A Taste of Estes

Yesterday when I was writing, I think I got a little carried away remembering all of our past trips to Estes Park and forgot to put up some photos from the last trip!! For those of you who've never been to Colorado, I highly recommend visiting and trying it out; maybe you'll fall in love too!! I'm going to give you a taste of some of our favorite places there and you'll be booking a vacation there before you know it!! : )

This is how every single Temple vacation begins!! A picnic for lunch!! It's not a vacation without one!

Trail Ridge Road. 

This will be the first amazing view you see before you enter Estes.  It's about 25 miles of straight up-hill windy, curvy beautiful cliffs.

We always look forward to this part of the drive.

We had a beautiful place that we rented out while we were there.  My Dad did such a great job picking it out!!  Typically we camp in Estes and this was our first time renting a home there; I highly recommend it!  We shared a lot of laughs and stories during our time here.  We also loved that our house was literally right on Big Thompson River.  As you can see in the photos, it was an amazing view from our back porch!

 

My grandparents came along, too!! We were so glad to have them there and share this vacation with them!! My Grandpa has traveled to every state in the U.S. and to many many different countries in Europe, and this is still one of his favorite places to go!

They're the best. 

Alex and I decided to try hiking our first morning there.  Big mistake.  Two people who've done zero physical activity since high school sports for me and basic training for Alex is never a good combination for hiking.  We should've waited until we were acclimated to the mountains, too.  We hiked Estes Cone, which is about a 7 mile hike and it was AWFUL!  It took us five hours, we had one small bottle of water, hadn't ate any lunch, and we wore tennis shoes...none of those things were even close to a smart decision.  Needless to say, I hated it.  The views were breathtaking but the hike...not so much. 

Only 1/2 mile in and I already was not a fan...at all. 

The view from the top, which we spent all of two minutes admiring since it started snowing and I thought I was going to die. Alex loved it though and wanted to be a mountain man pretty much after this vacation.  I feel so bad for him that we are living in Illinois because every single thing Alex wants to do--hiking, rock climbing, biking, rafting, kayaking, etc. is awful here.  He belongs in Colorado. 

We visited the Stanley Hotel for our first time and it was so pretty.  However, we are not...

We saw a lot of wild animals, which the boys were very excited about!!

The most exciting was seeing the elk right in our back yard!! I look totally scared in this photo, but I just can't believe how that elk is posing for the camera.  I was so worried he was going to run behind us during this photo and kill us. 

Feeding the chipmunks is a must and one of our favorite activities!

The view...wow.

We took our vehicles one day and headed up Trail Ridge Road to the very top!! Beautiful views the entire time!

On our last full day there, once Alex and I were finally rested from our stupid hike on the first day, we went on our very favorite hike to Alberta Falls.  It's very easy but the waterfall is SO cool!

We also had a lot of fun at the slides!!!

And probably one of Betsy and I's favorite things...eating out!  We pretty much plan our day around it! : ) 

awwww, look at these two lovebirds! : )

These are only a few of my favorite places and favorite photos!! I took over 200 pictures on this trip!! I hope looking at these photos makes you want to go, because even though Estes feels like our spot, our 2nd home, everyone NEEDS to experience it at least once! I promise you'll be hooked!