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Rocky Mountain National Park/Grand Lake

Amy Kline
This is mostly a day of rest for us. We stayed two nights at Elk Creek Campground in Grand Lake, CO. This is perhaps the best campground that either Jeff or I have ever stayed at. Not only were we greeted by a Mommy moose and her twins when we got there, but this guy was munching on leaves right by the playground when I got up in the morning. He was huge and in this picture, I hardly used zoom at all, but don’t worry, I was at a safe distance and right near the building so I could duck into the doorway if necessary. The moose here are very used to people apparently because a teenager was Facetiming with everyone he knew at the picnic table right in front of me. The moose didn’t even care about all the talking.
We relaxed for the morning and the kids made a lego kit and played at the camp site. We made lunch and then set off to go back into Rocky Mountain National Park to do a little more sightseeing and some easy hiking.  We noticed a forest fire a couple miles away in the Park. We were told that it was nothing to be concerned about yet and that the Fire Fighters were on it.

We went way way way up again, ears were poppin’! We saw some leftover snow and glaciers. 

I also took some obligatory flower pictures because that is what I do when we go hiking. We were above the treeline so the flowers can not grow very large there.

The views are beyond breathtaking. The pictures can not show how powerful this amazing earth is and how insignificant one feels standing at the top of the world (well at 12,300 ft. above sea level).

There were a couple animals that we saw on our hike. It was so silent up there except for the chirps of this bird and the chatter of the Marmots calling to each other.

 This was called Mushroom rock.

We had a nice family take a picture of us with some of the mountains in the background. 3 out of 4 making a decent face. Must be a record!

Jeff climbed the rock at the very end of the path. Carson wanted to climb it too, but since he tripped on a sidewalk just yesterday and already had bandaids on both knees, I convinced him to stay on the path with me.

The boys had fun climbing on the low rocks while Jeff chatted with some visitors on the top of the rock. He also took some pictures which you will probably see on Facebook after we get home. 

The view from the end of the path was pretty decent too.

The clouds are so low here that the beautiful sunbeam doesn’t have far to go to reach the meadow.

After we got out of the park, we went to Grand Lake for dinner. Jeff and I both loved this town. Estes Park on the east side of Rocky Mountain National Park is far busier and more “touristy”, it had a similar feel to Wisconsin Dells. Grand Lake is on the west side of the Park and while it definitely has tourist activities, it feels more like Minocqua, very rustic with amazing views of sparkling blue lakes with log “cabins” on the shore and mountains in the background.  We went to a Mexican restaurant and sat outside to enjoy the view.

When we got back, we had a visitor IN OUR CAMPSITE! He was not in any hurry to leave so we took pictures and chatted with all the other campers about how we all loved this campground where the moose just hang out with us all day. We joked that there was no need to go into the park, because we are seeing a lot more right from our campsites. Eventually, Mr. Gigantic Moose wandered into the next campsite. 

One last look at the amazing sunset in one direction…

And the Forest Fire (now called the Tonahutu Fire) in the other direction.  We could see helicopters dropping water onto the area. Don’t worry, I am zoomed in as far as my camera can zoom.

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North Platte to Grand Lake

Amy Kline

This country has some amazing beauty! Our drive today has totally opposite scenery from yesterday. We were in the Plains for just a little while before entering the buttes and foothills of the mountains. The kids were hilarious and their underwhelming response to the view until we hit the big time mountains. Then they were as in awe (for a while anyway) as Jeff and I were.

As we left the Plains and all the cornfields, we started to see oil rigs along the side of the road.

We got off the Interstate in Crook, CO and started following a state highway that paralleled some train tracks. Imagine Jeff’s excitement when a train came by as we were driving.

Our first view of the mountains. The kids said, “That’s not that big!” Just wait, boys…

We stopped at the Colorado Welcome Center for lunch. Great view of the mountains here in Fort Collins. We are getting closer!

By now, the kids are fully impressed as we make our way up, up, up. 

Everywhere an animal was grazing, cars pulled over along the side of the road or slowed way down. We snagged this picture out the truck window.

We stopped at one of the viewing centers and got this amazing view.

Birds and chipmunks (or maybe they are ground squirrels) were eating cheetos out of peoples’ hands. The people were holding cheetos up in the air and these birds were swooping to grab them right out of their raised hands. Cool, but definitely not good for these poor birds.

This little guy did not hold still but I got him while he was munching a cheeto with his back turned.

We kept going higher and higher. I leaned in to the middle of the vehicle to “help” us stay away from the edge. The boys thought that was pretty funny.

Up above the treeline, there were only small plants and there were signs everywhere to stay on the path because it takes decades for the ground to recover from human disturbance. Many people at the viewing sights ignored the signs. Bad tourists!

This is a marmot. He was sunning himself on the rocks. The temperature up here was about 55 degrees, over 30 degrees cooler than it was before we drove in to the mountains. Quite a difference!

It feels like we are at the very top of the world. This sunbeam was very bright.

This is one of the least scary parts of the road. Many times, there wasn’t even a shoulder or stone wall next to the road and it went straight down!

We got to Grand Lake about 5 pm. We are still over 8000 feet above sea level. Look what is resting in the shade in the campsite across from us!! What a welcome to a great campground!

This campground is one to stay at if you are ever in the area near Grand Lake. Here is the sunset view from our campsite.

Obligatory flower picture. You will be seeing many more over the next days and week.

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Galena to North Platte

Amy Kline

This was a long driving day, but it was still a lot of fun. We left about 7:00 am from Galena. We drove for a long long time according to Carson. The boys were actually pretty good. I began Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and read a few chapters until my voice was ready to give out.  We ate lunch at a rest stop in Nebraska (which has really nice rest stops about every 30 miles along the Interstate). I read a few more chapters of Harry Potter and we had lots of nice discussions about all the details of the books. Loved it!

It is funny to compare the technology we have access to compared with our trip in 2005. At that time, we didn’t have smart phones, or wifi (or wifi hotspots from our smart phones). I was able to check Facebook, and get some new signage made for the library during our drive. We saw some of the pictures of the Preble Fieldhouse. So sad. It is killing Jeff not to go back to help all the coaches salvage equipment and make arrangements for sports seasons without a gym, but there is nothing he can do anyway.

We arrived in North Platte around 5:30 or so and immediately went to the North Platte Railroad Yard Viewing Tower. Even I had to admit that it was pretty cool. We went to the 7th floor where they have a view of this railroad yard, the biggest in the country. There were lots of signs explaining how many trains go through, the history of the Orphan Trains, and the Transcontinental Railroad.


After we satisfied our train desires, we went to the Buffalo Bill Historical Park Campground. Buffalo Bill’s house and outbuildings were just a mile up the road in that Park, but we came after it closed and then left before it opened, so we didn’t get a chance to see that. Maybe next time.

Our campsite was pretty nice. A big fat toad greeted us on our arrival and hid under our truck the whole time, but he did pose for the camera for a bit.

The kids were so excited to sleep in a tent for the first time. We camp a lot but have a pop up camper so haven’t been tent camping since before kids. The boys explored the area, threw rocks into the North Platte River nearby and searched for roly polies.

These may be the footprints of a large dog, but if not, there are some very large animals roaming around the Platte.
Here is our camp set up.
There was rain in the area and we did pass through some showers, but we did not get rained on at all. The weather was very pleasant and the sleeping was comfortable for all.
The boys loved throwing stones into the river trying to make the biggest “plop” noise.
We had some jiffy pop after supper and something happened to our stove which started on fire. Jeff was not happy.  Something is cracked in the pipes or something. We had to throw the stove out and plan to get a new one.
Sunset from the North Platte!