Get Thee to the Mountains!

I'm sorry.  

Clearly I had gone done lost my mind, because I had not dragged my family to Rocky Mountain National Park in months!  WHAT?!  How could I let that happen?  What kind of nature lovin' mama am I?  

Not to worry, once a free weekend opened up, we were all over it, and off we went to one of our favorite Colorado spots.

It was one of those blinding-mountain-sun types of mornings, but it felt good.

We drove up and over Trail Ridge Road and ate lunch at our favorite Grand Lake spot.  We kinda dig Grand Lake.  In fact, it's getting to where we spend more time there than in Estes Park.  There aren't as many people, and the drive there is crazy beautiful.

The beach at Grand Lake is an area we have yet to explore in detail, but Dale and Rose were in complete awe over the sand and waves.

We explored town just long enough to find a cool moth and yummy ice cream.

Driving through Rocky Mountain National Park is always full of new surprises.  This is Dale's I-see-a-moose-face.

We saw seven moose that day.  Maybe you didn't hear me...I said, we saw SEVEN moose that day.

I seeeee you!

We stopped at a favorite spot of mine, where I made Dale stand in a field of yellow flowers and smile sweetly for me.

Ahh, the flowers.  They were everywhere!

As always, we also saw bulls...

And rams...

And marmots...

And pikas...

The animal count for the day may have been our highest yet!

What a glorious day for our family.