Rocky Mountain Summer

During summer school while our work is intense, we like to position ourselves in one place. We really enjoyed our two months in Estes Park, Colorado at the entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park.

Even though we stayed inside much of the time, we enjoyed the view out the front window of the RV (see above) with Long's Peak in the distance.

Animals in Our Park

We also enjoyed looking out our windows to see various birds, elk, ground squirrels, and coyote that often came to visit.

We even set up two bird feeders on our window. One was for hummingbirds and the second was for all of the other birds.

Coyote Prowling the Park

Many afternoons, coyote could be seen walking the circuit through our RV park stalking tasty ground squirrels.

Although they would occasionally look our way, they didn't seem to pay attention to all the motorhomes parked around them. They walked right by the utility hookups and picnic tables.

Drives in the Park

Since we spent most of our summer working, we often took a couple hours off in the late afternoon to drive into the National Park.

For example, one day we took a drive to the Upper Beaver Meadows area for a picnic. We watched two coyotes "on the prowl." First, they investigated the elk herd. Then, they attacked a prairie dog den. We could hear the prairie dogs whistling warnings to each other.

Twin Owls

Another day, we took a Taco Bell picnic to the trailhead at Twin Owls. This area overlooks a huge section of the McGregor Ranch. After our picnic we took a short hike up the mountain for a great view of Estes Park and Long's Peak. We enjoyed sitting on the large rocks, sketching, and photographing the great scenery.