Fire. . .Fire. . .Everywhere. . .A Wild and Crazy Weekend

If you’ve seen or heard the National News at all. . .

you’ve heard about the massive wildfire in High Park Colorado. . .

81,000 acres burned so far. . .and no end in sight. . .

This is how it looks from Estes Park. . .

 

As if that wasn’t bad enough. . .Saturday afternoon, a house fire sparked a massive crisis in Estes Park. . .

On our way back to the campground from the

Scandanavian Festival  in downtown Estes. . .this was our view. . .

and as we turned the corner onto Hwy 34. . .this was the scene. . .

Can you believe all these looky loos pulled off on the side of the road. . .crazy!

a closer view. . .three homes totally engulfed. . .and no end in sight!

This is the view we had after we arrived back at the campground. . .I told Dave as we turned onto

Tunnel Road. . . you know there’s no other way out. . .if it comes our direction we are trapped. . .

All the combined fire services did a fantastic job. . .

Not exactly sure of all the agencies involved. . .

but I do know that Estes Park’s Volunteer Fire Department

and Rocky Mountain National Park’s Fire Department

were on the ground. . .

along with the awesome Larimer County Deputies. . .

and I am sure, several other law enforcement entities,

who were manning the roadblocks and doing traffic patrol. . .

 

We also heard that because the High Point fire

was in such close proximity. . .

Colorado Fire Services were able to provide air support. . .

Hat’s off to the awesome job they all did. . .

This is one of the fire service helicopters

flying over the YMCA Campus. . .

which is the next property down from our campground. . .

Dave and I can see this building from the back of our RV. . .

This plane loaded with fire retardent was in the vicinity. . .

but thanks to the fabulous

job by all the fire crews. . .was not needed.

For that we are very thankful. . .

 

If you are planning a trip to Rocky Mountain National Park. . .

there is absolutely no need to change your plans. . .

yes there is a little haze obscuring the view. . .

but nothing significant to be concerned about. . .you will love this place.

 

If you would like to see pics of the fire crew helicopters

scooping water out of Mary’s Lake. . .

check out our fellow camp hosts blog: Travels of Dick and Judy Mott

 

Check in often to see the amazing wildlife. . .

Full Time RV Travel–Estes Park Street Fair

There's nothing we love better than a good street festival. . .

especially street fair food. . .

so on Saturday we headed out to enjoy the 

Scandanavian Midsummer Festival in downtown Estes Park. . .

Here is an idea of the type of food available from the vendors. . .
since we had breakfast about two hours before we arrived. . . Swedish Meatballs and Sauerkraut didn’t really really appeal. . .
plus the line was really long. . .
so we headed for what we knew we would love. . .

the pastry tent. . .yum. . .lots and lots of pastries.  
Give me an apple and apricot strudel. . .full size please. . .
oh, and a cinnamon crisp and also an apple something or other. . .
now we’re talking. . .deee. . .lish. . .us!

We shared the apple strudel with our friends at the campground. . .
and saved all the rest for ourselves. . .LOL!

But my very favorite thing were the kids who were participating in the demonstrations. . .so adorable. . .
(for privacy reasons, I’ve blurred out their faces). . .
just because I wouldn’t really want 
anyone pasting pics of my grands  

First, there was this little girl and boy 
using the spinning wheel. . .very, very cute. . .

and then these two were helping what I assume 
was their grandmother make Lefse. . .
that little one with the green shirt was very, 
very serious about his job. . .
they were both doing great. . .lefse reminded me of a tortilla. . .
warm with a cream cheese powdered sugar mix spread on. . .
folded over into a triangle. . .yum!

It was a fun time. . .
but we were very thankful we decided 
to head home when we did. . .
a house fire had started a chain reaction 
further down the canyon towards the National Park. . .
right where we turn off to go to our campground. . .
very, very scary. . .

Still getting my fire pics loaded. . .will post them ASAP. . .

Full Time RV Travel–Cheyenne Wyoming–My Quest to Collect State Capitol Building Pics

Oh my goodness. . .our internet connection has been incredibly slow.  I guess since there is only one tower in Estes Park. . .it must get jammed. . .so while email and facebook function fairly well. . .posting pictures to a blog is a study in patience. . .we’ll see how this one goes!

 

Anytime there is a tour available, we love to take advantage. . .and for only $10. . .wow.

Yeah. . .you get what you pay for!  So the problem wasn’t really the tour itself. . .

the problem was that most of Down Town Cheyenne burned at one point or another in the course of history. . .and there’s not that much left to show.  Kinda sad really. . .but if we were to go back, I would probably do the Historic Walking Tour which I think might get you up close and personal to the history that remains. . .

As with many large cities in the United States. . .Cheyenne has adopted an art theme of cowboy boots. . .we enjoyed viewing those around town.

The Union Pacific Train Station and Railroad played a huge part in Cheyenne and Wyoming’s history. . .

at the other end of Capitol Ave was the real attraction. . .what I came to see. . .

the Wyoming State Capitol Building. . .

Since the entire State of Wyoming only has a population of about half a million. . .

the complete State Legislature functions out of this one building. . .

 

Bottom line is. . .we had a great day trip. . .and I added another State Capitol Building pic to my collection. . .a very successful day!

Evans Escapades in Estes Park–Searching for Baby Elk

We’ve been told it’s Baby Elk season. . .

We know it’s true, because of the report of a lady

getting between a momma elk and her baby. . .not good. . .

but we haven’t seen any babies yet. . .

so we decided to go searching. . .

The best place to look is the Lake Estes Golf Course. . .there are always tons of elk hanging out there. . .

We saw a few expectant Moms. . .but still no babies. . .

This expectant Mom has a body guard. . .we know this is so, because we saw this pair earlier patrolling the sandbar in the lake. . .

anytime this kayaker would get too close. . .the younger elk would squeal, and move towards him. . .you could tell she was on high alert. . .I’m not sure if this qualifies as harassing the elk. . .but it most be awful close.

We also saw this bald eagle. . .but he was kinda far away. . .we’ll hafta go back and get a better shot.

of course the majestic Rocky Mountains are always worth a moment of awe. . .I just love them!

 

We have lots more exploring to do. . .so stay tuned!

 

Join us on FaceBook to see more awesome pics of the wildlife we photograph on an almost daily basis. . .and leave us a comment. . .we love to hear your stories. . .especially if you’ve been to this area. . .and if you have a blog. . .please be sure to include your info in your post. . .thanks!

Evans Escapades at Rocky Mountain National Park

The Park Rangers and Office Staff keep telling us how they didn’t get a lot of snow pack this year. . .and how dry everything is going to be. . .so we wanted to go up into the park while there was still a lot of snow on the ground.

We headed straight for the summit. . .

They’ve been closing Trail Ridge Road off and on. . .

so this guy is up on the mountain. . .ready for duty

This cow elk was boogying across the tundra. . .

about an hour’s drive to the summit. . .11,796 feet. . .

where everything was still closed. . .hmmmm?

where there was plenty of snow. . .temps about 55* (not bad). . .but wind gusts at about 50 mph. . .you just couldn’t stand to be out there. . .seriously. . .

a view of Fall River Road. . .all gravel, one way road. . .from the bottom to the top. . .

a road which the Beast will never, ever travel. . .we may take a jeep tour though. . .driven by a professional. . .thank you very much!

We want to see the rest of the park. . .all the way over to Grand Lake. . .

but we are thinking, that since we have all summer. . . 

we’ll hold off until the weather warms up a wee bit. . .

cold weather folk we are not!

We have a busy Memorial Day Weekend coming up. . .park is full. . .and although we are not scheduled to work. . .of course we will pitch in. . .and our friend Brenda and hubby Jimmy are coming up from Denver to spend the weekend. . .so it’s going to be great. . .

Check us out on Janice and Dave’s FaceBook where we’ve been posting lots of awesome photos of all the amazing wildlife. . .love it!

Talk to you after the holiday. . .enjoy!

Our internet is very, very slow. . .not complaining mind you. . .

just saying that I have been trying to get this posted for almost a week. . .

Finally succeeded!