Fall Break Family Visit
Happy Fall Break! Wow, what a fun weekend. Mom and Dad Mulder joined us for an almost winter weekend at YMCA of the Rockies, Estes Park. They arrived Thursday evening letting us all enjoy a full, long relaxing weekend. Maddy was excited to be part of the action this time and got spoiled rotten. Here are some of the highlights. **For the full photo album of the weekend, check out the photo albums page.**
Friday- Dad and Maddy went for a long walk on South Table Mountain. We took the scenic route up through Central City, Nederland, and a bunch of back roads. (Mom was sitting shotgun in the truck and you can imagine the running conversation between her and David on the Forest Service roads.) Dad and David got a little shooting in while Maddy and Linnea avoided the noise as much as possible. We also loaded up on firewood and ended up packing the pickup totally full. As we arrived in Estes Park we were treated to a great view of Longs Peak and a bull elk lounging along the road. Our cabin was cozy and so inviting and we settled in and enjoyed the wood fireplace.
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Saturday- After driving through the park we finally settled on a hike. We were a little worried that we made a bad choice when the start of the hike was straight up a hill on switchback after switchback. Luckily we arrived at Bierstadt Lake and then extended the hike to Bear Lake which took us through a beautiful pine forest.
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We ended the day by driving through Estes Park looking for elk and were rewarded with some great views. The first spot we saw them was at a ranch outside of town where a sedate herd grazed peacefully. Then in town the bull elk were bugling and competing for the cows. To say the bulls were a bit frisky running wild with their tongues out is an understatement. We got there just in time to watch them head down to the golf course where they ran circles in the fairway like a stampede, followed by more bugling. It was quite the performance! We capped off the day eating tasty burgers downtown.
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Sunday- We explored around the grounds at the YMCA after a great breakfast buffet and church. Ping-pong (David and Linnea won!), mini-golf (Dad won!, unofficially), and Kubb (David and Linnea won!). Late afternoon it was back to Golden and then to the airport to finish a packed, but relaxing weekend.
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