Colorado

Colorado was really the beginning.  Once we left Denver and entered the Rockies, everyone was in sight-seeing mode.  We took this crazy, wild, scary drive up MT. Evans in the middle of a rain storm.  14 thousand plus feet high, we all experienced a bit of altitude sickness at the top.  Even though the view was non-existent when we reached the top (T was crying because she was so scared of the road), we all wanted to get out.  As Rich, Tamsin and Alex opened the doors, the wind was so fierce, it was like a vacuum sucking them and the contents of the car out the door.  I have a clear image of them being blown about, their cheap plastic rain ponchos whipping around them and doing nothing to block the rain.  By the time we were ready to leave, though, the skies began to clear and the views were amazing.

We had been searching for a North Carolina license plate and a man pulled up next us at a scenic view.  When I told him that he was the first person from NC we had seen, he told us that we need to go to Rocky Mtn Nat Park, explaining all the spots where we could see wild beasts.  Who could resist? Seeing a moose had always been my grail after spending hours in mosquito swarms at Moosehead Lake in Maine for nothing, not even a whiff of moose. And, indeed, we saw elk, marmot, long-horned sheep and MOOSE.  A snafu with camping equipment had us in a motel that night which was fine because it was another experience for the kids (and because the sounds of wild animals at night in the park had me a little freaked out).

It was just beautiful.  The weather was like fall and we were all happy.  Alex couldn't say enough about how much he liked it.

We stood on the Continental Divide, we stood on snow and then we sat