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I’m writing this a coupe week’s late so hopefully I won’t forget too much. This was originally supposed to be the camp out at Mueller State Park, but we realized that reservations were in need and we had not taken care of that part. After a bit more searching Leah and Dan found a place called National Park Retreats in Estes Park, CO. It wasn’t as remote as Mueller but we were all itching to get out and camp and this would still get us away from the hustle and bustle of the city for a little bit.
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The drive up went smooth and seeing the fall colors of the Aspen tree’s dotted throughout the evergreens was nice to look at. When going through downtown Estes Park, it became apparent that the town was hosting their annual “Estes Park Elk Fest.” We easily saw over 150 elk wondering through the town and there were quite a few bucks all in a close group. It was a very cool site.
We checked in at a descent hour and Leah took the kids up to Dan’s campsite to grab some food while I setup the circus tent. My setup time on the circus tent is getting quicker each time. It usually takes me about 15 minutes to put up and about 20 to pack it up. I headed back up to Dan’s site after that to grab some of the food he had. His newly acquired Westy was looking very nice. Camping in Dan’s company with his Westy has us keeping an eye out for one as well. After chowing down on some of Dan’s burritos, we headed back to our site and crashed for the night.
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The next morning brought chilly weather. Not only was the temperature not going up much, but the wind had kicked up seriously. Going into town to check out the events was our plan and it was windy enough that I decided to run down to the office to see if they had any line I could purchase. They didn’t They really didn’t have much in stock at all actually. I made a quick run across the road to a camping supply store and got what I needed. I made it back to the campsite in time for a light rain to start. We quickly staked down the tent, disconnected the bus, and headed to Dan’s site. We carabused into the crowded town and wondered around a bit. Earlier on in the day Alissa started to not feel well and had spit up a little bit. We figured it wasn’t too big a deal, but she continued to do it about once every hour. After doing this a couple times while in town, we decided to head back up to camp and chill there for a bit to see how she did. She ended up feeling better that afternoon (little did we know she had a stomach virus of sorts that ended up running through everyone in the house over the next week.)
The wind continued till the afternoon and it was a good thing we staked the tent down. There were some pretty heavy gusts. The rest of the afternoon was spent hanging out at Dan’s site where we got out the Bocce ball’s, threw the football around a bit, and did some short hiking around. We cooked dinner up and hung out for a bit around the fire, of course roasting some marshmallows for smores.
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The next morning brought more chilly weather, although it wasn’t as windy. The kids ran around while we packed up camp and got ready to head out. On our way home we could tell we weren’t ready to leave. We took our time at the McD’s breakfast stop and took the long way home through Boulder. It was a nice ride. The short get-away for the weekend was nice and all the kids had a good time (minus Alissa’s short spell.) The campsite is nicely laid out, giving pretty good space for everyone and having spots scattered along the hillside. Most every site had a descent view of the surrounding mountains and valley. There is also free wireless internet there if that’s your thing.
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