Lil Blue takes a trip to Colorado Part 3

Another excursion took us up into the actual Rocky Mountains thru Estes Park into Rocky Mountain National Park.  Now Lori understands why the mountains around Boulder are just the foothills.  We took our niece Jen with us for the day.  The main road, 36 hwy, wasn't challenging, but was scenic.  ok...all of Colorado is scenic.  We stopped by the visitor's center in Estes Park to make sure the road was open (even at the end of May, there's still snow in the higher elevations, and to prove a point, a couple days afterwards, the road got shut down due to snow).

Paid the fee to get into the park, and gave Jen the year pass so she and Jon could come back anytime they want.  The drive up to the top took a lot longer than I remember from the first time I was there.  I also was actually glad we were in the Fiat and not my truck or SUV.  Coming down the opposite direction were, occasionally, big ole RV's that the drivers, being overly cautious, were actually in my lane, to avoid the cliff wall on the other side.  Funny thing is, that would force me to the cliff edge on my side, with nothing to stop us from going over.  Still had room, but was a bit nerve wracking.   We would pull over here and there to take in the views on our way up.

And would keep going until we got above the tree line where there was nothing but snow.

And more snow

Until we got to the top.

If we had gone a little further, we would of crossed the continental divide.  Wish we had known, be nice to say we did it.  Maybe next time.  On the way back down, I'm glad that the car has a manual shifter mode because I realized I was riding my brakes way to much.  Finally made use of it, which helped a lot.  We pulled over yet again to climb around.  Something else Lori and I discovered, maybe it's the elevation or something, but we had so much more energy there.  No idea why.

We stopped off in Estes Park for lunch.  Decent place, but the town reminded me of the town the movie The Great Outdoors was set in.  Very touristy.  Also, looked at the hotel that Stephen King got his inspiration for the book The Shining from.

     I let dad drive Lil Blue one evening when we went and got Gelato.  He was really impressed with the car, so much so he wouldn't let me drive it back (how can I say "no" to my dad).  That made me feel good..though you could tell he wasn't use to brakes that are more for higher performance, and aren't as "squishy".  It made me a little "nervous", but to be fair, I have to "get use to them" again if I've been driving another vehicle for a bit.
      The drive back home, we fought the same crosswind going to Colorado.  We opted to stay an extra day, and were glad we did because really bad storms hit Kansas the day we had planned on coming back.  Lots of damage, and we would've been in the middle of it.  There was a little old lady (looked to be in her 80's) driving a late model Corvette, that turned her nose up at our car with an air of disgust.  It was like how dare we park next to her Vette in the gas station.  This was at the last pit stop on the way home.  We caught up with her on I70.  We we only doing maybe 5 above the speed limit.  Think she couldn't stand the thought of our little car passing her, so she cut in front of us and floored it.  We would keep catching up to her because she would get behind another car until she saw us, then would whip around like a maniac and speed off up the road until we caught up again.  We caught up with her again, but in a one lane construction zone, where she kept drifting towards the cones, getting so close, then whipping the Vette back.  I finally backed way off just in case she did hit the cones.
     On the east side of Lawrence, having kept my distance a bit, she was finally passed by a Camero.  Well, you could tell she was having none of that, so she whipped around the car that she was following, and took off after it.  Caught up with her again at the toll booth.  She was stuck in a line of several cars, and I happen to get in the far line that only had a semi in it.  I pulled up as it was pulling out, so I obviously beat her past the toll booths.  Never saw her again
     Our 4 legged freeloaders were so glad to see us when we got home...hopping all over the place.  It was good to be home.  We really enjoyed our trip, and seeing everyone.  Special thanks goes to our friend Dana who doggie sat for us while we were away.