Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Trail Ridge Road in RMNP

After exploring downtown Estes Park and a round of mini golf (tied game), we drove Trail Ridge Road (48 miles) to Granby and back to I-70.  What a lovely paved, wide road with many beautiful vistas!  At one of the pull-outs, we saw approximately 24 elk right by the side of the road. 


A little down the road, Emil spotted about 80 elk high up on a mountain.  It was an impressive herd as they trotted over to a shady grove of trees.  Here are other pictures of some vistas:



As we drove up a particular long hill, we passed two road bikers.  They pulled in to the 12,000 foot high scenic viewpoint at the same time we did, so Emil went over and offered them water and energy bars.  They rode 25 miles and climbed 4,800 feet before turning around.  We should've given them a gold medal.  Seriously.

Bud from Arizona
We drove by my old stompin' grounds, Georgetown, Colorado - population 1,000.  A few new places have popped up since I left there in 1995.  The Red Ram Restaurant where I worked is now closed.  What a bummer!  It was used in filming the movie, "Switchback" with Danny Glover, Dennis Quaid and Jared Leto.  I had the opportunity to meet Danny, and he was super friendly and talkative.

It was difficult to find a campground on I-70 past the Eisenhower Tunnel, so we had to hotel it last night...we were tired, hungry, and grumpy.  If you're counting, that's two hotel nights since June 20th.  Not too bad, huh?  We vowed to stick it out the rest of the summer adventure, which will end in just a few days.  Now, we're in Moab, where it's 98 degrees.  But, it's a dry heat.  Huh huh huh.

A few pics from our drive in this afternoon:




In Fruita, we stopped at The Hot Tomato Cafe and Pizzeria for lunch.  Emil ate there before on one of his guided bike trips with Western Spirit.  Delish pizza with fresh peaches, gorganzola cheese, mozzarella cheese, canadian bacon and rosemary. 


Now, we must leave the air conditioned library and look for a shady campground.  We plan to ride a two mile loop at Slickrock tonight, ride tomorrow morning on an easy trail overlooking the Arches National Park, and drive into the Park after lunch.  Bike riding, hot weather, and a cute town.  Perfect!

1 comment:

  1. These are some beautiful picture! Hubby and I are planning a fun multi-month trip hiking and backpacking and biking through Europe. Hope to see you at Friday's knitting group!

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