Hooray, hooray, we're on our way!

Mission accomplished at Best Buy
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So, our vacation got off to a day’s earlier start. Rather than leaving this morning (Sunday), I decided we just needed to get the heck out of Dodge (okay, Hays) yesterday. After running around all morning doing last-minute errands, doing laundry and going to a baby shower, we hit the road a little before 5:00. Encountered some pretty hard rain along the way, stopped for dinner in Limon, and pulled into the Wyndam Denver Tech Center around 9:15. After such a long day, I feel asleep quickly watching Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Such an exciting pair we are!

Chap and Casey make it to Estes Park!
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This morning, had a fabulous breakfast at a diner over by Denver University, which just happened to be down the street from our favorite Episcopal Church in Denver. Okay, it’s the only one we’ve been to, but it’s awesome – nice blend of traditional and contemporary, and the parish seems really alive! After a long mass that actually began LATE, we hit the road for Estes Park over Boulder. We went through Boulder because we had to stop at a Best Buy to pick up a battery charger for our digital camera, and we knew one was there!

Lo and behold, a friend of mine from Hays, Mendi Alexander, and her husband and daughter were there in Estes Park.

Small world - finding a friend from Hays in the middle of Estes Park
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Purchase complete, we hit the road for Estes Park. Pretty drive, climbing higher and higher into the foothills of the Rockies! We arrived in Estes around 2:00 to bumper-to-bumper traffic. Didn’t remember how touristy Estes Park was. Or perhaps it wasn’t so bad when I was there as a kid. On our way into town, traffic came to a stand still because the elk decided to play in the street. I thought this was novel, that the poor things got lost coming down from the mountain, but evidently this is the norm, not the exception. One shopkeeper told me the elk have more rights than people do!

After checking in to our motel (which was a lot nicer than I feared it would be!), we decided we better get a bite before we gnawed our arms off, so we made our way to The Smiling Elk, which had multi-level patios and live music playing. We made our way to the top to see a fabulous view, had some nachos and drank one of what we plan to be many microbrews. Along with the many touristy shops come ice cream shops, so we had dessert there (black raspberry – yum!). What the heck, we’re on vacation.

Then the strangest thing happened. We were relaxing along the babbling creek/river that runs throughout Estes Park, and someone called my name. Lo and behold, a friend of mine from Hays, Mendi Alexander, and her husband and daughter were there in Estes Park. Small world! We commemorated the event with a snapshot.

Having our fill of shops, we decided to hit the road to check out the area. We found ourselves on Co34 on our way to Loveland. What a fun road that was, with all the S-curves and gentle switchbacks. We went as far as Drake and turned around. Chap drove there, and I drove back, and we both agreed we’re glad to have the Monte Carlo on this trip! I know it will get interesting tomorrow when we hit Rocky Mountain National Park!

We capped off the evening with a craptacular dinner at Estes Park Brewery – they were out of most of the beers (and mine was flat!), the food was marginal, and it was really loud in there. Needless to say, we hope that is the worst meal we have in the next week! And back to the hotel at 9:30, pretty much worn out from our day of doing…very little!