July 20, 2025 Rocky Mountain National Park Day 4

 July 20, 2025

Rocky Mountain National Park Day 4

We were planning on going to the Dinosaur Quarry yesterday, but with the drive to the homestead we didn't arrive in Vernal soon enough. So we ended up going today.

It has been a long time since I have been there.  It is always fun to go see the dinosaurs.

Before heading to the quarry we stopped by this Radio Shack that really wasn't a Radio Shack.  Brittany has been wanting to go into one and was excited to see this.  Unfortunately it was no longer.

We wanted to go on the driving tour around the park after leaving the quarry.  So that was our next step.  Of course we found a spot for a picnic.

Turtle Rock

Elephant Toes

Petrogyphs

Went to a cabin built by a women name Josie Morris.  She lived there for years and moved out when she was in her 90's.  She lived by herself. She was divorced and her children had grown.  It was a pretty impressive homestead.

I liked this mountain range on the way out.

July 19, 2025 Rocky Mountain National Park Day 3

 July 19, 2025

Rocky Mountain National Park Day 3

Today we left our lodge.  Brittany and I wanted to walk the town but needed to wait till the stores opened.  So we went to the Visitor Center up the road before you enter the park.  Found some fun stuff.  Then headed back to town to walk around.  Took us quite a while going up and down the street.  Found more souvenirs.  Brittany wanted to head to the marina for a bit so we walked over there.  They were having a boat show, so that was lucky for us.  There were some cool boats.

Jon has relatives that were buried on a homestead so we headed over to that.  It was into the middle of nowhere near Craig Colorado.  We ran into a locked gate so we couldn't go further.  Ended up taking some pictures of the cabin we saw and the fields out around the area.  But later that day found out we were in the wrong place after seeing a map that his sister Nancy sent.  He was quite disappointed.  We will have to go try again.

We got to our hotel in Vernal a little after 7:00.  Checked in and found some dinner.  Ended up taking it easy for the evening.

July 18, 2025 Rocky Mountain National Park Day 2

 July 18, 2025

Rocky Mountain National Park Day 2

We didn't have a timed entry for the park so we had to get in before it opened.  We got there about 6:45 am.  Sooo early.  But it was worth it.  It was kind of nice driving around with smaller crowds.  Got to see some spots before the park opened and others started coming in.  Saw lots and lots of elk.

Went to Sheep Lakes to see if we could see any Big Horn Sheep.  But the rangers said they hadn't seen any today yet.

So we decided to head up Old Fall River Road after some lunch.  It is a one way dirt road that starts near Sheep Lakes and heads up about 11 miles to the visitor center at the top.  It was a pretty good road.  Got out and saw a waterfall. Towards the top there were some huge elk and quite a few.  Fun to see.

Headed down to Estes Park to see if we could see some elk in town and to do some walking around the tourist area.  Found lots of stores, icecream, and ate dinner before we headed back to the park.

 

Found a telephone booth for 
Brittany to pose by.

After 6:00 you could enter the Bear Lake Road portion of the park. So we went back in  to take a look.  Pretty scenery, pretty lake, and huge elk on the side of the road on the way out.

Bear Lake Road was our last stop in the park.  So we had to head back to our hotel.  It took a bit longer than we thought it would.  It was definitely took longer than we thought to get back to the room.  But it was getting dark and the speeds were slow.  Pretty sunset.  At one point we saw someone shining headlights in a field.  More elk.

July 17, 2025 Rocky Mountain National Park Day 1

 July 17, 2025

Rocky Mountain National Park Day 1

Today Jon, Brittany and I head out for our Rocky Mountain National Park trip.  We left the house about 8:40 this morning.  Hoping for an easy, fairly quick drive.  Unfortunately it is an 8 hour drive.

As we were driving through Vernal we drove by the Zions Bank.  Apparently the bricks were shipped by mail through the post office.  Can you imagine delivering all of these.  The rules were apparently clarified after this that you couldn't do that sort of thing anymore.

Came across an accident when we were about 1.5 hours away from our final destination.  I hope everyone was ok.  We ended up having to detour, which of course did add time to our travels.  But couldn't be helped.  As we started our detour we saw a dead bear in the road that was being taken care of. Sad.

Finally got checked into our hotel "Lone Eagle Lodge", then went and found dinner.

This was starring at us the entire dinner