
After breakfast we traveled to Red Rocks Ampitheatre. It turns out a ton of bands have actually played here, although it seems barely anyone has heard of it. Bands including all the rock'n'roll bands you can probably think of including: The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and Lynyrd Skynard. Besides for the beauty of the ampitheatre, there was a little museum about the ampitheatres history along with list of all the bands who had ever played there. It was like going to a Hard Rock Café. Since it was morning, a lot of people were just exercising. The stairs were really steep. So strange. :)
After our trip to Red Rock we stopped in Boulder. It was a pretty hot day, so there wasn't much to be done, but we did get to look at a Farmer's Market, and see a street performer while sitting in the shade. The street performer was pretty strange, but entertaining to watch. In his show he juggled fire and escaped from a straight jacket, all the while making uncomfortable/corny jokes. They also had a Lush store in boulder so I went in there to smell all the things, and had the smoothest hands afterwards.
When we finally made it to Estes Park we walked the Riverwalk. that goes right behind some little shops and restaurants in Estes Park. There are a lot of the same shops and restaurants that have been there for many years now, even though Estes Park has become a bigger tourist attraction now. We noticed in our time in Colorado, that a lot of people were actually from Wisconsin or somewhere in the Midwest. We even met a couple who said their daughter lived in Jackson. This is where my sister in law is from and a 15 minute drive from my hometown. We then went to the local grocery store for some food for the week and dinner. We couldn't check in until 4pm to our cabin, so we had to kill time. Once we got to the cabin, I passed out on a bed. The cabin we were staying in used to be a music hall, where people would hang out and watch performers. Our cabin came with an outdoor hot tub as well.
Here is a picture of one side of our cabin, this cabin had multiple rooms, and tons of seating/places to sleep. I think we may of had ice cream back in Estes Park to finish off the day. I got Peanut Butter Oreo ice cream.
Day 2: (June 10th): Today was our first full day being in Estes Park. To start out the day we visited Sprague Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park. The Park has gotten a lot more popular since we were there last, so it was hard to find a parking spot. For the more popular trails you needed to get a spot in the shuttle parking lot by 8:30ish if you wanted any chance of getting to the trails. Sprague Lake is a small path you can take around a lake, with the mountains in the background. It was really windy on this day. Here's a picture of proof of the wind. :P
Next we drove on Trail Ridge Road. Trail Ridge Road is a road you can take up a mountain, to a visitor's center near the top. You have to be really confident in your driving, driving on this road, as you could probably pretty easy drive off the mountain.
It was really windy at the top of the visitor's center as well, and none of us were dressed for how cold it was up there so we ran into the visitors center. After our time at the visitor's center which has a cool gift shop, we drove back down the mountain and had lunch at a place in town called Mama Rose's. Mama Roses is an Italian Restaurant. I ordered the meatball sub. We sat in the outside seating which was right on the riverwalk, so we could see dogs walking by.
We then went back to the cabin to rest, then went out mini-golfing later. I came in 3rd out of 5 people. Which I think was good. This mini-golf course has been around since my brother and I were kids, it's still pretty cheap too. Mom, won a free game. After that we went and got ice cream for dinner. I got Nutella ice cream. My favorite. When we got back to the cabin, we utilized the outdoor hot tub. While hot tubbing, a deer walked by.
Day 3: (June 11th): Today was the day of the biggest hike, which was to Emerald Lake (10,110ft above sea level). Every time I do this hike, I wonder if I'll make it the whole way up. I always do, so does my mom, even with MS. While going up one of the steep parts in the beginning it felt like there was rocks in my lungs. One year I did this hike with a bad cold, so I knew if I could do that, I could do this too. Near the top of the trail was another elk. At the top it was windy, so we didn't stay too long. We went down a small bit and ate snacks. While eating these snacks a couple of chipmunks visited us. These chipmunks were pretty brave. In years past, the chipmunks have come up to us and looked in our hands for snacks, but this year they were actually crawling on our legs. They were so soft and cute. An older man hiking down the mountain warned us, not to let the chipmunks crawl on us, because they had fleas carrying the plague? Besides being at the top of the mountain, the best feeling is walking down the mountain path. You get a second wind of energy, and most of the path is downhill. However, by this point you have noodle legs, so you have to be careful. To do this hike we left the cabin at around 8:30am I believe.
Later in the evening around dusk we drove around Rocky Mountain National Park and saw a couple of elk. One had an injured leg, and it looked like his friends were coming to help him. One crossed the road right in front of a car.
We all used the hot tub that night for our sore legs. :)
Day 4 (June 12th): Souvenir shopping day. We all were too sore to do another hike, so we decided to look at most of the shops in downtown Estes, and got some cool Rocky Mountain National Park/Colorado merch. Before we did this however, we got breakfast. We went to a local bar for appetizers for lunch. I remember my hips hurting a lot, it was actually difficult for me to do all the shops, but I did it. We checked out the tram as well, but there was a long line, so we decided to go the next day.
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Day 5 (June 13th): Today was another early day. Today we did a hike up to Alberta Falls. This hike was a short, easy 20min hike. I remember it being longer. We checked out the falls, then ate snacks while sitting on boulders.
After Alberta Falls we returned to the Tram place. This time there wasn't a long line, so we were able to go up fairly quickly. The tram takes you to the top of Mount Prospect. Mount Prospect is known for having a lot of chipmunks, so at the top of the mountain they actually sell peanuts to feed to them. We brought up trail mix. Unfortunately these chipmunks weren't as brave. You had to throw the peanuts in their direction, then they'd eat it. In years past they would come up to you and look in your hands. From the top of the mountain, you have a great view of Estes Park. Domino's was ordered for lunch afterwards. That evening we went mini-golfing again, so we could use the free game my mom had won. This time I did worse, and took 4th place.
Day 6: (June 14th): (Last full day in Estes Park). On this day we got breakfast in town, then we went to the Stanley Hotel for a tour. It was pretty neat and we had an eccentric tour guide. No spirits followed us home that we know of. If you didn't know, The Stanley is where Stephen King stayed and got inspiration for his book, "The Shining."
For dinner that night we went to an American burger restaurant. After dinner we went into Rocky Mountain National Park to the sight of a flood in the 80's. At the place of the flood there is a lot of boulders and a waterfall.
We also visited a Tiki Bar in town as a final celebration of being in Estes Park. I had a Mango Colada which was super tasty. I'm pretty sure the bartender thought I was just waiting with my family as they ordered drinks. She seemed kind of surprised when I started ordering. They carded me, but they didn't card my brother or sister in law who are only 3 years older than me. It's not fun looking like a high schooler. At night we took one last dip in the hot tub.
June 15th (Day 7): Our flight back to Milwaukee wasn't until around 8:30 p.m, so we had most of the day to spend in Colorado. We left Estes Park, and drove through a canyon. At the other side of a canyon there's a famous store, known for being by a dam site. There they sold a lot of sasquatch collectibles. My favorite, it may have been a T-shirt said (It's okay Big Foot doesn't believe in you either.) Of course before leaving we had to take a picture with our Sasquatch brethren.
Next, around lunch time we stopped at Sonics. As kids my brother and I went to the same Sonic twice before for lemon slushes. We only had ever been this specific Sonic, so we had to visit once again. This time I got a chocolate/oreo shake.
We wanted to spend some time in Denver, but the traffic was horrific, so we had to think of a different plan. So instead we went to lookout mountain. Another road up a smaller mountain/more like hill. It was also the place of Buffalo Bill's grave, which we also checked out. Lookout mountain overlooks Golden,Colorado. We got dinner at a Moose themed restaurant near Denver. Then headed to the airport. At the end of the airplane ride we experienced turbulence. They shut down the Milwaukee airport because of a storm, so we had to circle around Dubuque. After awhile our pilot decided to fly into Milwaukee. I guess most. if not all the airplanes flew into the Chicago airport instead, so we got lucky. We got home around 2am.
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