Colorado-4th of July 2012

Happy 4th of July from Estes Park! Due to the fires in Coloardo, the extreme heat, wind and no rain--there were no fireworks in Estes Park this year. We enjoyed the day regardless!

I don't know why it won't let me flip this picture!

We took a break from hiking on the 4th and drove up a one way, gravel road, straight up the mountain instead!  The name of the road is Old Fall River Road. The past 3 times we've been to Estes, it's been closed due to too much snow, so we took advantage of it being open! It was an 11 mile drive and it was beautiful! It wasn't TOO nerve wracking, but it was worth paying attention to!

While we were driving up, we saw an older man running, along with others who were biking!

The next two pictures were taken from inside the car, so there's some glare/reflection from the windshield.

We pulled over a couple of times and once there was an Elk (or a Donkey, as Bishop called him), standing in the prairie.

The sticks are there to let the snowplows know where the road is, when they can't see due to so much snow!

We made it!! It was VERY cool at the top! Probably a 20-30 degree difference from the bottom!

We started out on a short hike, (with no trees, since we were above the treeline) and Bishop had to go potty! :) He then became too cold, so we turned around and headed back to have some lunch.

We hung out in the pool for awhile again this afternoon. I took Bishop down, while Luke hung out with Nora. I had a couple of rules while we were in the pool--Bishop couldn't jump to me in the deep end, because I couldn't touch (it was 8 feet deep) AND he had to jump in the pool forwards, not backwards. The stinker kept jumping in and twisting around so he would be facing the edge of the pool. He did this over and over and over......I should have counted! I was exhausted catching him, he had to be tired from jumping all those times!

We showered up and got ready for our night out. We ate out downtown Estes, which was fun. The food wasn't so great, but the atmosphere made up for it! We sat outside and there was a man playing guitar and singing and we were basically in the front row, so it was prefect to keep Bishop's attention!

Enjoying the music

Due to the fires, fireworks were cancelled, so they held a "light show" and had activities. We figured it'd be packed and it would be hard to get a parking spot....and we were told there were shuttles we could take. We walked from the other end of town to get there.....only to find out there was PLENTY of room to park! We took the shuttle part way back on the way home! Luke pointed out that this was a time when our "planning ahead and being proactive" backfired on us! :)

It was like a mini fair--but very mini and only locals were there. They had face painting and other activities. It said there'd be a jumpy house, and Bishop was all excited for it, but they had the bungee run thing instead. Oh well. There was live music, so that was fun.

Bishop's first time eating cotton candy

There was free punch and Bishop couldn't get enough of it! He was crazy about the red punch!

Although we missed the fireworks (and didn't stay out late enough for the light show), it was still fun to get out on the 4th!