ESTES PARK 2019 Day Four - Lily Lake and Trail Ridge Road

Another beautiful day in paradise!  The wild turkeys agree!  They came down from the mountains behind the cabins every morning, two toms and a hen, foraging for bugs.

After another fabulous breakfast, we headed over to Lily Lake to fish and hike.  We kept running into construction traffic all over town.  Why is this necessary in EP during the summer when there are a bazillion people there?  It's crowded enough everywhere without adding that problem.

The Lily Lake parking lot is small, so we had to park on the side of the highway.  Right away a park ranger came up to Cade and Philip (who were carrying fishing poles) and told them Lily Lake is no longer stocked with fish due to the heat of the water in the summer - nothing would survive.  This was a bit ironic considering the temps were in the lower 60's at the time.  So they packed up their fishing poles and headed to Estes Lake to test the waters.

This hike was a test to see if I could handle a somewhat short and easy hike. Sadly, I had a really hard time hiking up the steep part with steps.  My heart flutters came back and this time they brought a friend:  massive headaches.

Once we leveled off on the top and of course on the way down, I was fine.  But it was very disheartening to realize the altitude was going to mess with me that much.  All the long hikes we had wanted to try were now out of my reach, which not only made me sad for me but for Jav and the boys.  Jav did not want to attempt a longer hike on his own.  And the way Macy had taken to hiking so far, I think she would've made a good go of a longer one too.  But it wasn't to be.

We still had a great time and saw beautiful views.  I told the kids about the rock sculptures thinking they would have fun making one.  They did, but I have since been schooled by several serious hikers that this practice is frowned upon due to messing with the natural landscape and the danger of the rocks falling on small animals.  So I will be encouraging them to refrain from building any more after this trip.  The lake itself has really different bird life and we could hear these strange (at least to us) calls back and forth.  There was a beautiful Colorado blue sky and cool weather.  What more could we ask for?

On the way back to the lodge Joel had his quote of the trip:  "I just saw a sign that said 'You are going to die!'  Long pause.  Then he said,  "Or maybe it said 'You need some pie', I'm not sure."  That kid cracks me up.  It turns out it said "You Need Pie" and was all over town, posted by the Estes Park Pie Shop and Bakery.

The Stanley Hotel nestled in the hills, famous
because it's where Stephen King had the idea for The Shining!

I had a good cry abut my physical woes when we got back to the cabin.  But my parents convinced me I needed to take it easy and enjoy just being in the mountains.  And when I finally stopped feeling sorry for myself long enough to think, they were absolutely right.  The point of this trip is to be with each other in this special place.  This place we have come to know so well on our 3rd visit here.  We walked down to the playground with the kids to watch them play shuffleboard - something I don't have any pictures of even though they went there each day we were there.  They got a game in and it started raining.  Joel was having trouble so Jav stayed with him so he could practice, even in the rain.(my little competitive sweet pea).

We decided to drive the Trail Ridge Road after lunch.  My parents have done it so many times they decided not to come with us, which we understood.  The road had barely opened when summer started due to the huge snowfall they experienced in the park in May.  The snowplows kept trying but weren't getting very far and it was too dangerous for them to try to navigate the roads at times.  The Visitor's Center and Gift Shop/Restaurant at the summit were completely buried under snow on Memorial Day!




                  

Never seen this sign before on any of our trips!

We got to the Visitor's Center and everyone was disappointed to find the steps leading up to the Summit that we always climb were closed due to ice!  But people were sneaking around the ropes and park rangers were having to follow them up and bring them back down.  Amazing how stupid and selfish people can be.  The kids were disappointed but we did some shopping.  About 5 minutes after leaving to head back down there was another spot people were stopping and walking up to a lookout point.  So Macy and G headed off, and Jav and Joel were quick to follow.  The rest of us waited all bundled in the cars.  The amount and ice and snow was truly amazing and it never fails to blow my mind how quickly the weather goes from sunny to cloudy to raining that high in the mountains.

When we got back we were hungry but didn't want to cook.  Jav and Philip went to pickup food from Smokin' Dave's BBQ.  They had a big variety of food, not just BBQ, and the food was really good.  My parents had not come down that night, so we decided to team up and play Cranium.  Some of us are really bad at drawing with our eyes closed, but I won't name any names.  (It's not me that's for sure!)

Another full and beautiful day.