A day at Rocky Mountain National Park (and Estes Park)

I hope you all have enjoyed your Saturday as much as we did!  It started out at sunny Fort Collins, where we were staying.  At around ten o'clock, we left the house for Estes Park (the city).  By the time that we got to Estes, it was raining.

"This ruins our plans." Chrissa said dejectedly.  "And I was so looking forward to feeding the chipmunks on Chipmunk Mountain."  I drove around Estes, trying to figure out what to do.

"We shouldn't go home, because we already drove all this way. We might as well go into Rocky Mountain National Park since we have a pass." I said.

"But it's RAINING!" Chrissa practically shouted. "How much fun can you have in a national park, where you spend all the time outdoors, when it's raining?!"

"Calm down, Chrissa.  It's not raining very hard right now anyway." I said.  Suddenly, a sound like pebbles hitting the car began.  It had started hailing.

"Well isn't this a pretty little mess." Chrissa said, scowling.

"I know!  We can drive up to Bear Lake.  By the time we get up there, the hail will have probably stopped and the rain will just be a light drizzle." I said.

"But won't it be unsafe to drive up a mountain with the weather the way it is?" Chrissa nervously asked.

"Don't you worry.  It'll be fine." I comforted.

"Ok, if you say so." Chrissa sighed.

Just as I predicted, the hail had stopped and the rain was very light by the time we were at Bear Lake.  Chrissa and I took a very enjoyable hike around the lake.  Unfortunately, we couldn't bring our new camera out of the car because of the rain.  After Bear Lake, we drove to Sprauge Lake to have lunch.  Here are some pictures from our walk around the lake.

After Sprauge Lake,  it had cleared up, so we drove back to Estes Park and Chipmunk Mountain.  

We road the tram up to the top.

The view was breath taking.

Here's a chipmunk eating one of the peanuts we gave him.  Chrissa has decided that besides dogs, chipmunks are now one of her favorite animals.  Usually, there are tons of chipmunks, chasing after you for peanuts, but yesterday it was hard to find any chipmunks who were hungry.  After taking the tram back down, we had dinner at McDonald's, then drove home.  How did you spend your Saturday?