Monday Meanders

#1 Son and I spent the weekend visiting #2 Son and Bitsy, his wife, in Colorado.  Loveland, CO, to be exact.  Howmanytimes have you eversaid to yourself, "Boy, if I had the money ... "?  Yeah.  I'd like to live there.  I love that place.  But who has the money to relocate halfway across the country?

While there, we visited Estes Park, a charming little town smack in the middle of the mountains.  From there, we went up to Bear Lake, which is in Rocky Mountain National Park.  When I say UP, I mean UP.  Loveland is about 4900 feet ASL.  Bear Lake is 9200 feet ASL.  To visit and actually see Bear Lake, one must follow a trail through the woods.  Not a long trail - just a couple hundred yards.  I took some pictures.  I will publish here and on Facebook over the next several days.

The route from Loveland to Estes Park follows US 34 through a crack in the mountains that leads one through the Roosevelt National Forest.  Making that drive is something that should be on everyone's Bucket List.  Seriously.  It is stunning.

We made a trek from the parking lot at Bear Lake to Alberta Falls, also part of Rocky Mountain National Park. On trails, yes.  But a lot of uphill and down hill and the route covered something like a mile of very hilly terrain.  Somehow this fat old man made it, amazingly.  Especially considering that the elevation at Bear Lake is just a few hundred feet short of 10,000 feet ASL (Above Sea Level).  The air up there is decidedly thinner than it is at home, where the elevation is around 600 feet ASL.

And I HAVE to mention:  Nebraska,  from Omaha to Interstate 76, is the most boring 340 miles of Interstate Highway in the nation.

Ndinombethe.  Ubuntu.