Estes Park Family Fun

“Rejoice with your family in the beautiful land of life.”

Albert Einstein

Thanks for joining me, Magic, the Treeing Walker CoonHound and travel blogger. My humans, Big Dog and Momma Dog continue coordinating and implementing our full-time travel adventures in our Class A Motorhome, known as Tana.

On Sunday, July 7, 2019 we arrived in Estes Park, Colorado at the Spruce Lake RV Park. The Big Thompson River was just steps away from our rig, Tana. And we had a view of Spruce Lake from our windshield. There were nice areas for dog “business”, a mini-golf course and the other usual RV park amenities. We had to hook our electricity to a 30 amp system instead of the usual 50 amps, which at first caused some issues, but the humans figured it out and we had sufficient electricity again. The humans were especially excited about the nearby Estes Park free shuttle that took them all over the area-but unfortunately no dogs were allowed! I also noticed other signage that seemed a bit discriminatory to the canine.

Soon we met up with the family of Big Dog’s brother, Reid-along with Pat, Rachel and Ben Smith. They are very familiar with the Estes Park area and my humans enjoyed spending time with them at their favorite restaurants, hikes and stores. Although the Smith Family from Kansas City visited our home on wheels, I was not able to really greet them due to my issues with new people and noise and fear of the unknown.

Pat drove all the Smith humans up on Trail Ridge Road to the Alpine Visitors Center. It was a beautiful day and they saw elk, beautiful mountains with snow and many shopping opportunities at the top. Reid drove the humans down the mountain for a picnic at the Alluvial Falls and some hiking.

The humans sampled delicious foods from many Estes Park restaurants and experienced the incredible Estes Park Farmer’s Market.

Big Dog and Momma Dog were invited guests of Reid and Pat to the YMCA of the Rockies Cabin Donor Picnic. They also met Joyce, Joe and Jill Minker (Pat’s sister, brother-in-law and niece) who had all the humans over for a delicious lasagna dinner at their Estes Park home. There was a sweet little canine there named Mandy, but I did not meet her since I stayed home.

One morning Momma Dog and I spotted several large elk feasting at the entrance to our RV Park. They were impressive, but did not want to play with me!

The biggest hiking day for the humans was a trip to Nymph Lake, Dream Lake and Emerald Lake. Pat saw an interesting water snake and had a chipmunk climb on her-and she didn’t even bark or run. Rachel had a close encounter with a yellow-bellied marmot. When they arrived home, Big dog and Momma Dog took a long nap and then took warm showers to recover from this day of family fun.

Big Dog and Momma Dog tried twice to hear Cowboy Brad in concert, but after a few songs like “Rocky Mountain High” and “You Are my Sunshine” the rain came down and the concert was over. Such is the summer life in Estes Park-rain, rain, rain.

The humans also connected with Jim and Betty Niquette and Lori Niquette-some Colorado cousins of Momma Dog. They ate and laughed and walked and were rained on in the beautiful town of Estes Park.

The humans enjoyed some Colorado beer and Big Dog tried out his new grill with s’mores and burgers!

On our last full day in Estes Park, Big Dog and Momma Dog drove to Loveland, Colorado to see Donna Lou Quakenbush, aunt of Momma Dog. They also saw Momma Dog’s cousin Gary Quakenbush and his wife Marian. I stayed home to guard the RV, and they told me stories of delicious Chinese and Vietnamese food, lots of human interaction and how a group of long horn sheep ran in front of them as they drove home on the highway.

I do enjoy yoga time with Big Dog and Momma Dog, as well as time spent sitting at Spruce Lake. They spent a lot of time in the Estes Park Library and coffee shops in search of quality internet, since this is often a problem in RV Parks-especially in the mountains.

Good-bye Estes Park, Colorado. Thank you for a beautiful place to connect with family members.

We received a bear warning on our last night at Spruce Lake RV Park, but saw none. And I am pretty sure I can run faster than any old bear!

The humans have informed me of a planned overnight at a Kansas winery, an underground Kansas salt museum and a night near Oklahoma City before arriving in Texas for Tana’s body work.

Kind regards, sniffs and woof-MAGIC