Western Trip #2 Day3: Boulder, Estes Park, and Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado-July 10, 2019

Today is a day of familiar territory for me. On our 2012 trip to Colorado, I got to spend my birthday crossing Rocky Mountain National Park from Estes Park to Winter Park. However, my husband K did all the driving that trip, because Hertz wanted to charge to have a second driver and that would have been too expensive. (On this trip, my daughter J is my back-up driver for free, because Hertz has that as a deal through AAA.) Since we are heading north anyway, I wanted to give her a chance to see that wonderful park.
We got up at 7 am and went to breakfast at 7:35. They had pre-made omelets, which were okay.

Before we left at 8:37, we looked up over the hotel for one last look at Pikes Peak. It still wasn't very purple, but the sight reminded me of the one that I'd had from our hotel 12 years ago. However, I hadn't known that that was Pikes Peak at the time. It was only when I was googling later to be able to identify my photo, that I found out that I'd gotten to see the mountain that we hadn't been able to ascend.
The odometer read 41692 and it was 68 degrees and clear. That makes for good driving weather. We reached Denver around 9:46 and it was very slow driving through there. I was glad I didn't have to drive into town.
At 10:17 (41782) we got a glimpse of hazy mountains. I do love mountains, hazy or otherwise. We soon got off the highway and drove through some fields and housing developments. At 10:38 (41797), we pulled into Celestial Seasonings. The outside of the building had  cool windows based on herbal tea boxes. The 11 o'clock tour was already full, so we were given the portion of tea boxes that meant we were on the 11:30 tour. It's free, so you can't really complain about waiting. J is a real tea lover and her dad and I have iced tea every night with dinner. Celestial Seasonings is among the teas we use to brew it.

 

Before roaming around the tasting room trying cold and hot teas and enjoying the tea art, we went to the restroom. As I waited, a woman came out of a stall wearing the exact same shirt I was. She did a double take and I said, "Kohl's!" and she agreed. She told me about being somewhere else and having the same thing happen.
After trying the pre-made teas, J and I decided to try a few steeped teas. She liked Fireside Vanilla Spice best, but I really liked Cinnamon and Cardamom. That could have been because I was on a big cardamom kick this past Christmas and made several cookies that featured that spice. I thought it was truly cool that we were there as they celebrated 50 years. K introduced to me almost 40 years ago.

We still had time before our tour, so we went across to the shop. Even though it seemed crazy, we did buy some tea, because we thought we might not find those flavors at home. They had some terrific earrings that will be perfect on my small Christmas tree. I don't have pierced ears, but I do like to look at earrings on trips for just this purpose. I got K a teakettle shaped teabag holder that had a poppy in the center. He's taken that flower to heart, since learning of its WW I meaning. I also found postcards and a few other items. I took our purchases out to the car and hurried back in for the tour.
They don't let you take photos on the tour, which is unfortunate.You put on hairnets and disposable booties on your feet.  Seven years ago, we were here on a Saturday, so the production lines were down. But, today, they were up and running and we got to watch them boxing and packing boxes for shipment. They still give you a chance to see if you can handle the Mint Room and I still can. It is a powerful smell!
When we left at 12:07 it was 76 degrees. We could have eaten at Celestial Seasonings, but we had a destination in mind. I'd read about a restaurant in The Week a while back and told J to put it on the spreadsheet of our plans for this trip. Now, she used Google Maps to get us to Blackbelly, a market, butcher shop and restaurant in East Boulder. We arrived at 12:20 (41802) and I had no trouble finding a parking spot. I did wish that I had a sunshade for the car, though.
We went into the section that is a deli/ butcher shop. We looked over the menu before going individually to the counter to order. We both wound up getting the Blackened Roast Beef Sandwich for $12, that had Tillamook Cheese (from Oregon-visited that factory in 2016), caramelized onions, and horseradish, and came with a kosher dill pickle, naturally. J took advantage of their big jug of water to get her drink, but I needed my Coke Zero, even if it was $2. Taxes took my bill to $15.24, but I didn't mind, because that sandwich was fantastic! The meat was so tender and lean. So glad I saw that item in the magazine!

We left at 1:02 and drove across the street to the Shell station. My grocery card is linked to the Shell rewards card, so I saved 15 cents a gallon. Hurrah. The car took 9.003 gallons @$2.649 for a total of $23.85. We were on the road again at 1:13. Soon, we could look to the right and see how flat eastern Colorado is. It seemed we could almost see to Kansas.
It only took us fourteen minutes to get to the road that lead to Estes Park and it was now 82 degrees.I have to admit that I didn't recognize a lot of the road. In all likelihood, I was sleeping at this point on our previous trip. J did a good job of finding good radio stations for us to listen to as we cruised along.
At 2:07 (41838), I pulled in to the very crowded, large pull-out that I remembered from the previous trip- the Estes Park overlook. The view here was great and it was a good place for a selfie, which lots of folks were doing in front of the stone sign. You just had to wait your turn. The plainer road photo shows where we'd come from; the other shows where we were going. It really was a thrill to see those mountains in the distance.

At 2:17, we got back on the road. It wasn't long before we could see the city proper and its lake. The last trip, my husband K indulged me and we had gone to a needlework shop. J had looked online and found it, but it had moved more into town. It was just off a busy intersection and I really had a tough time finding a parking space. We wound up on a nearby street at 2:28 ( 41841) and found the temperature here was 76 degrees. We walked uphill, past an ice cream shop, looking for the Stitchin' Den. Then, I discovered to my horror, that it was above us. We were going to have to climb up a couple of flights of stairs to reach the shop. My knees were not going to like this.
The shop had expanded and now had a quilting section. They'd experienced a flood, but I wasn't totally sure where that occurred. They were still trying to sort out material for the extra space for the quilt shop. The store, was not all one level. Of course. But, I made my way around and both J and I found some things to buy, as well as a small restroom. The ladies were quite friendly and invited us to some stitching events they had. However, we had to turn them down due to living on the East Coast.
We climbed back down the stairs and went back downhill to the car. We found out that it was now 80 degrees at 3:09. That's quite a jump! As I drove up to the intersection, I was amazed to see a lot of people crossing the street and going into shops. As we drove through town, we found plenty of things to distract tourists from the wonders right on the town's doorstep.
Those did not tempt us. I soon pulled over to the side of the road to take the establishing shot of the Rocky Mountain National Park sign.

I parked at the recently repaved Beaver Meadows Visitor Center at 3:16 (41844). There were quite a few cars. Inside, J went to find out about going down to Bear Lake, where we'd thought that we might hike a bit. I went into the rather warm shop to get a sticker and  cards and to get my National Park Passport stamped. The line to the check-out was surprisingly long. By the time J found some things she wanted, the line was even longer. I went off to look at a few exhibits and find the restroom.
It looked like Bear Lake was not a good idea. They weren't even sure if there were open spaces in the parking lot and we didn't want to waste time on a tram. I wanted to get J up to the snowfields and I wasn't planning to cross the entire park, especially this late in the day. I expected to run into a fair amount of traffic up on Trail Ridge Road, based on Bear Lake. Before we left, we took some photos around the visitor center.  I got a neat one of Longs Peak, as well as one of a wild rose.

We left the visitor center, which isn't really inside the park, since the ranger station and gates are after it, at 3:54. As I approached the ranger station, I saw a sign that indicated people with passes should be in the far right lane. This was what I'd been looking forward to. Right after we returned from Scotland, I'd driven out to Merritt Island to get my Senior Pass, as I'd turned 62 on the trip. I paid my $80 and got my pass and a hanger to put it in to leave it hanging in the car. This pass will get me into every national park for the rest of my life. Here, there was a reader to stick it in. I noticed the ranger over in the booth watching. I cannot tell you how stupid excited I was when the gate went up. It may seem like a little thing to you, but I'd looked forward to getting and using that pass for a long time. At 3:58, when we went through the gate, it was 77 degrees. The photo is what we saw just before we got to the gates.

 At the turnoff for the Upper Beaver Meadows Trail, we pulled over for a few photos. It was so pretty here and the sky was really beautiful.

After the intersection, where the road to Fall River Visitor Center went to the right, we pulled over to get some shots of flowers. Some of the flowers, including the Indian paintbrush, were taken by J as I slowly drove past them. Such lovely wildflowers!

 We pulled out repeatedly, when we saw places where we could and shots that we wanted. Look how fabulous the snow looks up there and how summery the meadow is.

 At the first big hairpin turn is Hidden Valley, and, at 4:21, it was down to 70 degrees, even though this was a relatively flat area. Here I got a shot of beargrass. There were so many of them here.

The traffic wasn't bad at all. Sometimes, there were just a couple of cars nearby, in fact.
What else do you pull over to take a photo of? Vistas, lots of vistas. Oh, and if you are lucky, a waterfall. We didn't always write down all the places we stopped, even when they had names. I don't know if that is unfortunate or not. If I didn't use my phone, there was no way to know for sure where we were, and at times, even the phone didn't know.

 

I was not seeing the place, where we'd been able to go out on the snow in 2012. The drive was not bothering me, probably because I drove up Pikes Peak yesterday. The traffic was getting to be less and less and I kept driving, just enjoying the view.
One place we did stop was Forest Canyon at 4:44 (41860). Here, we were at 11,716  feet, which is an Alpine ecosystem, so the jackets went on before we got out of the car to walk down the path. There were a lot of people here. Some, stupidly walked on the tundra, even though signs told you not to. (Yes, we were above the treeline here and there was short grass, little flowers and lichen.) A couple of guys even crossed the road to walk on the hill on the other side. Had they been closer, I would have said something.
Anyway, the overlook here has absolutely fabulous views. If one reads the signs, one can identify the opposite peaks and the various geological features. We believe in signs and reading them. Thanks to reading a sign, we could identify the little varmints running around as marmots. The one kept sitting at the canyon's edge just surveying his domain. The word breathtaking comes to mind here and it is not just the altitude!

We were now past the crease on the map, which meant we were closer to the Alpine Visitor Center on the other side of the park than not. So, when we got back on the road at 5:11, we continued our westward direction. I was really glad that J was enjoying the park, too.
It was 5:24 (41864), when we'd gone through a couple of hairpins that I could have done without, that we reached Lava Cliffs. The elevation here was 12,080 feet and it was a nippy 60 degrees. They really were cliffs of lava formed by volcanic rifts. A sign explained that 28 million years ago, volcanic vents in the Never Summer Mountains, which are 12 miles west of this point, got clogged with thick, gooey lava. When they erupted, it didn't all flow as liquid. Some exploded out as a fast-moving avalanche of molten rock and gas. Where it stopped, the flow fused itself into a solid mass- the Lava Cliffs. Some of the cliffs are snow-covered, while others are not. The snow was so close, but not close enough to touch.

I happened to look east, as I went back to the car, and saw this lovely scene with the moon. The poles, by the way, are guides for the snowplows.

Soon, we passed over the highest point on the Trail Ridge Road-12,183 feet. That's just a seriously cool thing to think about.
When we reached the Alpine Visitor Center at 5:34 (41866), it was closed, but its shop would be open until 6, as the man inside repeatedly told everyone. We did look around the shop, but nothing really struck us. After using the more rustic restrooms than previous ones, we spent some time taking photos here at 11,796 feet. It was beautiful. Based on the heavy beams on top of the roof of the visitor center, this must get a lot of snow in winter. There was water spreading across the rather full parking lot from the snow piles. Here,we got to touch snow.

 

By the time we turned back eastward at 5:59, it was 63 degrees and the parking lot had really thinned out. Just a mile down the road, we saw a mama and baby deer walking down the mountainside. I slowed down, so that J could take photos. Luckily, my zoom was terrific for really seeing them. (The haze was due to fires northwest of us that were started by lightning on June 18 and were still burning.)

Moments later, we saw some people walking along the side of the road, which seemed none too safe. Then we saw why- a whole of deer! Luckily, the Gore Range parking lot was coming up on my right. The lot was by no means empty, but it wasn't hard to get a decent spot. We then did as the others had done and walked back westward along the road. I think J was just as excited by this as I was. She certainly hustled along the road faster than I did!

Between us and the Big Thompson River far below were deer eating, roaming, sunning themselves. There were mainly females and youngsters, but we also saw some fairly large antler racks. There were also deer with fuzzy antlers. Amazingly, not one human was stupid enough to step on that grass, let alone walk down to the deer. Everyone was content to observe and photograph. I found my short video turned out well, too. It was just incredible to be able to witness this. I saw white tails on some, but not all. So, there could have been mule deer out there, too.

 

I love this photo with the deer in the foreground and the mountains seeming to go on forever in the background.

If you'll indulge me, here are a few more deer photos, as well as a lovely flower, on the way back to the car.

 

Yes, we looked at the mountains here, too. Back up at the parking lot, we stopped to take photos of their magnificence. Mountains and oceans are totally my thing.

We were on the road again at 6:23. We didn't need to make any more stops. The sun was still too high to do anything interesting. Besides, we still had to check in and get dinner.
The ride downhill was aided by what I'd learned on Pikes Peak yesterday about downshifting. There were so few cars in either direction, that if I didn't like how close the drop off was to the edge of the road, I rode the yellow center line. It kept J from hanging over the edge and she appreciated it.
We exited the park at 7:09 (41886) at the Beaver Meadows Gate, but realized later that the Fall River exit would have been more convenient to our hotel, as it was on the Fall River. As it was, we drove through town a bit and found the GPS having trouble getting enough of a signal on Fall River Road to find it easily. Eventually, of course, we found it at 7:20 (41893).
It turned out that we had to go down a very steep drive and across the river. The Ponderosa Lodge consists of a couple of buildings made from logs, which we passed before finding a small parking area. J had found this hotel- we divvied up the nights' searches- and so it was she who went to the office. It was closed, but an envelope was taped to the door for her and another for another guest. We were to have room 2. Unfortunately, they wanted her to wait until they opened the office at 9 tomorrow morning before checking out.
The drive was covered in small stones, which made moving luggage tough. J, though, looked out for me and took care of the heavy stuff. The room was accessed from a shared long porch along the doors, which locked automatically. So, we had to make sure one of us stayed in the room. The note warned of bears in the area, so we had to be sure to get all food out of the car. The room had an entryway with a small fridge and then a bath and the room. There was a fireplace and a door to the back porch that was kept closed with a loop of cord attached to the wall. There were a couple of chairs on the porch overlooking the river and a bar on either side delineating your part of the porch. You'd better like your neighbors! Someone upstairs was having a noisy gathering out there. It was nice to be able to see the river.

 

There was a house next to the lodge and we had the distinct feeling the owners lived there. There was also an A-frame out near where we came in, but I'm not convinced that is part of it.
I didn't really want the hassle of finding a parking place in town. So, we looked for a restaurant nearby. We found one that was probably walkable, but it would be dark, no doubt, when we came back, and, you know, bears. So, at 8, we got in the car. You couldn't go back the way we came, as it was one-way. So, I turned left on the road behind the office, noticing houses back there on the right. Soon, I was going over a wooden bridge and through the lot of another motel to get out to the road.
 We parked in the shared lot of Nicky's Steakhouse Restaurant and Nicky's Resort two minutes later (41893).  The place was not crowded and we were lead back to the dining area by the bar. We didn't want to eat out on the deck overlooking the river, because we were concerned about mosquitoes after sunset.
Service was none too fast. It took a while for our orders to be taken. We ordered two different things, so that we could split them. We ordered Nicky's Original Aged USDA Choice Prime Rib and chose the salad to go with it, as well as the baked potato. We also chose the 1/2 Pound Angus Beef Tip Sirloin with beef barley soup and the baked potato. It also came with green beans and squash. We only ordered water, which helped the bill. The prime rib was $26.95 and the sirloin was $29.95 and they were not the most expensive thing on the menu. I decided to make the meal my treat.
Both cuts of meat were good, but the beef barley soup was great.

We sat there with dirty plates in front of us for a long time. No wait staff to be seen. Finally, they were cleared and I paid the bill. We left at 9:15. We got back to the lodge at 9:20 (41894) after a scary drive down that very dark drive. I decided to take the first available spot, which was a tricky one with rocks on two sides. J had to get out to help direct me. Backing up too much would put me in the river.
I went to take a shower before bed and had the coldest shower I've ever taken. I just couldn't get any hot water. Then, the room felt warm, but there was no way to get cool air. The porch door certainly couldn't be left even ajar.
I've driven 202 miles today. I need a good night's sleep-much more driving tomorrow.