Day 6 (Hiking)

We got up early today and drove to the park and ride. From there we took a shuttle to Bear Lake. When we were waiting for the shuttle a large crowd was gathering. I was thinking there is no way all these people are getting on the next shuttle. I was wrong. After all the seats were taken they started packing us in the isles and doorways. We were standing next to the rear doors, and that was fine until they had to open them, because they opened in. We managed to survive the trip and were ready to hike.

Here are the girls right before we started on the hike.

 

 

 

 

We went on the Nymph, Dream, Emerald Lake hike. We took this hike last year and most of it was covered in snow. We couldn’t wait to see how it would be a month later in the season.

Here we are at Nymph lake.

 

 

 

 

We found some snow, but it wasn’t the same.

 

 

 

 

 

We stopped at Dream Lake and had lunch.

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a shot of Dream Lake and the mountains.

 

 

 

 

 

Here are the kids on the trail.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alexis kept climbing out on rocks, and she couldn’t always get back. Here I am helping here back. I grabbed her hand and started to count, but she jumped on 1. Luckily I was ready and she made it safely back to shore.

 

Here are the kids at Emerald Lake. Last year it was half frozen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the way back we went off the trail a little bit and found this neat area. The kids climbed up this rock and we took some pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the picture at the top of the rock. The only problem was Aug’s hat.

 

 

 

 

Alyssa pulled Aug’s hat off, Aug swatted Alexis, and Alexis snapped her head back into Alyssa’s, and Ashley just kept smiling for the picture.

 

 

Here is a great shot from that area next to Emerald Lake.

 

 

 

 

Here is a Stellar Jay we saw on the way back.

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a picture of Dream Lake that is actually 4 pictures stitched together.

 

 

 

After we finished hiking we were tired and couldn’t decide what to do for dinner. Alexis kept bugging us to go our for pizza and we finally gave in. We went to the Village Pizza in Estes Park. They have a great “The Works” pizza that we love. Everything was going great until Colleen looked over at Alexis and noticed something was wrong. Colleen asked Alexis if she was choking and Alexis did not respond. Alexis grabbed her drink and took a sip, but something was still not right. It turns out she took a big bite of cheese and it was so gooey that half of it went down her thought and half stayed in her mouth, but the halves were still connected. She was finally able to swallow the rest and everything was ok. This was a first for us, and it was a good time to remind the kids of the universal sign for choking. 

We headed back to Rock Mountain National Park and went to a ranger program. It was at the Amphitheater in the campground. I did not know it would be so high tech. It was a computerized slide show with sound and video. Everyone thought it was great. We like it so much we went back the next 2 night to see more.