September 22, 2014

After having a wonderful visit with Robin and Doug, we bid farewell to Cheyenne. They have an annual event....Cheyenne Frontier Days in the city usually starting in mid July that lasts for about 10 days.  Do we really want to leave Maine in the Summer? Gather a look at Cheyenne Frontier Days

Today we planned to hit the high mountains and traveled to Rocky Mountain National Park. On the way, we passed through Fort Collins and the anticipation of spending the rest of the day in the mountains was beginning to mount.  

Before getting to Rocky Mountain National Park...or ROMO for short, we drove through a rocky canyon that is part of the Roosevelt National forest.

...and the winding roads begin.

On the way up to Longs Peak there is an area where many Elk spend their days getting ready for Winter.

 After spending a while at Beaver Meadows visitor center gathering information, we headed to the park entrance and paid ...nothing.  Being a senior citizen has it's advantages.  We finally got to Trail Ridge Road and the color of the Aspen really started to stand out.

The next several pictures are on the way up to the Alpine Visitor Center,  all the time going up to the highest point along the way at 12,183 feet.

There are still some snow fields  that haven't gotten around to melting. 

Still a ways away, the Longs peak is obscured by clouds.

The color of the Aspens is very brilliant in the sunshine.

Zooming in on the picture above.

There certainly wasn't any shortage of people enjoying their day with a wonderful hobby.  Can one really think of this as a job?

This little rascal was busy filling up with seeds from the grass.

We finally got out the mini tripod and put it to work.

Do you see it.  Look in the center of the picture.  Look real close.

There it is, down by the tree.  How could you miss it?

Here's Grammie, hugging a tree.  Not because she loves trees, 

but because everywhere around her is down.

From higher up you can see the small winding streams that work the water towards the Atlantic.  The two women painting were down near one of the bends in the stream.

As we near our destination, we drive into the Alpine Tundra ecosystem where the environment is very fragile.  The bitter cold, wind, intense ultraviolet light and brief growing season let only specialized plants survive.

We finally reach the highest point of the day.  It took a while but my golf cart did fine.

Just over the other side we stop in at the visitors center and warm up a bit.

While we were at the center, the weather got considerably colder and dropped to 39.

We took this pic before the rain started and continued half way back to Estes Park where we are staying.

A wonderful day in the mountains.  We plan to hit some different roads in the morning before we head back up again and continue over the continental divide down the other side.