Rocky Mountain High

Colorado is just a gorgeous state. We spent the bulk of our time in Estes Park, a small tourist town at the mouth of Rocky Mountain National Park. I'll let the views do the talking.

 

There was a creek literally right below our little condo patio. It flowed through town, winding around the little downtown and then ending up who knows where. Nate and Daddy would go down there while Mommy read her magazines. Nate would 'fish' and Dan would rearrange the rocks in the river to divert flow. He made some progress actually, I was impressed. 

The creek, however, was more of a detriment when Nate threw his shoe into it. Dan made a mad dash to rescue it to no avail. What a comedy of errors: Dan running on wet rocks for a shoe, me trying to plant my wine glass in the river banks so that I can watch Nate but the wineglass topples and Nate falls face first into the water cutting his lip. And meanwhile these two ladies were watching from shore, I'm sure laughing at the whole episode.

Here's Nate fishing.

I love this picture of Nate is Dan's lap looking down, very poetic.

The town of Estes was littered with elk. One night we were eating dinner overlooking the central park and some elk wandered down to chomp some grass. I wonder if the city pays them for lawn upkeep. Another night we were driving home from dinner and came upon about 7 or 8 elk at the side of the road, eating. This is how close we were...

The Stanley Hotel is a stalwart Estes Park landmark, made most famous by none other than Stephen King's The Shining. In fact, for guests staying there, they have a whole channel dedicated to the movie on repeat. The Shining was actually my very first rated R movie, when I was 10, over at Marisa Bernstein's house. She had cable. Not the kind of movie you want to be your first rated R.

I digress. The Stanley Hotel is just gorgeous, nestled into the hills, with a stunning view from the veranda. One night, in fact, Dan and I got a babysitter and spent a good 2 hours on that veranda sipping cocktails. The bartender there makes a *stiff* cosmo.

Nate knows to take his shoes (and socks?) off on leather furniture.