This entry is about the beauty of the Estes Park area. Alesia and I arrived on Thursday and stayed until Sunday afternoon. So the sad reason for the visit was buffered by the time we had to walk around and enjoy the scenery and geography so different from South Carolina’s Lowcountry.
I didn’t have to go far to get these stunning images. We stayed at the Estes Park Resort, which is situated on Lake Estes.
I just needed to step outside at around 6:30 a.m. to see the glorious dawn of a new day.
Estes Park is located near the entrance to the popular Rocky Mountain National Park. In August 2022, my brother-in-law Paul took us up there. Wow is it a national treasure! See my post here.
Fortunately, this winter trip offered moderate weather conditions with highs in the 50s.
This is a view of the Estes Park Resort from across Lake Estes, an 185-acre water reservoir. Elevation here is 7,522 feet.
Our room was on the first floor, left corner of the hotel building. It was the perfect room for quick access through the back door to the lake and the parking lot too.
The resort also offers cabins. You see some left of the hotel.
Here are some more looks at the resort- and of us too...
OK, the room was great but it wasn’t perfect. The coffee maker didn’t have the necessary accoutrements and the refrigerator didn’t work. Maybe this was a blessing in disguise. For my morning coffee fix I was out early driving to a nearby Starbucks.
These early morning views were gorgeous!
February-March is off-season for this popular tourist destination. So I had the highway to myself and could stop our rental car to snap these images with my iPhone.
I had my Canon DSLR at the ready and was glad I did. I photographed two lifer birds, meaning ones I had never seen before.
The first is the Common Goldeneye. The male is in front with his lady behind him. They are in Colorado for the winter, migrating from Canada, Alaska, and the Arctic.
You see why these are called Goldeneyes. Hey, they are not Common to me! I thought maybe I had two lifer birds. The females (right) and the males (above and below) have such different looks.
Seeing the male first, I was certain I had never seen this species before.
This is my second lifer bird from this trip. It’s a Pygmy Nuthatch. This is the only shot I was able to get after spotting a few of them in a tree. This is a Western bird. Back home at my feeders, I regularly see White-throated and Brown-headed Nuthatches.
The Pygmy type is smaller. I guess that’s why it’s called what it is.
Here are other birds seen on or near Lake Estes.
Female Hooded Merganser. We see Hoodies in the winter in the Charleston area.
Black-billed Magpie. We don’t see these back home. I have photographed this large bird during previous Colorado visits.
Red-winged Blackbirds. Yep, see these back home, too.
There were many American Crows around. I saw some Ravens too, but unfortunately didn’t get any pictures of the Crows' close cousin.
We encountered herds of Elk on two occasions. A fly fisherman is in the water. This area is a hotspot for these fishers- I’m still not used to that name.
These Elk appeared coming down a slope by a dam on Lake Estes. This was Saturday when my niece Josie and her boyfriend Tyler joined as for a walk.
Elk are abundant here and coexist pretty easily with humans, it seems.
The Elk are so comfortable around town that a few took a rest on the ground. No worries!
Bull (male) Elk can stand five feet tall and weigh 700-1,000 pounds. The females, called cows, are a little shorter and weigh 500-600 pounds.
My parents lived their golden years in such scenic and special places, on the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia and in recent years the Rocky Mountains in Estes Park, Colo. we will come visit my Mom again soon.
Dad, rest in peace, I was fortunate and blessed to have you as my father.
No comments:
Post a Comment