Friday, July 17, 2015

Up Old Fall River Road in RMNP

 Hello, lovely readers!  Last Sunday, after church in Estes Park, we drove into Rocky Mountain National Park for the afternoon,  Since Old Fall River Road was open, we drove up to the Alpine Visitor's Center.
 Along the road, one can stop at different scenic spots to enjoy the view: or in this case a waterfall.
"Come on, slowpokes!" Chrissa raced down the path.
 "Honestly, Chrissa," I smiled, "we are coming.  You needn't be rude about it."
"And, I am not a slowpoke." Georgia tilted her chin upwards. "I just don't want to run around like a crazy dog."
"Why, Georgia, since when was I a crazy dog?"
"Ever since you were a puppy." Georgia whispered.
"I heard that!" Chrissa turned around and kept walking, backwards. "I am so . . . honored."
"Ugh!" Georgia said good-naturally. "You're about to trip." she added.
 Chrissa whirled around and jumped on the rock. "Here we are!"
"Hmm." I muttered. "1/1250th of a second or 1/15th?"
"What?"
"Oh, I was trying to decide what shutter speed to use for the waterfall." I explained. "At 1/15th of a second, the water would look silky, but I think there's already to much light for that.  1/1250th, on the other hand, would freeze the motion.  I shall go with 1/1250th."
 Here's the picture.  I experimented with a slow shutter speed too, but the picture was overexposed.
We walked back to the car and continued to drive up the road.
 It was a beautiful day to be in the park.
 Some little mountain flowers.
 We saw this cute little Marmot on the road.  It's always fun to see wildlife.
 Here's Old Fall River Road.  It's a gorgeous drive.  We rolled down our windows and let the mountain air blow in our hair.
 As the "river" part of the name suggests, we enjoyed listening to the rushing water for parts of the ride.
We stopped to eat lunch at a picnic spot.  We had packed a loaf of french bread, cheese, grapes, cherries, peanut butter, jelly, and crackers.  It was delicious!
 As we neared the Alpine Visitor's Center, my mom spotted a few elk.
 Trail Ridge Store and Cafe was named for the paved road that leads to it.  We drove up Trail Ridge Road the first Sunday that we were here, and it was snowing!  In June, no less.  Every Sunday since we arrived, we drove up into the Park.  It's been so fun, but this Sunday will be our last time.
After looking in the gift shop for a little while (and buying some postcards for our pen pals) our parents offered that we could drive down the other side of Trail Ridge Road, that we had not yet seen.  My sisters and I all agreed.
 Here was the view from one of the scenic overpasses.  I thoroughly enjoy being in Colorado and the mountains.  In our family, we joke that the highest place in Florida is Mount Trash-more, the landfill.
At Milner Pass, we got to see the continental divide.  I was on Atlantic Ocean drainage, Chrissa in the middle, and Georgia on Pacific Ocean drainage.
 We walked down to Lake Poudre, but didn't go all the way down, for it was rather muddy.
The lake was quite beautiful, though.
All in all,we had a wonderful day in Rocky Mountain National Park.
What National Parks have you visited?