Larry & Jordyn Concert

Larry worked with Jordyn (she plays guitar and piano) on a few songs so they could have a concert for us one evening. 

Air Force Academy/Garden of the Gods

View from the trail to the chapel

Balancing Rock

Garden of the Gods

Air Force dorms

Jordyn looking out at the Air Force Yard

The Chapel

Sunday we traveled south to Colorado Springs to see the Air Force Academy and drive around all the red rock formations at Garden of the Gods.  I was especially impressed with the design of the chapel at the academy and all the unusual and numerous red rock spires.  We got out and took pics of Balancing Rock and Ship Rock, one of the places kids are allowed to climb around.

Denver Zoo/Denver Museum of Nature & Science

Jordyn chose an experiment about epithelial cells (from our cheeks)

Trent chose an experiment to compare types of sanitizer such as bleach, hand gel, dish soap, etc. to see how many bacteria they kill

We've had a blast visiting Denver and spending time with Michelle, Jim, Trent, and Jordyn.  On Saturday Jim zipped us into the city so we could spend time at the new elephant park and the rest of the zoo.  We ate at the park outside the museum and then spent time at the Science Museum doing science experiments, checking out our health, and looking at all the animal displays.

Moraine Park Camping

We've had a great week with Trent and Jordyn.  Some of our activities:
swimming at Estes Park Aquatic Center (and showers to get clean:))

hiking to Emerald Lake
fishing at Estes Lake
fishing at Thompson River
fishing at Sprague Lake
ranger talks Saturday evening, Sunday evening, and Sunday evening at the amphitheater
bike riding around the campground loops
exploring rocks and trails around camp

Bear Adventure:  there is a young bear prowling the campgrounds at night looking for food.  Trent woke up and swore he heard the bear in our camp.  I felt something rock the trailer and a little later we saw the rangers using their spotlights around our camp and the one next to us.  Was it a bear?  Trent swears it was...but we also have about 6 young mulie bucks that go right through our camp, too.  It could have been them.  Trent says he found some bear footprints of a larger bear and a smaller bear so we assume we had a visit from the young bear or a bear/cub combo.

It's fun watching the bucks graze right next to our camp and campfires every evening as we make smores at the campfire and enjoy the night stars and the quiet.

Jordyn fishing

Trent and Jordyn on the Thompson

Trent fishing on Thompson below our campground

Larry rigging up the poles

Typical tree around this area

Trent and Larry at Sprague Lake

Jordyn makes a good cast at Sprague Lake

mountains surrounding Sprague Lake

Darliss at Sprague Lake on one of the benches

taking Trent and Jordyn souvenir shopping in Estes and attending the music festival there

Scenic Drive to Grand Lake

We spent the day driving to Grand Lake.  We pulled over at most of the scenic overlooks or short hikes to climb rocks or take pics of all the animals.  Today we saw:

This is in the alpine area (above treeline)

Can you see the moose grazing?

Adams Falls hike

Over 40 elk, 5 moose, 3 marmots, deer, and misc. small varmints.  The most exciting were the moose.  Two of the moose we saw were great big bulls, one 6 years old and one about 8 years old.  The 8-yr old moose stands about 9.5 feet high according to the ranger who was there.

We're at Moraine Campground

We arrived at Moraine Campground and there are deer all around camp.  We have seen six young bucks with velvet on their horns and they don't seem scared of people at all.  It's fun to watch them graze and walk around.

Biking the Mary Carter Greenway with Michelle, Trent, and Jordyn

Building a city and flooding it on the sand table at the Nature Center

Michelle, Trent, and Jordyn at one of the bathroom stops

We're ready to hit the trail again

We had safe travels to Denver and decided to ride the trails our first day.  They have a wonderful trail system, but lots of people using it.  The trail we were on extends clear to Denver and runs along the Platte River.  The nature center near where we parked had great displays of live and dead local wildlife, fish, and a great sand table.  We started off about 10:00 and got home about 3:00.

The temperature was 98 by noon and we were all roasting.  We stopped at the Egg and I for lunch before finishing our ride.  After the ride we quickly donned our swim suits and went to the neighborhood pool to cool off.  Boy, that felt good after our hot, sweaty ride.

We finished the day by watching the latest Sherlock Holmes movie, but Michelle and I kept nodding off so we stopped it and decided to finish it tonight.

Traveled to Wheatland, WY today

We met a  couple at camp who recommended the city park at Wheatland as a good stopping point before getting to Denver tomorrow.  We found a shady spot under the Cottonwood trees.  On one side there is a baseball field, another side has the city park, skateboard ramps, bike trail, and just 1/2 block away is the swimming pool.  Plus, this place is FREE while having electrical hookups and a dump place for RVs.

Custer Park Wild Game Loop (Thursday)

Larry and I hadn't seen any bison and we were determined to find some today.  We stopped at a point of interest with a short trail.  As we returned from walking down the trail (not seeing any game) we saw a bison just strolling up the road toward our pickup.  We jumped into the pickup and waited to see what happened.  That bull kept getting closer and closer...Larry had his window rolled down and I was beginning to wonder if that bull was going to bring his head right up to Larry's window.  He slowly turned when he was about 5 feet from the pickup and went to the prairie grass right in front of where we were parked.   After rolling around, resting, and grazing for a while he finally began walking away.  It amazed us how big he was.  Larry thinks he was about 10 feet tall :)

Today, we saw all kinds of game--from bison and antelope to prairie dogs and wild donkeys.  We left our Elk Park camp early so we could see more game.  After this bison encounter, our next stop was the Mt. Coolidge Lookout (elev 6023).  I couldn't believe there was a paved road all the way up to the lookout.  Maybe that's why so many people were there.  We passed by Legion Lake, the Game Lodge, the Wildlife Loop Road, and then returned to camp. 

Did you know that bison can cause a traffic jam?  We were about a mile from the Game Lodge when we ran into a whole herd of females and their babies (with a few bulls mixed in).  As they decided to cross the road, traffic was backed up both directions as the bison took their time meandering back and forth across the road.

the wild donkeys go right up to the cars to get food

So Ty and Dee think Seattle traffic is bad?

twin calves

View from Mt. Coolidge Lookout

Another view from the lookout

After lunch we went to Hot Springs and went to the Mammoth Site.  A group was working when we toured and said they had uncovered a new tusk a couple of days ago and a small piece of something late the day before.

a tusk--for an idea of size, there is a person in the background working

almost a full skeleton

what they think the mammoths looked like

I'm holding a replica of a femur bone

cavemen may have used the bones for their houses