Good morning from Colorado (More Pics Added)

[MarkBarbieri]

We drove up Friday afternoon and Saturday. We got to my parent's house in Estes Park late Saturday afternoon. We haven't gone anywhere yet, but we've seen lots of wildlife. We've seen about a dozen elk, a coyote, and countless hummingbirds. I think we had about 20 at just a few feeders around dusk last night.

When I got up this morning, we had six big bull elk mowing the front lawn. Here is a quick G9 shot of four of them. I actually up here for work, so I didn't bring my regular camera gear. I'll bring that when we come up in August.

 

[Quicklabs]

Wow! What a beautiful scene to which to wake up.

 

[WDWFigment]

Sights like this really make me question living in Indiana.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

Estes Park is a gorgeous place to visit, but there is no way that I'd live here. First, there aren't a lot of jobs unless you want to run a little tourist shop. Second, it's cold here. Really cold. They get snow in May. My wife doesn't like to live anywhere that it snows on an annual basis, let alone for 9 months out of the year.

 

[Tickla]

I bet you could tell me wether or not an early December trip to Estes Park, Denver, & Colorado Springs would be fun? I've never been there, and this is our annual vacation week--we are from Minnesota, so we love the snow, but is it ok for driving around that time of year? We would basically be staying at the Stanley hotel in Estes Park, not doing too much else there--most of our activities would be in Denver & Colorado Springs. Thanks for any help!

 

[MarkBarbieri]

A December trip will be cold. It might be snowy and it might not. It's pretty dry here. There is no good downhill skiing here. Our kids have had fun sledding at that time of year. If a storm comes up, the roads may be closed for a while, but they keep them plowed well. The town is pretty around Christmas.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

I'm done with work for the week. We're back in Estes Park. We hiked up to Emerald Lake today. I brought along the G9 and took a few shots.

My younger son in the snow by a creek.

Both boys playing in the snow

Looking across Dream Lake

A fish swimming in the lake

Looking across Emerald Lake

That's me pretending to relax in a tree on the shore of Emerald Lake. In reality, the entire place was buzzing with mosquitos, so I couldn't wait to get out of there.

My older son playing in the snow

You can definitely see that photography has become a popular hobby again.

Heading back down the trail

 

[MarkBarbieri]

I don't have any photos of it, but we had an interesting show tonight. After dinner, I was looking out the window and saw a coyote approaching the house. From a different direction, a young bull elk was also approaching. I'm not sure if the coyote said something, but the elk seemed to have taken great offense. For 5 minutes the elk chased the coyote around the woods near the house until the coyote went tearing off (with the elk in hot pursuit) to his den in a thicket at the bottom of the field.

 

[My2Girls66]

Wow! What a beautiful place! I've only seen Colorado in the winter- looks like a summer visit is in order. That must have been a sight- elk chasing coyote

 

[andrewmoquin]

It's really a nice day to woke up seeing those beautiful creatures on Earth. It will makes you smile and enjoy the rest of the day. Beautiful scenes can really inspire you knowing that God is very creative and kind to the all the living creatures.