Thursday, July 11, 2013

Days 2 & 3: Rocky Mountain National Park

Most of day two was spent driving in the car.  We stopped at another KOA this time in Estes Park, Colorado.  It was pretty nice they had ice cream socials and a "train" (golf cart pulling the kiddie cars) every night too.  Pete was in love!
The choo-choo

Day three we headed over to the national park.  We bought an annual pass to all of the national parks for the year because we knew we would be going to quite a few over vacation alone.  We had it paid for long before vacation was over.  We quickly got to the road we needed because they close it during the day for construction and if we would have been 5 minutes slower would have had to use the shuttle buses.  We went on a short hike around Bear Lake, which is the only place to see the mountain view of the state quarter for Colorado.  Pete had great fun, he even found a furry friend to follow around.  It isn't a chipmunk but a Golden Mantled Ground Squirrel.
family picture at bear lake






  After that expedition we got back in the car and drove up to the top of the mountains, Pete took a nap (shhh...I did too!) and had a picnic on the other side of the park.  Pete was also working on his very first junior ranger!  There program starts at the age of three!  Yippeee!  We completed that and went to the Alpine Visitor Center.  Pete loved seeing the huge piles of snow!  Eventually we headed back to our cabin did some grocery shopping in the only grocery store in town. I swear if I ever go there again I will pack any and all groceries with me because it was shear madness!  Whatever you do avoid the Safeway grocery store in Estes Park it is constantly packed and you will wait in line for forever!

It was a great stay in the area. We loved the park and the junior ranger program for the younger ages. The KOA was nice clean and the employees were friendly and helpful.  All in all a great stop for vacation!

Next Stop: Bryce Canyon National Park

No comments: