COLORADO 2010 DAY TWO 9-4-10

Greetings blog followers!We began our day early with breakfast at our hotel in Kearney. By noon we were ready for lunch and found a very cute little park in Greeley where we made our picnic lunch. Conditions were much better today, with little or no wind, and temperatures in the upper 80's.

After our lunch, we continued on our way west on US 34, which took us directly into the park.

Estes Park was jammed with people and cars, and it took us over a half hour to get through it. There were shops of everykind, and it reminded me of Wisconsin Dells, only times ten. Once through that madhouse, we finally made it to the park for some very grand scenery. It must have been a warm summer here in the Rockies, as the snow is all but gone from the peaks, and hasn't started to fall yet. It was definately cooler up at 11,000+ feet...the temp below in Estes Park was 88 degrees, but at the Alpine Visitor Center it was a brisk 58 degrees. Here are some select pictures from our visit to the park. We also crossed the continental divide on our way down to Winter Park. Tomorrow is scheduled to be an easier day...we are only about 20 miles from I-70, and about 3 1/2 hrs from Grand Junction. We plan to stop in Vail for lunch, and should be in GJ by late afternoon. See you from the Western Slope tomorrow night!

Susan, Denis & Fran