Estes Park

View from Estes Park, CO:









The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park was the inspiration for The Overlook, the hotel in Steven King's "The Shining".








This car in the lobby of the hotel served as the prototype for Stanley, the founder of Radiator Springs in Pixar's "Cars".


A typical sighting near the Estes Park city hall:












After 1,000 miles of driving, we've accumulated some front-end passengers.




Science experiment. This bottle was emptied of water and filled full with air at 12,000 feet (at the top of the pass over the Rocky Mountains).


This is what happened to it once we descended to our house, which was at 8,500 feet of elevation:


By the time we got home (close to sea level), the difference in air pressure crumpled it completely.

Big Game

Seen in and around Rocky Mountain National Park:

































Yellow-bellied marmots:

Rocky Mountains

Rocky Mountains - view from Estes Park:





Top of the Rocky Mountain National Park - at 12,000+ ft:


Big-Horned Sheep at the top of the pass:


This lake is at the continental divide. One side of the lake drains into the Atlantic, the other into the Pacific:


What is it - snow in June?


No, this is not snow. This is actually insects in the air.


Alpine tundra at the top of the Rocky Mountain Park:


I went there looking for one very particular bird. Can you spot it in this picture?


Hint - it was right in the center of the picture before. It's a White-tailed Ptarmigan, a type of a grouse that lives at very high elevations.










Yellow-bellied Marmots:






House Wren: