A Ridiculous Road Trip Part 4: CO, WY and ID

Picking up from this post, we arrived in Erie, Colorado on Saturday afternoon. It was rainy and cloudy pretty much the entire way. My brother was there to welcome us and it was instant good times. He and I are very alike in temperament, and it was great to be with him. The rest of the family--my nephews and sister-in-law, arrived home from various activities a little bit later.

My nephews were wondering why I was using their dad's computer. Apparently we have the same taste in stickering.

They pulled out all the stops and made us a yummy dinner along with a homemade carrot cake for Eric's birthday. It was delicious, and it was just so good to be with family.

Eric was actually turning 56, but we were improvising with the candles. No matter, the cake was delicious. 

We spent a pleasant evening chatting and cleaning up, slept well, and enjoyed church the next day. We had the bonus of meeting the brother and sister-in-law of Evan's girlfriend. They live in Erie and attend the same congregation as my brother. That was fun--I really liked them!

Sunday afternoon we went up to Estes Park and on a drive through Rocky Mountain National Park. I'd never been to either place and thought we might get to see some fall leaves and maybe a critter or two. Both dreams came true in abundance. The foliage was at peak and was just stunning. The mountainsides were a rich tapestry of all the colors of autumn, and the roadsides were ablaze with aspen, cottonwood, and more, all contrasting against the dark pines. It was exactly as I hoped.

Stanley Hotel, Estes Park, location of The Shining. 

Yep. I saw this with my own eyeballs. 

Me and the neffy-poos

More car window pics because I just could not stop trying to record these amazing views. 

As for critters, Estes Park was crowded because it was the Elk Fest. Not only do the humans come to see the Elk, but the Elk come to town as well, but probably not to see the humans. There were groups of them hanging out in the golf courses and on lawns and in parking lots. There were harems walking through the trees, being bugled along by the males. I've never seen so many Elk. It was the Rut, which means it's time for the males to fight and for all of them to mate. You can read more about it here.

I love this family of mine. 

Seriously?

Everywhere. This beauty was everywhere. 

Heyyyy Mr. Moose!

He was actually about 20 feet from me in this one. No zooming necessary. 

 The drive through the park took us to a lovely walk around Sprague Lake. We saw perfect views of the mountains, lots of brook trout, some fat geese, and two astonishingly large bull moose who came out of the woods and wandered along the trail, had a tense standoff, and were generally not noticing the humans at all. We sure noticed them though, and all the people grabbed their cameras and tried to get all the photos. It's my first time ever seeing a moose in nature, and they were impressive. Some of the people really didn't seem to realize these animals could actually cause harm, and my brother cleared a few groups away from them. He's such a good guy--careful and thoughtful, and I appreciated his willingness to get involved.

                                              

We took the long way home, and saw more elk and finally heard the famous bugling. I'd never heard it before, and it's very interesting. If you listen closely to the video you might be able to hear it, but of course it's nothing like hearing it in person. Same with the photos. I tried, but these just pale in comparison to my memories of the day.

That evening, Amy made an absolutely delicious beef shawarma in the Instant Pot and we had a fabulous late dinner together. Late dinners always feel indulgent and fun to me. They mean we were too busy having good times to bother with eating. I'm glad we spent as much time as possible up in the mountains. There was warmth and laughter around that table, and I was glad to be there. I love this family and the spirit in their home.

Monday morning I took Eric to the airport at 5:20 am, then immediately headed off to Idaho.

I watched the sun rise as I drove north through Colorado, then had another total win of a drive through western Wyoming. Perfect autumn foliage, mountains, rivers, interesting cloudy skies...all the things I love to see. I made it to Sara's house in Rexburg around 5pm. I would have made it earlier, but I was so entranced by the scenes rushing by me that I must have stopped at pull-outs 20 times to take short walks and try to get some photos.

Sunrise over CO

All the autumnal glory in Western WY

Hoback River

     

All the autumnal glory in Eastern ID 

I had a nice 24 hours in Rexburg. We had dinner in Idaho Falls, did a little shopping, and enjoyed the time together. In the morning I took my granddog for a walk in the crisp mountain air under those gigantic western skies I love so much. He's a funny dog and spent a full 15 minutes watching a soccer player practicing on the BYU-I fields. I couldn't get him to move. Eventually we did get going again and I loved being out in the wind and sun.

Sara had the afternoon off work. I always like seeing her doing her thing in her world. She's got a cute student apartment, a good job and is continuing to make progress in her education. I'm really proud of her. And of course her cute husband Andy is amazing. We love him so much.

We had delicious Brazilian-style rice and beans (again in the Instant Pot--what was life like before those?), then I headed out for Utah. This signals the end of the first phase of the trip--the getting out to the West. There will be much less that is exciting or newsworthy in the next few weeks because I'll be settled in Utah/Arizona for most of October. This first part of the trip has been really great. I'm glad Eric was with me for the first 10 days. I'm grateful the car is doing well, my back is doing well, and I'm doing pretty well keeping up with work along the way, which was my plan all along. I kept telling people this isn't a vacation, I'm just taking my life on the road.