September 15, 2018 Allenspark to Fort Collins, CO

It was time to pack up and head back to Fort Collins today. After breakfast, we did the housekeeping and loaded our cars. Tobey, Penny, and I decided to drive the Peak-to-Peak Highway back to Fort Collins so we could enjoy the fall colors.

We stopped a few times between Allenspark and Nederland to enjoy the beautiful scenery. The aspen were definitely in full glory! Beyond Nederland, entering the Boulder Canyon on Hwy. 119, the colors were not quite ready, but it is still a beautiful drive. We stopped to let Penny have a brief walk in Boulder Creek. Water levels are SO LOW, the drought in Colorado is evident.

We watched a couple guys rock climbing before getting back on our way. It certainly isn’t a sport I want to learn!

So we are home and unpacked. It wasn’t Myrtle Beach, but we had a great time and are safe and dry!

September 14, 2018 - Allenspark, CO

We got an early start today – about 9:30 – to head into Estes Park. Dante and Lisa introduced us to the game of pickleball. What a fun game! If you haven’t played, it is a like combination of tennis, badminton, and table tennis. It is played on a smaller court than tennis, a solid paddle, and uses a ball similar to a Whiffle ball. It was pretty windy, so that adds another challenge-dimension to the game, since the ball is so light. I haven’t played tennis in over 30 years, so Dante had the handicap on his team (me). Tobey used to play handball and racquetball and is the ping pong champion at our house, so he and Lisa were tough opponents. It was fun and we will definitely play again.

After our games of pickleball, we headed into the touristy part of town. We looked around in a few of the shops and made our stop at Laura’s Fudge Shop. Yum, yum!

The afternoon was filled with relaxing, reading, napping, and a short walk with Penny. We also learned a new dice/card game, Shut the Box.

Lisa made a delicious dinner of burritos with green chili. After cleaning up dishes, we played another new game, Codenames. It is a great mind game and was challenging – probably not the best thing to play with our tired brains!

We have had a great time, but we all are anxious to hear how Hurricane Florence is affecting the East Coast. Our prayers go out to everyone in that region.

September 13, 2018 - Allenspark, Colorado

We had a leisurely start to the day before getting on the hiking boots and heading out. Penny was excited she was able to go with us!
We hiked about 1-1/2 miles to a great little pond and, of course, Penny was in the water before we could stop her!

She loves chasing sticks so Tobey spent quite a while tossing them for her. She was most upset when it was time to get out.

 
Just past the pond we spotted a hawk landing in the tree. It was fun to watch him soaring.
The colors are beautiful and the smell of the pines amazing.
Back at the cabin, Lisa put peanuts on the railing and one stellar jay made his way to the railing several times to pick them up and retreat to the safety of the pines to eat the nuts.
We grilled steaks tonight and another Fort Collins friend joined us for the evening. It was fun visiting then sitting around the ENCLOSED fire pit for a couple hours. Tobey & Dante doused the fire well with the hose before we called it a day.

September 12, 2018 - Fort Collins to Allenspark, CO

Sometimes when you plan a vacation things don’t always work out the way you plan. We were supposed to fly to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina yesterday but a “little” hurricane named Florence changed those plans. We had been watching the weather and started making phone calls to the resort last Friday to see what they were doing about reservations. On MONDAY, they finally cancelled the reservations! We cancelled our flights and our neighbors, Dante and Lisa, who were supposed to travel with us, invited us to join them at their family cabin in Allenspark instead. It’s not the beach, but it is incredibly beautiful!

After settling in at the cabin we hopped in the car and headed up to Rocky Mountain National Park. We drove to Bear Lake and hiked the one mile loop around the lake. The fall colors are beautiful – and early – because of our drought conditions this summer.

We headed toward the Alluvial Fan area of the park and were lucky enough to spot a mother bear and cub making their way along the stream! I think this was the first time we have ever seen bears in Rocky Mountain National Park. It was exciting!We hoped to hear the elk bugling so we headed over to the Horseshoe park area. None there, but we were able to see smoke from one of the fires west of the park. We turned and headed back to the main road, we spotted a few elk back in the trees and stopped. They never came out to the meadow, but we could hear them bugling.We finished off the day with dinner at Smokin’ Dave’s BBQ in Estes Park then a few games of cards back at the cabin.