Farewell to RMNP

We had our last trip to RMNP, unless we somehow manage to squeeze one more in. It was gorgeous with all the wildflowers blooming, and a cloudy day. It was so cool even the mosquitoes were out; and unfortunately Grace has inherited RD's 'sweet' blood that mosquitoes seem to love.

We went on a hike around Lily Lake, which is RMNP land but not inside the park, so you don't have to pay (if you're ever in the area).

It was a lot of fun; RD caught a native cutthroat greenback (or is it greenback cutthroat, I dont know)

There were some friendly chipmunks that must have been fed by other visitors, but Grace loved that they got so close, and was fascinated with them, laughing when they came close. The boys got to see some ducklings, a huge spiderweb, and a dead fish, so they were happy.

We visited the Glass Studio one last time, this is Reese's favorite stop, to see them blowing glass and to get a little piece of stamped glass they give to the kids.

Since we've been to RMNP mostly in the winter season, we've never gone on the Trail Ridge road, the highest continuous motorway in the US!!! Since it was summer, we decided to see that part of the park. The drive can be a little cautious, driving on top of a mountain with only a few feet from you and the edge, but it had great views. I got to take a little hike up the Alpine visitor trail, which was a little too steep for the kiddos (and they were asleep:)) with over 200 ft. elevation over less than 1/2 miles, and it was so beautiful!

We also got to see some elk and a marmot!!

We got the kids out at Rainbow curve, and they had fun pretending to fall over and generally make my anxiety level increase enought that we soon got in the car!

The boys wanted to stop by the Alluvial fan one more time, and Grace was SSOOO excited to be able to walk around, and tried climbing the rocks like the boys.

We are so sad to be leaving Fort Collins. It is both of our favorite geographical location; if we could put everything and everyone we love in one city, we'd do it here. 300 days of sunny weather, crazy chinook winds that will blow you over but warm up the winter, all the awesome trails, parks and recreation activities, great school system, smaller town, involved community and city! THe only copmlaint I have against FC is that for such a biker friendly community, they could have more street lights (but they don't cause it's very 'green' here), and could plow a little more in the winter (but the snow doesn't stay more than a couple days). Anyways, if you all would just move here, then we'll move back!