Day 4 (July 7): Rocky Mountain National Park

Total Driving Distance: 509.5 miles (trip total: 2,178.2 miles)

States Traveled To: South Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado

Main Activities: Driving, Rocky Mountain National Park

We left South Dakota around 8:30 in the morning, a little later than we had planned. We saw a sign reading PANCAKE BREAKFAST at the front desk, so we decided to check it out. For some reason we had thought it said FREE PANCAKE BREAKFAST, so we were bummed to find out that it was $6.50 for a plate of pancakes and bacon. Before leaving, I decided to pick up a KOA "Value Kard" which will s

ave us about 10% on all KOAs we stay at for the rest of the trip.

The drive through Wyoming was long. We only saw a gas station about once every fifty miles, yet we saw an adult videostore or strip club about every five miles. We tried to get through Wyoming as quickly as possible.

Once we reached Colorado, we headed straight for Rocky Mountain National Park via Estes Park, the beautiful mountain town. Our first stop was at the

Historic Stanley Hotel, aka the hotel that The Shining is based on. This was not the hotel used in the movie, but it was the one that Stephen King had in mind when he wrote the book.

Then we headed into the Park. I had actually been there before, but it is one of those places that you can never see all of and every time you go you see something new. The drive through the park is unbelievably beautiful. We stopped about every five minutes to walk short trails, check out scenic viewpoints, or even to just walk along the road instead of driving.

We drove past one viewpoint where we saw a lot of people gathered, so we stopped to see what all the hubbub was about. When we got out, we saw tons of birds and chipmunks running/flying around. These chipmunks were really strange because they weren't afraid of people. They were actually scurrying up to people and seeing if they had food. Liz was overwhelmed with the cuteness so she ran to get some bread to feed them. But when we began holding out bread for them to eat, we were promptly corrected by a man with a huge camera, who told us that chipmunks don't eat bread, they eat peanuts (duh.). So we fed them peanuts instead.

Shortly after that, we stopped at a high-altitude and windy trail. We walked out among the rocks but then we started shivering because it was so cold so we decided to turn back. But before we did, Liz noticed something moving in between rocks. It was a giant gopher! He was really fat but super fast for some reason. We immediately named him Goph and watched him as he leaped away at lightning-fast speed.

The next trail we stopped at was covered in snow. We saw two elk walking around in the snow and walked out to see what they were doing. When we reached the top of the hill, we saw an entire herd of elk grazing in the grass! Then the two elk we saw started playing with each other. At first we started they were fighting or bucking but then we figured out that they were just playing with each other. It was a sight to see.

Our next stop was the Visitor's Center, near one of the highest points in the Park, which turned out to be closed. Why it closes at 5:30 I do not know, but we were mad that we didn't get to check out the gift shop.

Next to the Visitor's Center was a long, steep trail to one of the best views in the entire Park. The trail was very tiring and the altitude got to us immediately. We took our time getting up and stopped to catch our breath at the top.

Leaving the Park, we saw more elk that were right on the side of the road. We also saw an enormous moose once we left the park.

That night we drove through the mountains to Denver, where we stayed with Liz's cousin Kevin and his boyfriend Jeff. It was amazing to finally sleep in a bed and it helped that their townhouse was one of the most beautiful houses I've ever been in. The suburb of Denver that they lived in, Lakewood, was equally beautiful and had so much going on. We were so excited to be able to relax (and not drive) for at least two days.