Here we are in Estes Park, Colorado at the entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park.  It’s just like coming home again.  The favorite watering hole, Coffee On The Rocks, is still here.  We still have thunderstorms on the mountain almost every afternoon.  Hummers streak around our feeders like there is no tomorrow.

And, yet, not all is the same. Last time, Trail Ridge Road had just opened and the snowdrifts were still higher than a Winnebago when we first drove over, but not this year. We did not get to play in any snow. Poor us!!!!!! Things just seem BIGGER out here: the vistas where you can see all the way to the horizon, the clouds which tower 20,000 feet into the sky (Phaedra looked that up for me), the mountains which rise to over 14,000 feet, the giants which live on the prairie and flap their wings all the time.  (I bet you don’t know what I’m talking about, do you?  I’m talking about the super tall Wind Turbines.) and the four legged dogs that they call elk around here.



We’ve actually been tripping around the park with Mama and Papa this time.  Maybe they think I’ll misbehave or something.  There have been a few malfunctions of jars, books, and boxers lately, but there must be gremlins who sneak into the RV and do things that I get
blamed for unfairly. Phaedra and I’ve been over the mountains on Trail Ridge Road looking for moose.  We found them, too.  There was a BIG bull moose, a mom moose, and two little babies.  They were a long way off so I couldn’t see them too well, and my eyes are too close together to use Mama’s binoculars.  So, I just have to deal with it, right?  On that trip we ended up seeing several more moose, a herd of bull elk, and lots of birds.  You can imagine that Papa and Mama loved it.  Phae and I loved being with them so it didn’t matter!



Guess what?  Two years ago, we discovered two nests of Great Horned Owls.  We were told that they nest in the same nest every year and that they fledge the same day every year.  We thought, sure they do, just like I never do anything naughty.  When we went to the Alluvial Fan area, there the nest was with the mama and two “bridgers” just like two years ago.  That was June 1st which someone said was the day that they would fledge.  So we thought that “tale” was not true.  The next day, the little owls were out of the nest tree and in the top of a couple of other trees a ways off.  Isn’t nature amazing?  Just look at Phaedra and me - me mostly - and who’d doubt the wonder of it all!


There are two other owl nests in Estes Park, too.  We go to see them every day to watch the babies grow and to see if they have left the nests yet.  One of the nests is right downtown on a cliff behind the main street library.  They know humans can’t bother them way up there where they live.  Those babies are so cute - almost like me.  They’re fuzzy like Phaedra, though.


You know, when you are in a pretty area, I don’t think you should complain.  But, Mama and Papa are always saying things like, “Can you believe how few elk there are?”  or “I wish the Big Horn Sheep were lower down like last time when we could see them every day.”  I say be thankful for what you have and take advantage or it.  I took advantage of it yesterday when Papa and Mama were Skyping with Parker and went outside to get a good signal.  In the middle of the floor lay Phaedra’s uneaten food.  I pounced on it because I figure that if I wasn’t supposed to have it, it wouldn’t have been left for me.  I got caught and only got half of my normal dinner, though.  Still, take advantage of what you can because you don’t know when someone will get smart enough to always remember to pick up your sister’s food dish.  That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

Phaedra will write you next week if we have any other things to tell you.

‘Til then,

Zoe (the amazing) and Phaedra (the great)