Phaedra and Zoe - Westward Ho!

Phaedra and Zoe coming to you from the high county - Rocky Mountain National Park


It’s been such a long trip since we have been on a real road trip.   This is no trip to Florida to stay: no this is a real road deal.

We left home on May 25th headin’ out for the real west - Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado.
We talked Papa into doing the trip in 7 days instead of  the the normal 4. They decided to give Zoe Benadryl to keep her from getting a guppy tummy. She slept the whole trip. Boy was I happy.

Storms followed us through Tennessee, Kentucky and even Illinois. Mom thinks she’s a storm magnet.  Who’s to say? The threat of bad weather and lack of available campgrounds in Missouri caused us to drive 4 hours to East St. Louis where we camped at the Casino Queen under the Arch. And, just in case you wondered, Papa and Mama were too tired to gamble away our inheritance! Check out the beautiful sunset over St. Louis and the Arch.

Kansas and into Colorado took us through black skies and tornado warnings. Mom finally got her wish - campgrounds with storm shelters!  NO JOKE!  We hustled through and got to RMNP a day early just so we would miss the next round of severe weather.

Zoe is not longer drugged. Damn!!!!!





So far, our first week in Estes Park has been better than what usually happens to us.  You may remember that Papa and Mama always leave us to “Guard the House” while they galavant here and there. We have been invited on most of their excursions into the Park. And, you should see the beautiful views from the camper! . Even if we had to stay and “guard the house” we had cool views. 

There are elk everywhere!  And, you know what that means, right?

Our yard is a veritable feast after a herd grazes its way past the camper! We even had a baby and mom Elk walk in front of the truck.   For once, Zoe didn’t yell at them so we really had a great close-up. It is funny to see big herds of elk - they are either mostly
females or Batchelor Herds with only males with huge antler racks. Don’t want to run into one of those!  But, did you know, that in the spring it’s the moms who are really dangerous.  I guess it makes sense, though.  If someone was trying to hurt one of us, Mama would pulverize that person.

We thought that we were back in Florida as we watched a mom, dad and two baby great horned owls on a rock wall in downtown Estes Park.  These parents have been raising their family on the same rock face for the past 8 years!  It's very protected (we would have a problem climbing up the rock face) so it's safe from them.  They stare back at us just like we stare at them!

We’ve also been really lucky to see sheep several different days so
far. Once we were held up in traffic because they crossed the road in front of us. Mom and Dad like to picnic next to a roaring river.
That’s the area where we see Big Horn Sheep.  One day, they even butted heads and it sounded like a rifle shot! The also come down to shallow lakes to drink the water because the water has minerals in it along the edge from the mud and they must replenish what they lost over the winter.  Soon, many of the sheep will move back up to the top of the range for the summer.

Saturday, we drove over Trail Ridge Road which had just opened
up the weekend before. This is the highest road in the park. It reaches 12,183 feet above sea level  (Sure wouldn’t have to worry about any floods like we do in Chapel Hill!) There was snow up there so I was able to pee in the snow. Oh what fun! It was 40 degrees which i don’t understand, but I do know cold. We drove 50 miles to the other entrance at Grand Lake and turned around and came back. It was a perfect day with unbelievable views.

This is the year of the 100th Anniversary of the National Park System.  We've been in most of the national parks, but this one is probably our favorite.  Since this is a big deal, someone carved a message in a snowbank up top.  We must have had our pictures taken a hundred times, too.  Of course, you understand it's because we are so photogenic and smart, right?

We saw a mom and baby moose which was what we were hoping to see. How lucky. was that!

Then we had the best experience when we came upon a mother elk

who had just given birth to a baby. She was licking the baby clean as we watched. The baby must have been no more than an hour old.  It was so cool even if Zoe and I really did not see it. We just heard Mama and Papa exclaiming about it once they got back in the car.  We were gone all day. We are in trouble now ‘cause Papa and Mama want to do more hiking and we are not allowed on the trails.  (I told Zoe that it’ll be just the 2 of us.  She better behave!)


It's time for us to get ready to go back out to see what we can see.  We'll be back in touch soon, but wanted to leave you with some more pictures of things that Zoe and I really love about Rocky Mountain National Park!