Colorado. Today is Day 15.

I'm nearing the end of my time in Estes Park, and as always, I wish I lived in the mountains. Though it doesn't feel like home the way Sister Bay and Belleville do (and the smell of grass and summer in Belleville never changes), it's still one of my very favorite places to visit. It's also been nice to see a whole lot of family; my aunt celebrates her 70th birthday this year and so all cousins gathered for at least the first few days of the week. It was great seeing lots of little ones, including a couple for the very first time.

We managed a couple of really great new-er hikes early in the week. I have to say I've been a bit distracted by trip-planning later in the week, but it's still a really incredible place to be, even when you're not hiking. Last night's dinner was on a deck with a panoramic view of the mountains. No matter how much I love D.C., I can't do that there.

Here are some pictures from the past week.

On Sunday (our first full day here), we hiked in from the Wild Basin trailhead in Allenspark to a few different waterfalls. We first passed Copeland Falls, which is a long, shallow falls. A mile or so later, we came upon Calypso Cascade (at left), which was also really nice. The water seems really high here -- little brooks babble across trails and the rivers and waterfalls are all bursting at the seams.











The last stop on our hike, though the trail continues on, was Ouzel Falls. This was the tallest falls on our hike, and pretty impressive in water volume as well.










This is the top of Ouzel Falls, with Nick and our cousin Eddy standing above it (which was a climb.... Gwynne and I remained below, poised to call a ranger in case of emergency).














On Monday, Nick, Gwynne and I traipsed up the trail to the Twin Sisters Peaks. The trip was about 7.4 miles roundtrip and about a 2500 ft. elevation gain. Not the toughest, but certainly tough early in the week (the air gets thin at the top). It did afford us some nice views of the bigger peaks toward Trail Ridge and of Long's Peak, the tallest peak in Rocky Mountain National Park.





We stopped for lunch at the top of the mountain. There, we encountered this guy -- a marmot. Here, he's eating a Wheat Thin -- despite repeated NPS entreaties to refrain from feeding wildlife. I was alarmed by the marmot's boldness (he seemed ready to climb my leg), so Nick placed a Wheat Thin on my shoe. I quickly kicked it off and Marmotie grabbed it even more quickly. He was quite interested in all we had to eat, and it's obvious we weren't the first to succumb and give him some -- he wasn't shy in the least.


Here are Nick and Gwynne on top of one twin peak (I'm on the other).