Yesterday was good. After a solid day of really “yucky” weather, we got out with the express purpose of getting some decent pics of the area. I wasn’t too concerned with exploring the whole park, but I had in mind to get out and take some pics of the Moraine Meadow area. Moraine Park has always been my “special place”. We may find a more special area in the future, but for the past 40 odd years, this has been it.
The day started with the two of us sleeping until after 9:00 A.M. and having a leisurely breakfast. Judy, with her usual raisin toast and bacon sandwich, and me with my sourdough English muffin, egg and bacon sandwich. As luck would have it, Mike and April called and invited us to join them for lunch over at the Big Horn Restaurant in town.
After lunch, we split. They, to take the kids back to their camp to have an afternoon of “play-time” and ourselves, to visit some friends who are Camp Hosts at East Portal.
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| Dave and Larry, Camp Hosts. It was Dave and Janice's turn as "Camp Hosts" - the "Smiling Faces" of Larimer County Parks. |
I must admit that, if I had known how rustic and beautiful it was over at East Portal, we would probably have put in a serious bid for that location, with its abundance of wildlife (deer, elk, bear, turkey and hummingbirds, just to mention some) and heavily forested mountainsides.
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| Good sized bulls like this one are plentiful throughout the area, but especially at East Portal adjoining RMNP. |
After saying our goodbyes, we headed over to the national park first to take a second set of pictures of a scene I had photographed back in 2002. I took the first picture on our last day of vacation after an enjoyable stay at the River Spruce Cottages in Estes Park coinciding with a beautiful snowfall. The original pics were taken in the last week of May 2002. This second set was taken on May 20, 2012, this time sans snow.
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| 2012 |
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| 2002 |
Our last tour was through the Moraine Park Campground, only to find our favorite loop (Loop “A”) closed due to not having enough personnel to take care of it. So we took the turn off to scout out the road that paralleled the meadow between the moraines. About this time was when I told Judy that when I passed, she could sprinkle my ashes into the small streams that were to rapidly grow together into the Big Thompson.
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| The Early Indians and trappers thought this was a piece of Heaven. So do I! |
When I went out to take the above shot, I had the good fortune to spot a beautiful Mountain Bluebird.
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| The Mountain Blue Bird |
By this time, the weather was starting to break down once more, so it was back to The Liberty Belle and Mary’s Lake Campground.
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Until next Time!
~dick~
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