Wapiti Weekend

We had a great time this weekend. Saturday morning we got up and loaded the car, grabbed a quick breakfast at Perkins, stopped by K-Mart for skewers, and headed on our way. We drove and we drove and we drove and twelve minutes later we arrived at our campground. :)

Let me backtrack here and give a little bit of history. A few years ago we went camping at our favorite campground, Hume Lake, in the Sequoias. We were fairly seasoned campers and had reserved our stay in the campground for several days. However, the prime spot was already reserved halfway through our planned trip, and another spot would be available for the remainder of our stay, but we would have to move at that point.

So we set up our tent in Prime Location, unloaded all the stuff that goes with tent camping ~ ice chest, food bins, sleeping bags, lanterns ~ you got it. We had an awesome time for several days, and then it was time to move.

Changing campsites when you are tent camping is quite the bummer. We basically had to repack everything, including the tents, move 1/4 mile away, and unpack everything again. It unfortunately wasted half the day.

I'd been tent camping with Ro since before we were married. We both loved it. But suddenly, as we looked at others camping in tent trailers, regular trailers, and motorhomes, we realized that if we'd had one of those fun little self-contained bundles of joy, our move to the second campsite would have been completed in just minutes.

So anyway... the following year an opportunity arose and we were able to partner with some others in purchasing a motorhome. It wasn't the coolest of rides, but man, we fell in love with the RV option immediately. Not only were all of our supplies handily stored away, but we learned (by experience) that we could camp in the rain (although it did leak some!). There are lots of advantages to an RV ~ all of which appealed to Ro and I, aging by the day. ;)

Unfortunately the joint owners all lived quite far from each other and Miss G came along so we couldn't camp last year anyway, and the mutual decision was made to sell the camper. When we decided to move to Colorado, Ro and I prayed diligently for God to open up another opportunity for us to purchase perhaps another travel trailer. We really were hoping that we would be able to, but nothing ever panned out, even though we kept looking even shortly after we made the move!

So, now here we are, and C asked one day not too long ago if we could go camping before summer was over. We haven't been as a family in two years, and Miss G has never been. Of course I wanted to go. But, we had no motorhome... we could stay in a tent but Ro would only have Saturday and Sunday off and it is getting a little cooler... and then I remembered an RV park not far from here that actually offered sleeper cabins to rent by the night... and we had a solution.

We learned awhile back that the nearby town at the gateway to the Rocky Mountain National Park, Estes Park, celebrates Elk Fest at the end of September. I have been looking forward to going since we first moved here. So I was able to coordinate the Elk Fest and camping trip and ~ bada bing ~ we had our first Colorado camping trip in the bag. :)

So anyway, back to the story... (I didn't write yesterday so I have twice as much to say today I guess) We arrived at our campground, got our cabin key, and unloaded our stuff before heading on up the highway along Big Thompson Canyon to Estes Park. The drive itself is gorgeous with beautiful canyon rock walls on both sides and the river winding along the way. Once we got into town, however... there were zillions of people. Literally, zillions. ;)

Driving into town though I looked out to the left and saw, scattered on the golf course, about two dozen elk. I couldn't believe it. Sure, they'd told us that elk come into the town for their rut season, but I still didn't think we'd see it. We pulled into the parking lot and hiked a short distance, and wow - elk right there in front of us, about thirty feet from me, docile and regal, and... amorous. ;) It was one of the coolest things I'd ever seen.

We stayed and watched for awhile and thought we'd head into town for the Fest, but the traffic... wow... we decided to take another road and ended up at Fall River, where there is another entrance to RMNP. We stopped for awhile at their wonderful visitor center, marveled at the gorgeous color of the aspens in the mountains, and got back in the car to head back to Estes Park.

Unfortunately, there were just too many people. We couldn't even find a place to park and we searched for quite awhile. We ended up just returning to the campground.* We explored a little ~ saw the nearby river, played at the playground, and played some family games. We really enjoyed just hanging out together. In fact, when another little boy came to ask J to play, he said, "No thanks, I want to do some family activities." :) Awwww...

*I forgot to mention we saw some bighorn sheep up in the rocky canyon ravines on the way back to the campground! Cool!

We barbecued burgers, played more games, and of course roasted marshmallows and made s'mores. After a short walk to just marvel at all the glorious stars, we turned in for an early night.

We had planned to just head home this morning after a leisurely time at the park but we (well, Ro and I at least) were so disappointed to miss the Fest yesterday that we headed back up to Estes Park early. This time we had no trouble finding parking, and in fact, the crowds were much, much thinner. We spent a couple of hours browsing the vendor booths, learning about elk and other wildlife, and then we browsed some shops before having a great lunch at a local burger place.

After lunch we headed on home, stopping again at the golf course to see more elk. We had such a wonderful time. The kids were so great and they even thanked us for a great trip. It was a short trip, but truthfully it was kind of nice to get home early, too. Ro and I managed to clean out the garage (I can park in there already!) and get some other things done around here. It was a great weekend!

Prayer Needs:

• My friend C is having her liver biopsy tomorrow. Her husband T has been sick and she needs to be healthy enough to take it, and her daughter J is having a rough time with the whole thing. Please pray for their whole family. Thank you.