After 11 years or so in Colorado, this is my sister's last summer there.  We thought we would take advantage of her being next door to Rocky Mountain National Park to sneak in a quick (and I mean quick) weekend visit.  We flew in Friday evening and back out 48 hours later.  It was fast and furious - but a lot of fun!  Thanks for hosting us and being our chauffeur sis!

We weren't coordinated enough to reserve a campsite, so we just had one LONG day in the Rockies.  Our day started at 4:30am and we were on the trail by 7am.  Kyle recommended what turned out to be the ideal hike for us.  We started out from the very popular Bear Lake trail head and headed straight up to Flattop Mountain and then on to Hallett's Peak. All in all it was 10 miles round trip (including hiking along the continental divide), with an elevation gain of close to 3,400 feet.  3,400 feet may not sound like much, but when you live at sea level and top out at 12,713 feet - that 3,400 seems like twice that!  We got great views of Long's Peak and could really witness the vastness of the park.  From Hallett's Peak you could see from Granby to Estes and beyond.  It was awesome!

At the top of the peak we asked a man to take our picture, found out he was from Wisconsin and knows our cousin-in-law!  SMALL world!  The clouds started to roll in while we were at the peak - so we made our way back down quickly.  By our starting out early, we not only were hiking during the clearest part of the day -- but there were also far fewer people.  By the time we left the trail head, the place was a ZOO!

Our day wasn't over after the hike -- we wanted to drive along Trail Ridge Road (one of if not THE highest road in the country).  It links the East and West ends of the park and offers some amazing views.  We saw grazing elk, fat little marmots, squeaky pica and super green and lush mountainsides.  Colorado has had more rain this summer than Lani has seen in her years there.  As a result, the park was a lush green - if it hadn't been so chilly, we would have thought we were in the tropics.  It was gorgeous! (side comment:  it was so chilly that a cute little girl with her arms tucked into her t-shirt at the Alpine Visitor Center asked "daddy, can we come back in the summer time?".  It was too cute.)  We had a lot of fun darting in and out of the cold along Trail Ridge Road, stopping for photos.  The last of which was of the Continental Divide.

When we finally got back to Denver - we crashed hard!  Got some take out from Little India, watched the tour and slept! We were worn out!  Our Sunday morning was slow too - until we realized the Rockies had a home game and we should go!  Coincidentally enough, they were playing the Giants.  That's three Giants games for me in a month!  Too bad they lost.... 

The day quickly disappeared and we were back on the plane in no time.  We had a great weekend and are so glad we snuck in the trip!

Lee took a million panoramic pictures that still need to be processed - so photos to come!