Saturday, February 17, 2018

Estes Park

View from Estes Park, CO:

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The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park was the inspiration for The Overlook, the hotel in Steven King's "The Shining".
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This car in the lobby of the hotel served as the prototype for Stanley, the founder of Radiator Springs in Pixar's "Cars".
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A typical sighting near the Estes Park city hall:
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Red-Naped Sapsucker

After 1,000 miles of driving, we've accumulated some front-end passengers.
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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).
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This is what happened to it once we descended to our house, which was at 8,500 feet of elevation:
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By the time we got home (close to sea level), the difference in air pressure crumpled it completely.
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Sunday, February 11, 2018

Big Game

Seen in and around Rocky Mountain National Park:

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Yellow-bellied marmots:
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Saturday, February 3, 2018

Rocky Mountains

Rocky Mountains - view from Estes Park:

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Top of the Rocky Mountain National Park - at 12,000+ ft:
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Big-Horned Sheep at the top of the pass:
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This lake is at the continental divide. One side of the lake drains into the Atlantic, the other into the Pacific:
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What is it - snow in June?
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No, this is not snow. This is actually insects in the air.
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Alpine tundra at the top of the Rocky Mountain Park:
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I went there looking for one very particular bird. Can you spot it in this picture?
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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.
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Yellow-bellied Marmots:
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House Wren:
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