BEST DAY EVER!

Ok. Today was a great day. We saw alot of cool stuff today.

7AM breakfast at "The Egg & I" in Estes Park...yummy omelets and such.
8AM hiking to Alberta Falls in RMNP
10AM back to Estes Park for souvenirs and lunch
1PM drive over trail ridge road toward Grand Lake
3PM drive the "Colorado River Headwaters Scenic Byway" toward Edwards, Co
6PM arrive in Edwards to stay at the Lodge and Spa at Cordillera where we ordered room service and soaked in the outdoor hottub


wheww!! what a day! and these are the highlights......


Entrance into RMNP. I think this is Long's Peak, which is over 14,000 feet above sea level.
As we were driving into the park, we almost hit this elk. It was crossing the road. Why? I don't know but I'm sure there's a joke about it.
A mountain stream beside the road to the Glacier Gorge Trailhead. Matt and I wanted to take three hikes this morning but we only got to one before we had to head out. We kept stopping to gawk at the scenary so it slowed us down a bit....but totally worth it.

Action shot! It was very cold this morning. My hands were so frozen that I could hardly hold the camera, so Matt took over. I was so afraid I was going to drop it and owe my sister like 2000 dollars.

I set up the tripod and ran across the road with the timer on....I think it turned out pretty cute. If I get injured on this trip it will most likely be running to get in a picture while the camera is on timer mode!
This is at the start of our hike to Alberta falls. Not a long or particularly difficult trail but at this elevation, we were sucking wind regardless. We talked on the way about how our dads would be leaving us in the dust!

Matt loves these mountain streams. We've almost filled up a 4Gig memory stick on mountain streams alone.
A look up from the ground. All the yellow trees you see in the pictures are Aspens. They are unbelievably beautiful.

This trail was very nice and well maintained. We had it pretty much to ourselves this time of year.


Another action shot carrying the trusty tripod. That thing rocks and is super light.
Ahhhh! Alberta Falls.

Matt got this shot of a squirrel guarding his nut. Very cute little critter...too bad he's probably rabid!

View from the top of Alberta Falls


Ok, this is the start of Trail Ridge Road. This road goes over the rocky mountains and tops out at elevations of over 12000 feet.
Another good tripod shot where I almost broke a leg trying to get in the picture. I'm also pretty sure we were breaking the law by standing on the "fragile mountain tundra" but we tried to be very careful. This is above treeline where the weather is so harsh no self respecting tree will grow.

The snow never melts up here.
This is called "Huffers Hill" because you pretty much need an oxygen tank to make it to the top.
A pretty alpine lake I think was called Lake Irene.
This is Grand Lake on the other side of Trail Ridge Road. This would be a great place to spend a week or two in the summer time.
Well that's the highlights of the day. Hope you enjoy!