This rock had to fall sometime. Thankfully not the day we were there.

We’re back from Colorado and all that’s left is the vacation hangover and a few pictures.  But first, I thought I’d share a few valuable mountain-hiking tips, made possible by my vast experience, aka a 4-mile hike the day before we left.

1. Don’t worry about conditioning.  You can always blame your shortness of breath on the extreme altitude.

2. Be careful of falling rocks.

My husband was accosted by this little guy the second he poured out a handful of peanuts.

3. Stay hydrated…but not too hydrated, especially if you’re a female.  If you know what I mean.

4. Keep in mind that the scenery isn’t nearly as interesting to a 9yo boy as the piles of horse poop on the trail.

5. Guard your nuts.

That’s it for the advice…you’re ready to go on your very own mountain adventure now.

And because I no longer get to share “what I did last summer” with my peers in a dreary classroom on the first day of school, I’ll subject you to a few more random Colorado pics.

Snow in August.  This was taken on the way up Trail Ridge Road:

This is what it looks like on top of a mountain:

Elk alert! (All the dots in the center of the photo are elk):

Pretty flowers.  Professional photographer I’m not, but these make me happy:

Our hiking trail followed the Big Thompson River the whole way:

This is “The Pool,” which was the end point of our hike:

Proof that we made it to the end of the trail:

The beasts we left at home were not thrilled:

Okay, that’s it.  I promise it’ll be safe to come back to my blog…I won’t bombard you with any more vacation pictures. At least not until I get back from Florida in October.

I’ve been traveling more than I’ve been home this summer and my blog has suffered for it.  Once again, I’m on the road, and I thought I’d throw some pictures of my trip up in hopes of getting rid of some of those cobwebs up there in the corners.

The family and I (my parents included) boarded Myrtle the minivan and trekked west.  And trekked and trekked and trekked.  (FYI it’s farther to drive to Estes Park from Wisconsin than it is from Kansas.  Obvious, yes, but a somewhat brutal truth when there are six people piled in one vehicle.)

We’ve rented a cabin on the Big Thompson River just hundreds of feet from Rocky Mountain National Park the way the crow flies.  At night, we keep the windows open and are lulled by the roar of the rapids about 100 feet away. The deck is perfect for reading or — if you should happen to be a writer with a fast-approaching deadline — writing, or eating, relaxing, playing cards…you get the idea.

Here’s the view from our door:

I took the boys to the edge of the river and what do little boys do best?  Throw rocks and sticks into the water!

I’ve decided this is my new office.  No internet access so maybe I’ll get some pages done.

We drove into Rocky Mountain National Park for a while this afternoon and visited a few of our favorite places.  The alluvial fan waterfall created by the Lawn Lake flood in 1982, traditionally our first stop:

Mountains.  :)

We went to dinner then returned to the park to try to spot a moose.  In the past, they haven’t been seen on this side of the mountains, but this year, there have been sightings at dawn and dusk.  While dawn isn’t quite in the realm of feasibility for this bunch, we staked out spots at Sprague Lake as the sun went down:

And we were rewarded!  I left my good camera in the car and my husband’s camera batteries went dead about 20 minutes too soon, so all I’ve got is this distant, fuzzy iPhone pic.  Look really closely at the very center of the photo.  The brown blob, just to the left of the light-colored horizontal log, is a young bull moose at the edge of the lake:

That’s day one.  If I manage to keep remembering to take out my camera, I’ll try to post more pics later in the week.  In the meantime, the lullaby of the river is luring me to close my eyes and call it a day.