Time in the Wild

Sunday I took some time off from being a mom and went with a friend for a drive up to one of our great nation's parks, Rocky Mountain National Park.  Its located near a small mountain town called Estes Park, CO.

It was so relaxing and calm.  And you could tell it was spring because the animals were out and about every where.  The views were stunning, and the weather did everything from be sunny to windy to snow in the several hours we spent there.

There is a rather large Elk herd that lives in the park.  It has about 200 members or so, and we were able to find it.  I didn't get any close pictures since they were down in the valley a ways, but the females were looking pretty close to calving.  We agreed to go back in a couple weeks and see if they had.  Here are the pics of the heard I was able to take from the road.

We also came along a group of Big Horn Sheep.  I believe there were about 7 or 8 in this group, and we even got to see a couple of them ram horns a couple times.  It was really neat because they were on this ledge up a ways right next to the road.  These animals were my grandmother's favorites, so it was a real treat to see them and reminded me of how much I miss her.

We also got the chance to see some Mule Deer and a black squirrel that had big ears like a rabbit.  My friend told me what it was called, but I can't remember now.

After hanging out in the park all day taking pics, we headed into the little town and had dinner.  Then we walked the main street (tourist section) eating carmeled apples and just chatting.  I also stopped and bought Sara a new fleece jacket.  Its pink of course!

It was wonderful to be able to have a nice relaxing day doing some of the things that I love; hanging with friends, taking pics, and enjoying the wonderful mountains.  I really do hope we go back in a couple weeks to see the new calves like we said we would.  And if we do, I'm sure I'll be posting some pics with some really cute baby Elk in them.