Sunday-Tuesday, August 25 -27, 2019 - Manar RV Park, Estes Park, CO

Sunday-Tuesday, August 25 -27, 2019 - Manar RV Park, Estes Park, CO

Sunday, August 25, 2019 
We purposely planned our route this morning to arrive at our RV Park in Estes Park between 11-11:30.  When I made the reservation they told us to try and arrive as close to noon as possible.  The less vehicles around us, the better chance of backing in without any issues.  Having been in a park where that was a problem once or twice, we've not wanted to find ourselves in that predicament again.  We left Laramie, WY at 8:30am (64 degrees - it's already getting warmer) and arrived at Manar RV Park in Estes Park, CO at 11:37am.  It was already 76 degrees when we arrived and it's supposed to get a little warmer in a couple of days.  We aren't quite ready for the increased temperatures.

I remembered this tree carving from our last visit - and knew we were close to Estes Park!

I called about 30 minutes out to make sure no one was in our site.  They told us to come on in.  Fortunately our site was actually quite easy to back into - not sure it would have been much of a problem as there were vehicles at the sites next to us already.  That was sure a relief!  

We were soon set up and our neighbor behind us to the left who was outside, walked over and introduced himself as Eddie.  We visited a few minutes before going in to start getting things set up.

We were both hungry, so we turned on the air conditioners, and headed out to get something to eat and check out downtown Estes Park.

eacWe stopped at Scratch Deli where we each chose a delicious turkey, bacon & avocado sandwich.  They were huge and we could only eat half of them - so guess what's for supper tonight?

From there we headed to downtown Estes Park to check out the shops.  We had to park near this beautiful brook that runs through downtown, so I had to stop and snap a picture - of course!

There were a number of families here enjoying the coolness of the trees, and many children were enjoying the coolness of the water as well.

Just a snapshot of downtown Estes Park.  We left without purchasing anything, but we enjoyed browsing in the shops.

I loved all of the floral pots and plantings as they provided a beautiful setting for the area.

Back at the campground I took a few pictures.  I apologize for this one - I didn't look at it after I took it and didn't realize until later how poorly it came out.  This was across the road from our site - a beautiful brook and a community fire pit.

Our site at Manor RV Park, Estes Park, CO

This evening we stepped outside and our neighbors (Eddie and Gaynelle) were outside, so we went over to visit.  We had a very enjoyable time talking with them for over an hour or so.  What a great couple.


Monday, August 26, 2019

Today (Tuesday, Sept 10) we are in Hutchinson, KS for the Kansas State Fair.  I just realized that I did not post the last few updates, and I apologize for that.  I'm way behind and trying to catch up.

Continuing on with our Colorado adventure - today we wanted to drive from Estes Park to Grand Lake, CO.  What a beautiful, amazing and adventurous drive it was.  We climbed and climbed, then we climbed some more and saw beatuiful vistas everywhere we turned.  Rather than me try to put it in words, I'm going to share pictures of our trip with a few side notes thrown in here and there.

Todd this is for you!  

Long's Peak

As we made our way up the mountains I kept thinking how much higher are we going to go - many times I thought it.  Just when I thought surely we had reached the highest point, we'd turn and the road kept going.  It was just amazing and I'm so glad we took the time to make this drive.

We've already come up quite aways - but there is more to come.

See the roads we've already driven below?

There are several people up at the top of these rocks.  We didn't walk to it as this was at or near the highest point.  It was COLD, WINDY and we weren't sure how we would handle the altitude adjustment, so we just enjoyed watching them.

Then we hit road construction on a tight curve, with almost a straight drop-off!  

We were shocked how green and beautiful it was at the top - even with snow on the ground and as cold as it was.  It was just gorgeous!

We begin the descent

Then we make one last push up the mountain and we passed this bicyclist.  I would have been freezing had I been him, but I guess the pedaling warmed him up just fine.

One of many trails we noticed along the way.

This was the drive down the mountain - just a few switchbacks.

Views of Grand Lake as we came down the last hill

Grand Lake Lodge - fire truck and roadster were pretty nice.

By now we were starving, so we found Sagebrush Bar & Grill.  They had a great selection.  The food was good but didn't have a WOW factor. 

 We did enjoy watching this little chipmunk looking for scraps of peanuts from the shells on the floor all throughout the restaurant.  The doors are left open when it's nice - and it was a beautiful day.  I guess the chipmunk has been hanging around for a couple of weeks.  He knows a good thing when he sees it!

He kind of resembles Alvin  -  huh?  (The Chipmunk - not you Alvin B!)

 A few pictures I took in the downtown area of Grand Lake, a very attractive area.  Most of the side streets are not paved, but the view many of the houses have of the lake is amazing.

I loved this statuette of this girl reading her book with her dog patiently waiting for her.

 And on the return home, we happened to spy these elk on the hill above us as we drove by.

As you can imagine we were pretty much wore out after our day's adventure.  While Dean was outside shortly after we returned one of the neighbors next to us told us about the elk that were in the park early this morning, so tomorrow we are going to be up early - hoping to see them. 


Tuesday, August 27, 2019

We were up and headed out the door shortly after 6:30 this morning.  We saw several people out walking around at the other end of the park.  Sure enough, the elk were here.  Here are a few of the pictures I took.

When we arrived, the office staff told us about the elk and a black bear.  No one we talked to saw the black bear that often frequents the area, but we did hear stories about how he can open car doors.  We were advised to make sure the doors of all vehicles were always locked as they could open them and come right on in.  Basically it's because of food.  We also made sure we removed all food from the vehicles.  Our neighbor to the right of us said he had seen evidence of bears at more than one vehicle, so we took it seriously.

Today is our last day here in Estes Park.  I spent most of the morning getting some laundry done and I will do more once we arrive in Salina, KS - our last stop with full hookups for several days. 

This afternoon we decided we would get out and visit a couple of the lakes near us.

Bear Lake was the first stop.

This was such a beautiful little lake and it was busy!  Many people were hiking around it.  We thought about it but passed since it was so busy today.

If you look right in the middle above the grass in a limb is what I believe to be a stellar jay.  It was such a pretty color, but it didn't set still long so I had a difficult time getting a decent picture.

Here is another shot - more color but you can't see much but his tail and side feathers.  They moved way too fast for me!

Nature Trail around Bear Lake
It was pretty cool out today and we didn't realize it until we were in the shade of the trees all around the lake.  In the sun it was perfect!

 Sprague Lake Trail

Walkway to the lake.

 It was busy here as well, but not as much as at Bear Lake.

Another beautiful lake and area.

 

We returned to the campground where we started doing some packing and I did a little cleaning as well.  I had not had a chance to vacuum or dust for awhile and Bentley was really needing it. 

Once that was done we decided to splurge and head downtown to have Italian Food at Mama Rosa's.  We both ordered parmesean chicken.  They served it with a wonderful salad and garlic bread.  It was all very good. 

After we returned, we walked outside a short while later to see if there might be any more elk around this evening.  I was able to get one last picture.

Eddie and Gaynelle were putting some things back in their seating area outside their motorhome after Eddie had taken it to the car wash earlier.  I had mentioned to him earlier in the day that Gaynelle said she'd love to look at our RV, so we invited them to come on in.  Again, we had a great visit and are so glad we met this couple.

Tomorrow we will be heading back to Kansas.