Jake, Belle, and I spent the day taking in the gorgous fall colors and mountain scenery yesterday. We started by driving up through Lyons, and Belle pointed out all the artwork from the sculpture trail which she and I explored this summer.
There wasn't much for fall color on the way into Estes Park, but we got a huge (literally) surprise when we pulled into town and drove past the lake... There was an enormous bull elk just sitting there in the middle of the park with crowds of people all around! I thought it was a statue at first. Belle was begging her dad to pull over and practically jumping out of her seat. Unfortunately there was too much traffic and nowhere to park, but we promised to find more elk.
We drove up to the entrance of Rocky Mountain National Park and looked around the visitor's center and they said it was already so cold and snowy up there that some of the roads were closed. So after a kind of questionable start to the day we decided to venture out on our own and see what we could find. This approach proved to be rewarding. We got up close to some elk and the landscape was incredible as we drove through Allenspark and down along the St. Vrain River back into Lyons. What a day!
