We went to Estes Park, Co from Aug. 20-27th. Saturday to Saturday. After dropping off Abby at a Jan's (a very dear friend) house, we headed out about 9:00 am. It took us about 11 hrs after lots of potty breaks and eating. We drove N of Denver on I-25 to Longmont, Lyons and then into Estes Prk. We listened to a good audio book and the time went pretty fast. Drove in about 8:00 pm. We stay at the Worldmark Timeshare in a one bedroom deluxe that is right on the river. This is the second time we have stayed in this same condo. Great location.
Bad news was that no internet and very poor Verizon cell service. We had to go out to the parking lot to get cell phone reception & to McDonald's to get internet.
Our condo is on the bottom floor (where Don is standing in front) and the view are the two pictures of the river. When I walked to the pool area I could see the mountains.
After a leisurely start on Sunday morning, we decided to do some geocaching around town. I think we found about 7 on Sunday.
This is the famous haunted Stanley Hotel in Estes Park. It was the hotel that inspired Stephen King to write the "The Shinning". We haven't toured it but will need to the next time in town.
Nice mural on side of building. These pictures were taken while we were geocaching around town.
Monday we were ready to head out to the Rocky Mountain National Park. 
After stopping at the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center for maps we decided to drive the one way, nine mile, dirt road "Old Fall River Road". 
Beautiful views and lots of water. We stopped often to walk around. 
We reached the Alpine Visitor's Center & had some lunch and enjoyed the views.
As the clouds were moving in we starting heading down the mountains. We decided to do some earthcaches on the way down. 
Don is highlighting Mt. Julian that is at an elevation of 12,978 on the Gore Range of mountains.
Next stop was a short hike up the Tundra Trail to study the mushroom rocks and we saw our first elk herd grazing. It was cooling off at this elevation.
We weren't along on the trails anywhere. Lots of tourist visitors.
Next stop is Forest Canyon with a beautiful lake
Great day driving the park. Lots of trees dying because of the bark beetle all over the park.
When we got back to the condo this big elk was out front. I was taking the picture from the car.
Tuesday it was time to start hiking and Don had studied the trails and picked the Wild Basin Area. It was on Hwy 7 about forty minutes away. I didn't know where we were going and Don thought he did. After we had been driving longer than the forty min. we realized we had missed the turn. Just a small detour. LOL
When hiked to Copeland Falls, Calypso Cascades and then to Ouzel Falls. An elevation change of 950 ft and 2.7 miles one way, which meant it was a 5.4 miles hike. It followed a roaring stream all the way. 
We went home tired and ready for an adult beverage & coke.
Wednesday was another hiking day. We went to the Moraine Park Visitor Center to catch the hiking shuttle because most trailhead parking lots are full by 8:30 am. We hiked to Mills lake and back a distance of 5 miles.
We met a couple of girls on the bus and walked with them most of the way. I think their names were Janet and Ester. We had lunch at the lake.
Thursday was a rest day from hiking and we decided to do a few more caches around town. We found a few in the morning but I wasn't feeling well, my back was hurting & I was grumpy so we hadn't back to the condo for a rest and lunch. We went back out later in the afternoon and we found a total of 8 caches that day.
Friday was the last day in the park. We decided to head out earlier because I needed to do some shopping around town in the afternoon. Got started by 8 and headed to the Cub Lake trailhead. We were going to do a loop that went to Cub Lake and then the Pool and back to the car. 
The loop was 5.2 miles. We met another couple on the last part of the loop that knew that we had parked at the club lake trailhead which was a mile from where we were coming out. They offered us a ride to our car. Thank Goodness for nice people!! We got back to the room by 1:00. I showered and was out the door to go shopping. I had a good time but only bought a few scrapbooking supplies. It started raining like it did most afternoons and I headed back to the room to pack up to go home.
Temperatures in the morning were lower fifties and afternoon were middle eighties. Very nice! Goodbye Estes Park, CO.
Headed out on Saturday morning about 7:00 and got back to Ruidoso by 5:00. We were so glad to see Abby. She had a wonderful week with Jan and Charlie and slept all evening.
Another great VACATION!!
