Life Like a Vacation

Yesterday's morning jaunt to Rocky Mountain National Park reminded me, again, why I love living here.

Barely in the Park ten minutes, we spied these two bucks on the mountainside.

The gloriously gold aspen greeted us.

Majestic snow-capped mountains tower over Endo Valley.

The Alluvial Fan showed its lovely Autumn colors.

Not to keen on being photographed, this spike made a run for it.

This bull elk didn't seem to mind the camera at all.

When I came back a little later, he watched me from his resting spot in the grass. 

A magnificent fenced-off area of Endo Valley soothed our souls. 

Mallards, nestled in a far corner of the water, pleasantly surprised us.

Trees clothed in Fall finery lined the drive back to Estes Park.

This morning we ate breakfast at The Other Side restaurant. Our twenty-something server, from Texas, has resided in Estes five years. We asked him how he likes living here. He grinned, looked out the window next to us, and waved his hand toward the mountains. "It's a great place to live," he gushed. "Every morning I wake up and get to see all this.  I feel like I'm on vacation every day."


I couldn't have put it better myself.

Finding Joy in Quacks and Slacks

Dennis and I left the homestead early this morning and headed to Mc D's for coffee and food.  While we were waiting in the drive-thru line a mother duck and her three babies made an appearance.  They were headed for the little stream that runs through the Stanley Village shopping center in Estes Park.  I managed to get a couple of shots of the little family just before they reached the water. 

Here the little guys were trotting along the curb that mom had already crossed.  They appeared a bit boggled by the prospect of jumping up over the curb. 

After a foot or so, the lead duckling made a mad leap up onto the sidewalk and the other two followed.

They were too fast for my camera to catch them in the act, but I did nab them after the fact.  No doubt the leader is the oldest of the three and the control freak.  You gotta love the birth order.

After purchasing our breakfast, we drove up to Rocky Mountain National Park for our morning scripture reading and prayer (we're currently studying 1 Samuel and Proverbs).  We found a quiet, scenic place to park.  A young couple walked by that we earlier had passed while driving to our destination.  When we first saw them we were intrigued with the young man's beautiful pants of many colors and mentioned that it would be fun to snap a photo of the unique slacks for my blog.  Given a second chance at a possible photo op, Dennis couldn't resist asking them if they would pose for me.  They graciously agreed. Here's a big "thank you" to Ben and Ali, a very cool couple from Texas, for allowing me the privilege of photographing them, along with Ben's fabulous Peruvian pants.