So you know this happened on Monday, June 23, 2014
Today, I wokeup happy and excited for the day ahead. We had to boondock last night/ this morning. So that meant that Mom was driving around then she would sleep then drive some more and having to keep the cats from climbing under feet while she drove while I was passed out next to her in my seat. We used one of the public restrooms aand then Mom let us go to McDonalds and when we got there we expected to get McGriddles and hashbrowns but they also had the Big Breakfast with Hotcakes and without Hotcakes, so of course we got it with hotcakes and it was pretty good for McDonalds. After that we went to 2 thrift shops, Elizabeth Guild Thrift Shop and Estes Park Community Thrift Shop. And then we hopped on the road to head back up to Rocky Mountain National Park. Yesterday, we went in the Beaver Meadows entrance and today we went through the Fall River entrance. On the way up to the Alpine Visitor Center near the beginning we stopped to look at elk that were munching on the side of the road. Then we went up and up and up and up to about the highest point on the road where we could walk and climb up a trail to the actual highest peak. At the entrance it was warmish and up here it was COLD! We had to leave the cats in the car of course but we knew we would be a little while till we got back to the car. I brought “our camera”, our binoculars, my pocket knife, my compass/whistle/magnify glass/thermometer combination and a few other things but of course we nedded our hoodies and coats. We put on our hoodies and Mom put on her coat and i was about to put my vest on but then decided not to. We started up the trail and mountain reading the signs, taking pictures and looking around and by the time we were a little ways up we wanted our water some and realized that we left it in the van. We walked/climbed up the trail and mountain and soon I was out of breath some because I had been reading the signs out loud. Mom took over the reading of the signs and we took some pics and walked and walked. Soon we saw something move on one of the rock formations, the person in front of us thought it was a marmot but Mom thought it was a young big horn sheep. We walked some more and saw a path that some others were taking and we took it as well. It was a path to see other rock formations and more tundra and it was really cool. By that time we had been walking in the clouds for about 10 minutes. It was awesome. It wasn’t like in the movies and stuff where you can’t really see where you are going. It was like walking through fog. It was clear but it was kind of hard to see through. I ran through the cloud and it was really cool. We were so far up that the flowers were super small because how little air got to it and how thin the air was. I wnatec to turn around and head back because I wasn’t sure that we were going to be able to see anything else because of the clouds but Mom told me to go a little farther and I just kept walking up the trail. We walked up the path more and more and more and after a while we made it close to the top. Soon, we got to where the trail ended but you could climb up some rock and be at the top top of the mountain. There was a plaque (pla-k) and there was a little spring Mom discovered near it. I was trying to figure out if I wanted to go up or go down and Mom and I decided to go up. We got up to the top of the mountain and there was a marker saying how high we were and how high all the mountains around us were. We couldn’t see most of the mountains because of the clouds but it was still pretty cool. We laughed when we were up there because we were happy and we didn’t have reception in all of the park, but we had reception there on the top of the mountain. We tried to call my brother but it wouldn’t go through. We made it down the peak and on the way down the mountain we heard a Pika and we told everyone what they could do at the top. Also, on the the way up, I saw a spider crossing the path and I showed Mom about where he had been and she said “A spider? Really? He must be freezing his little tush off!” The peak we climbed was 12,304. By the time we got down to the parking lot it was 4:45 Mountain Time and we said we wouldn’t go to the Alpine Visitor Center today but maybe tomorrow or Wednesday. We didn’t want it to be like last time where we got to the Alpine Vistor Center 5 minutes before they closed and we couldn’t get hot chocolate. We went down and down far far down to the exit. But on the way down we saw a yellow bellied marmot, elk, moose, and white tailed deer. After we got out of the park we went to Bond Park in Estes Park to listen to country rock music. The music was great. One of the sponsors birthday was today, so there was birthday cake. The music was fun and the birthday cake was good. After the music we went to Starbucks and wrote some of this in my journal there until they closed and then I wrote the rest of this in the van. Thanks for reading this!!