Bear Lake, RMNP

There are bears in Estes Park. I didn't see any but apparently they come down at night and look for food which is why all of the rubbish bins have elaborate locks and the hummingbird feeders are taken in at night.

Today I got up really early and headed into the park. If you get in before 8am you can drive down to the trailheads, after that you have to take a shuttle bus and I was told that the queues could be long. I'm so glad I went early. There were very few people around. I drove to Bear Lake and did three trails, about two miles each but mostly uphill so they felt a lot longer.

I started with Bear Lake itself. It is impossible to take a bad picture here. It was breathtakingly beautiful.

The NPS do a brilliant job of maintaining the trails.

 

I sat here for ages.

There was hardly anyone about, except this fellow.

There are dozens of lakes in the mountains. I decided to hike up to Nymph Lake next.

It was covered with these flowers.

Then on to Alberta Falls.

I took hundreds of photographs. The rangers appeared frequently to tell you more about the park.

I hiked back to Bear Lake for one more look. The water is so clear.

It is hard to choose which photograph to post.

I'm driving over the mountains along Trail Ridge Road tomorrow. I wish I hadn't looked at it on YouTube first. It looks scary.

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

The Quilt Show

Today I drove down to Loveland through Big Thompson Canyon. It was a beautiful route. The Big Thompson River looks quite calm but in July 1976 a huge flood killed 140 people. I passed the memorial

Rivers in Colorado can turn from quiet streams to torrents in minutes as the water rushes down from the mountains.

All quiet today.

At the quilt show you were not allowed to take photographs of the vendors' booths. I did sneak this one.

There were loads of vendors and hundreds of lovely quilts.

 

 

I bought some fabric and a couple of kits. One kit is to make this purse with lots of compartments.

 

The Quilt Show was right next door to one of my favourite shops. Wish we had these in England.

Back at the Inn I did some more hummingbird watching.

They are really tiny.

Can you see me?

Good night!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Estes Park, Colorado

Estes Park is the nicest place so far and that's not just because of the amazing scenery. I'm staying at the Maxwell Inn which is Number 1 for here on Tripadvisor despite being one of the most reasonable hotels. It's lovely.

It takes five minutes to walk into town along a lovely river walk.

Past a bandstand where they were setting up for a concert.

The Main Street is busy. Estes Park is the main centre for tourists to the east of Rocky Mountain National Park. it is just four miles from the entrance. The shops are interesting and not too pricey.

Love the Art Deco cinema.

There is plenty to do.

 

Best taco salad so far. Good news is that I have worked out why you cannot buy the taco shells to make your own salads at home. In Santa Fe I came across a heavy metal taco shell shaper. Apparently you spray flat tortillas with oil and shape and bake them. Mystery solved. Too heavy to bring home though. Will have to google that at home.

You can't see them but this tree outside my door is full of hummingbirds!

Every few seconds they fly out to these feeders. They make quite a noise. I watched them for ages.

And these guys just wandered past.

In one of the tourist shops you can buy a poster which says,

"I wasn't born in Estes Park but I got here as fast as I could".

Put it on your bucket list folks x

 

Posted with Blogsy

Pueblo, Colorado

It felt a bit mean not to explore Pueblo last night so I got up early to put that right. Right outside the hotel there was a talking road crossing. It sensed that you were approaching and started talking to you!

I was headed for the Downtown District and the hotel receptionist had suggested I go via the River Walk. It was lovely. As it was so early there was no one about.

There were many cute statues.

It all looked very clean and new.

Downtown Pueblo was really nice. Again it all looked very well looked after.

Nothing was open except for this coffee house where I was persuaded to try the 'scone of the day'. It came in very handy when stuck for hours in Denver traffic later on.

Right on the pavement by that bench was this wise saying.

Pretty bikes - wish I had time.

This one is going nowhere.

Like Santa Fe, Gallup and Williams the livelihood of the town depends on the railroad.

I walked up to the Arkensas River. It ought to be overflowing after all of the rain of the last two days.

The levées are painted with the longest mural in the world!

Oh no, a quilt shop. I had to wait for it to open.....

Back to the hotel and back on the road and it started to pour with angry rain again. So I stopped off in Colorado Springs. Dora has developed a knack of locating useful shops. This is an enormous teachers warehouse.

And this entire wall was covered in thousands of pencils to celebrate every occasion you could think of. I bought some with Pi on, some birthday pencils, some welcome to my class pencils and maybe a few more..

This is what the lady in the quilt shop persuaded me to buy. Fabric with columbines on. The state flower of Colorado.

Colorado is nice. With the exception of the area around Denver where I spent hours in heavy traffic on the Interstate.

The Rocky Mountains have appeared on the horizon!

 

Posted with Blogsy