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Monday, October 1, 2012

Go West Old Man – Estes Park With The Brown’s – 2012

One of Bob and Lea Ann Brown's (Cooking On The Ranch) favorite places to visit is The Rocky Mountain National Park, located a couple of hours northwest of Denver, and she has posted a few times about their visits to a cabin they like.  I was beyond elated when she suggested, back during the summer, that we all go up there and spend the night during our Denver visit, especially considering she had to take vacation from work to do this with people she’d never met. 

We drove north to Loveland, CO then west to Estes Park, following the Big Thompson River through its canyon – click here for some shots of it - mine didn't tun out.  Check this out for what happened in 1976 when a storm dumped a foot of water on the canyon in a short period of time.

Then we stopped at the Viestenz-Smith Mountain Park, which was a green oasis in the dry, brown countryside with the river flowing beside it and nice picnicking facilities. 
Lea Ann and Bob immediately began unloading the trunk and we soon had a picnic lunch spread out before us including cheeses, salami, olives, crackers and apples – it was perfect. 
Lea Ann tossed some enticement fruit on the ground and this is her taking a photo of the Stellers Jay she lured in.

We continued our scenic drive with stops at the Colorado Cherry Company and the Glen Haven General Store, famous for their cinnamon rolls.
In early afternoon, we arrived at the Sunnyside Knoll Resort just a short distance from the entrance to the RMNP.  The cabin is actually a duplex which worked perfectly for us, especially since they accepted pets.

After settling in, Bob suggested we go for a drive in the park and look for some wildlife.  It didn’t take long to find elk – this first guy was lying in the trees while the second fellow was herding a couple of females down the mountain toward the valley pasture.

Were the elk easy to find you ask?  We shot this young guy while sitting in the car as he crossed the road.

I didn’t have the lens to reach out and get some of the grazing herds but some folks had them a foot long and on a tripod – keep an eye on Lea Ann’s blog as she had a longer lens than mine and may post some.  Here are some shots of the meadows and mountains, including a little smoky haze.

At happy hour we headed back to the cabin for a little wine and conversation.
I just love this next shot.as Bob appears to be explaining how IT IS to Bev while Lea Ann checks his facts on her IPad J 

After a little libation, Lea Ann served us a shrimp cocktail with a very unique cocktail sauce which will be a must-try when we get home (LA correct me if this isn’t it, same for the posole) followed by a delicious posole which cooked in the crockpot from meat she had roasted at home.  After that, we just waddled off to bed – what a great day it was.

I'm now responding to your comments and photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

9/20/12 event date

22 comments:

  1. I enlarged the pictures and what a treat. That was a huge Elk and he really got close to your car.

    You guys have fun everywhere you go. Hi Lea Ann & Bob. Hope you can come East sometime. And Coco, you're on the cover of the blog in mom's lap! Way to go.

    Great post Larry.
    Sam

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    1. Thanks Sam - I was driving down the rode when I took the shot of Bev in her normal co-pilots positon.

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  2. I do love that last photo. Too funny. Very nice write up Larry and I had forgotten about many of the pictures you had taken. Wish we would have taken one of photographer's row with all the big lenses. What a nice trip we had to Estes. Such great memories.

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    1. I thought you would like it and that's why I saved it for last.

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  3. I would love to see some Elk's up close and personal!

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    1. Pam - You can tell they spend lots of time around humans as he was totally unconcerned with our presence.

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  4. Great pictures Larry and it looks like a fun adventure. I love the new header of Bev with the dogs - so cute.

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    1. Pam - See my reply to Sam - I think Bev sometimes regrets wanting to have lap dogs, but they are ideal travelers as you can tell from the sacked out Sweetie.

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  5. Larry, We both love the classic lead blog photo of Bev and her babies! It's a classic for sure. It's great that you were able to hook up with Lea Ann and Bob after all of the mutual blogging and sharing of recipes. Great elk photos...and it was satisfying to see the Elk Traffic jam on the link you provided. It's just like a Cade's Cove Deer or Black Bear traffic jam. (We saw 3 bear this past week at Cade's Cove) Looks like you guys had a great trip! Take Care, Big Daddy Dave and Laurie

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    1. Wows - you were lucky to see that many bear - more than i've seen in 40 years.

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  6. How wonderful that you got to spend some time with Lea Ann and her hubby in their beautiful neck of the Colorado woods.

    Great shots of the elk too - even without the foot long lens!

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    1. Thanks Susan - it will be remembered and hopefully repeated.

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  7. You know I am reliving my life out west with your photos and all the places you've visited, places I used to visit too. I only lived there 5 years but still remember the unbelievable beauty. Thanks Larry! My brother who lives in Littleton, still gets elk and deer in his yard - all the time!

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  8. Glad to be bringing back memories Tricia.

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  9. We drove along the Big Thompson River a couple of times while we were visiting Rocky Mountain National Park. I remember passing the Colorado Cherry Company, but we didn't stop. We also saw quite a few elk in the park as well.

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    1. It was quite the drive and US-6 (as do others) cut a similar gorge further south.

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  10. Wow, I'm always amazed at how big Elk are!!
    I love that you and Lea Ann posted about your meeting on the same day... or at least I saw them on the same day :)

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  11. Jenn - We posted the same day by happenstance and I'm glad it worked out that way.

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  12. Those elk look a little bigger than the ones reintroduced to the Smoky Mountains, don't you think? I know it is hard to tell from the picture.

    So glad the 4 of you got to spend time together and at the different venues. Anytime I wonder about a specific type of bird, I always think "Too bad Lea Ann isn't hear."

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  13. I am loving all the pictures, Larry!

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  14. Lindas imágenes me encanta el viejo oeste ,adoro los alces,abrazos y saludos desde el sur de Chile.

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I appreciate and enjoy your comments