Family Vacation 2020, Part 3 - Colorado
- Lauren Catron
- Sep 23, 2020
- 5 min read
Be sure to check out Family Vacation 2020, Part 1 - South Dakota! and Family Vacation 2020, Part 2 - Wyoming for more of our trip!
Day 9 Continued
We made it to Granby, Colorado around lunchtime so we stopped at Maverick's Grille for a quick bite. Nothing fancy, we got salads, but y'all it was one of the best salads I've ever had! Henry devoured the chicken fingers, per usual, and we were on our way.
I remember making a comment as we drove toward the park. "Drew, look at those massive clouds!" Little did we know...those were not your typical clouds. More on that later.
Due to COVID-19, in order to enter Rocky Mountain National Park, you must make a reservation ahead of time. Our timed entry was between 2:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. No earlier, no later, otherwise they turn you away.
We made it at exactly 2:00 p.m. We took our family picture and headed for the gate.
Once we got to the gate, we were informed that due to the Cameron Peak Fire, they would be closing about a 10 mile stretch of the main road, Trail Ridge Road at exactly 3:00 p.m. That means we had an hour to get to the other side of where they would close the road. We quickly ducked into the visitors center to get Henry's passport book stamped, and (safely) raced to get to the other side in time. Otherwise we would have to turn around, and we would not make it to the Estes Park side.
Making no stops, we made it to the other side, with literally minutes to spare. Park rangers were all around making sure people knew the road was closing. But as we drove further into the park, we quickly realized what we thought were clouds, were actually plumes of smoke from the fire. They were massive, and growing darker and darker. The park was ON FIRE.
Once we knew where at a safe distance and we wouldn't have to turn around from the road closure, we stopped over at Tundra Communities Trailhead to hike to the top to get a better view of the fire. If you looked closely, you could actually see the flames. The wind was blowing crazy that day, and you could just see the smoke plumes getting bigger and darker. You could see red in the clouds, which I took to be the heat from the flames. (I may be wrong on this, so don't quote me on it!)
It literally was the craziest thing we'd ever seen.
We made it through the beautiful park within an hour or so. I feel slightly bad because I feel like our main focus was on the smoke and fire. We didn't get to explore the park like we probably would have otherwise. But we will definitely come back. Maybe in the winter time!
We made it to the Estes Park entrance, however the visitors center there was closed. They did have a trailer set up in the parking lot for a gift shop (I assume they were doing remodeling prior to COVID), but it was one in, one out. We were able to pick up another sticker for the Yeti, and a bag of local coffee, and went on our way.
We drove through Estes Park and noticed a ton of people outside. Granted, it was Labor Day weekend, we could not believe the amount of people! It was the busiest area we experienced throughout the entire trip. We didn't stop but it looks like a lot of stores were also doing the one in, one out policy.
What trip to Estes Park would be complete without a stop to The Stanley Hotel!? I had the privilege of staying at the famous hotel during a family vacation back in college - thanks mom and dad! Unfortunately, they did not have any rooms available this time around, we were able to go in and walk around.
Again, there were A TON of people, it was a little overwhelming to be honest. We were able to poke around a few rooms on the main lobby floor, and go into the basement. We did spot a pretty cool little piece of history connected to St. Joseph, Missouri! In the basement, we spotted a postcard sent from Lou and Leland Thompson, address 2904 Sylvanie Street. The date is from 1955, so it's likely these folks are still available - or their relatives! What a small world!
We made our way next door to The Lodge, which we learned were the bachelor quarters back in the day. The Lodge is a scaled down version of The Stanley, and the floorplan is practically identical. You can even stay here! Being the hauntings-lover that I am, I had to ask the lady at the front desk if the Lodge was haunted as the main hotel. She told us a story that happened to her personally, just a few weeks prior. She said a heavy picture frame fell off the table when a coworker walked into the room. The picture frame was there for me to touch myself, and it would be pretty hard for the wind to knock it over.. It just had to be paranormal!! SO COOL!
As we drove through Estes Park, we saw so many elk. Just hanging out in a field across the street from The Stanley; walking down the sidewalk of a small stripmall; and even on a golf course! These animals are massive, especially the bull elk.
The craziest part was how the smoke seemed to be following us. As we got closer and closer to Denver, the sky just got darker. The air quality was worse the farther we got.
We stopped for the night in Thornton, which is a suburb of Denver. For dinner, we ate at a place called Cafe Rio Mexican Grill. It's got a Chipotle feel to it, but it.is.so.much.better!!!!!!! I would go back to Colorado just to eat at this restaurant again.
We got a good night's rest as we had a long drive home the next day.
Day 10
Sadly our trip has come to an end. We had the best time, and honestly we did not want to leave. We even contemplated moving out west, and maybe someday that will be in our future. For now, we are happy to be home. We are happy to have had a successful family vacation. We learned a lot (I'll be sharing a recap of what we learned in another post!), and fortunately, we didn't kill each other! 10 days together is a long time y'all!
I love our little family and I can't wait to see what our next adventure brings.
Enjoy!
XOXO
Lauren
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