I almost had a panic attack as we pulled out of the hotel: I couldn't find my camera! The last time I had felt this way (short of breath, unable to think or talk) was when my first digital camera died and I had to buy a new one in Sault Ste Marie. We returned to the hotel and there it was, on the desk. Whew. Disaster averted.
The drive to the park was made longer by bumper to bumper traffic to the park entrance. The advantages of being a senior were evident when Bob whipped out his National Parks senior pass and we drove in, free. The beauty of the park is spectacular: one lovely scene after another, all the way to about 12,000 feet, crossing the Continental Divide. I'm ashamed to admit that I didn't even know what the Continental Divide is until yesterday (water east of the Divide flows into the Atlantic; water west of it flows to the Pacific)!
It's a long 48 miles through the park. When we got to Grand Lake, the largest natural lake in Colorado (but very ordinary by Minnesota expectations), we stopped at a deli for a takeout sandwich and had lunch by the lake. It was almost a tailgate party, but we found a picnic table by the water so sat there for our meal. A highlight was seeing a beautiful osprey catch a large fish and fly away with it, perhaps to a high nest that I saw a little later when we turned back up the mountain. Since I had a sandwich in my hand, the picture is only in my mind, but indelibly so.
Fortunately the ride back was 1.5 hours, less than half the time it took us to get to Grand Lake. We're sitting on our comfortable bed enjoying a beverage. Dinner will be later, and small, I think. We're both a little sunburned and weary. It was a wonderful day!
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