Today, we're starting out with Rocky Mountain National Park.
And, just like every other morning, the first thing we did was pack up the vehicle and get ready to hit the road. While we're loading up the vehicle, Stephen put both map books on the roof. "Don't forget to take those off of there," I said (because apparently I like to tell people what to do). We load the vehicle, we drive down the frontage road (that's what they call access roads in Colorado), and we're getting ready to turn onto the highway. "Where's the maps?" I ask, because I have to fact-check the GPS. Guess where the maps are? (One guess.) Guess who forgot to take the maps off the roof? (One guess.)
The X-Terra's big bulky roof rack (and the fact that we hadn't picked up much speed yet) saved the day: the maps were still there. Whew! What would we do without our map book? Yes, we have a GPS, but it's not entirely reliable. Stephen claimed he updated it before we left; I insist that (a) either he didn't do it right, or (b) it is possessed by the devil. Garmin is going to get a strongly worded letter.
Anyway, map and GPS issues notwithstanding, it was about an hour to drive into Rocky Mountain National Park. Lots of picturesque little resort communities on the way - and someone who had a house built like an Ark! (Yes, like Noah's Ark.) If the valleys flood, they're totally ready to leave their neighbours behind to drown. You had your chance to build a houseboat!
As you'd expect, there's some lovely scenery in RMNP. However, I was peeved that one particularly pretty photo op was ruined by some woman lumbering around on the rocks, trying to get her not-very-agile self into position so that her friend could take a photo. I waited and waited, but she kept slipping and sliding around, and I finally screamed, "You clumsy cow! How can I take a picture when you keep lumbering around here? I came all the way from Canada, and you've ruined this whole experience for me!" And that's how I ruined her day, too, which made me feel better. :-)
Okay, I didn't say anything of the sort. I just rolled my eyes and we moved on. And for a long time, I sadly mourned the loss of what might have been the bestest mountain picture of the day. If only...
Anyway. So, how does RMNP compare to Banff and Jasper? There's way more snow-topped mountains in Banff and Jasper, and the mountains in Jasper are more craggy and the scenery at the pull-offs are much more spectacular, with those beautiful blue blue lakes. So Banff and Jasper win overall. But, all is not lost, RMNP - what's cool about this park is that you're driving up near the top of the mountains. I imagine this must have been set up during the US' park-building phase in the 1930s, where they really didn't take environmental impact into account. Nevertheless, Trail Ridge road is there now, and it is an interesting drive.
At one of the lookouts, we were chatting with some of the other tourists, and one man mentioned that he'd left his wife behind several viewpoints ago. At first I thought he was joking, but no, he was serious. Apparently, she's deathly afraid of heights and couldn't go on. Wow. That's really scared of heights, I guess. No word on whether he was going back to get her or not. ;-)
The morning was blue skies, and one of the fluffiest happiest little clouds ever. Whenever I see those clouds, I automatically assume that they're just the happy sunny day clouds. But then other fluffy clouds join them. And although giant fluffy clouds may look happy and friendly, they are giants, and we are less than an ant to them. And if they want to squish us, they will, without even thinking about it.
In the morning, there was just one happy little cloud floating around, but the time we'd reached the Alpine visitor centre (11,796 ft), it looked like there might be some storm clouds heading in for the afternoon. Normally we wouldn't care (I mean, WE'D already driven through - who cares about those hapless tourists still winding their slow, sometimes lumbering, way through the park's sites?), except that our second stop of the day is Mount Evans. We don't want any storms when WE'RE on top of a mountain.
But, that adventure is still over 50 miles away, and we have to slowly drive back down, down, down, through some small towns and resort communities. It seems that all of Colorado's slowest drivers are out today. >:-(
And, just like every other morning, the first thing we did was pack up the vehicle and get ready to hit the road. While we're loading up the vehicle, Stephen put both map books on the roof. "Don't forget to take those off of there," I said (because apparently I like to tell people what to do). We load the vehicle, we drive down the frontage road (that's what they call access roads in Colorado), and we're getting ready to turn onto the highway. "Where's the maps?" I ask, because I have to fact-check the GPS. Guess where the maps are? (One guess.) Guess who forgot to take the maps off the roof? (One guess.)
The X-Terra's big bulky roof rack (and the fact that we hadn't picked up much speed yet) saved the day: the maps were still there. Whew! What would we do without our map book? Yes, we have a GPS, but it's not entirely reliable. Stephen claimed he updated it before we left; I insist that (a) either he didn't do it right, or (b) it is possessed by the devil. Garmin is going to get a strongly worded letter.
Anyway, map and GPS issues notwithstanding, it was about an hour to drive into Rocky Mountain National Park. Lots of picturesque little resort communities on the way - and someone who had a house built like an Ark! (Yes, like Noah's Ark.) If the valleys flood, they're totally ready to leave their neighbours behind to drown. You had your chance to build a houseboat!
As you'd expect, there's some lovely scenery in RMNP. However, I was peeved that one particularly pretty photo op was ruined by some woman lumbering around on the rocks, trying to get her not-very-agile self into position so that her friend could take a photo. I waited and waited, but she kept slipping and sliding around, and I finally screamed, "You clumsy cow! How can I take a picture when you keep lumbering around here? I came all the way from Canada, and you've ruined this whole experience for me!" And that's how I ruined her day, too, which made me feel better. :-)
Okay, I didn't say anything of the sort. I just rolled my eyes and we moved on. And for a long time, I sadly mourned the loss of what might have been the bestest mountain picture of the day. If only...
At one of the lookouts, we were chatting with some of the other tourists, and one man mentioned that he'd left his wife behind several viewpoints ago. At first I thought he was joking, but no, he was serious. Apparently, she's deathly afraid of heights and couldn't go on. Wow. That's really scared of heights, I guess. No word on whether he was going back to get her or not. ;-)
The morning was blue skies, and one of the fluffiest happiest little clouds ever. Whenever I see those clouds, I automatically assume that they're just the happy sunny day clouds. But then other fluffy clouds join them. And although giant fluffy clouds may look happy and friendly, they are giants, and we are less than an ant to them. And if they want to squish us, they will, without even thinking about it.
In the morning, there was just one happy little cloud floating around, but the time we'd reached the Alpine visitor centre (11,796 ft), it looked like there might be some storm clouds heading in for the afternoon. Normally we wouldn't care (I mean, WE'D already driven through - who cares about those hapless tourists still winding their slow, sometimes lumbering, way through the park's sites?), except that our second stop of the day is Mount Evans. We don't want any storms when WE'RE on top of a mountain.
But, that adventure is still over 50 miles away, and we have to slowly drive back down, down, down, through some small towns and resort communities. It seems that all of Colorado's slowest drivers are out today. >:-(
My folks just got back from Alaska - and they told me that after seeing the mountains there, Banff and Jasper look tiny, they just don't compare...I thought, wow!
ReplyDeleteI totally could picture the map books on the roof thing...oh that's funny. Might have made for an even more interesting trip if you lost them! ha ha.