Estes Park, Colorado

July 3, 2011 – Estes Park, CO

Sylvia decided we had enough driving through the mountains for a while, so we will just hang around Estes Park today.  Estes Park is a neat little mountain resort city just outside the northeast entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park.  It is a typical mountain resort town that includes many areas of upscale housing with lots of second homes and elegant chateaus.

With lots of tourists to feed and house all year long, there are plenty of good restaurants and shops in the main part of downtown. Another attraction of the city are the rivers that run through it – The Fall River and the Big Thompson River. Every spring when the snow and ice melts on the mountains, the rivers go from mild mannered creeks to sometimes raging small rivers.

Sometimes seriously overflowing their banks. The base of this statue below is normally out of the water, and steps of the plaza lead down to the waters edge. Both are covered by the overflow. You can see the lighter colored steps in front of the wall on the right side of this picture.

Normally there are 6 or 7 steps leading to the waters edge.

  

Both rivers are ideal sites for the many ‘log cabin motels’ that have been built on the banks of the rivers so the guests can fall asleep at night to the roar of the river.  Of course, humans have taken over regions that previously belonged to the animals, so there are always some of the animals wandering through, looking for something to eat.

We saw this Elk nibbling on the grass in this cabin backyard, but couldn’t get him to turn around for a pose.  When that happens, you just take a picture of whichever end the subject presents to you.

The two rivers join their flows in the center of Estes Park downtown where they have built a plaza.  Here is a picture of Sylvia sitting on a bench in the Plaza where the two rivers join. Big Thompson River is behind her and Fall River is in front of her.

Just downriver is a real tourist area called ‘Riverwalk’, where there are lots of craft shops, and other touristy shops. We were expecting to find the usual high prices found in most ski areas, but were pleasantly surprised.  I had to use the credit card several times for some of the ‘bargains’...

Here is Sylvia soaking in the view at Riverwalk, apparently with one of our ‘purchases’ on the railing beside her.

There is a bronze of an eagle in the park that I really like.

We had dinner and an ice cream. Yes I talked real fast and was able to talk Sylvia into eating an ice cream cone, and here are pictures to prove it..

Yes, we both ate the whole thing…..