Rocky Mountain National Park

       I took a look at my schedule for the week and realized that Monday was my only 
   day to play. So I decided to make it a really fun day and head up to Rocky mt National 
   Park( RMNP). Even though the park is just over an hour away from my home, I have only 
   been there about 3-4 times. All national parks are NOT dog friendly. Since Molly always 
   went hiking with me, the park was never an option. 
     The park is a fun place to go anytime but the fall is the best. The elk are in rutting season, 
  the leaves are turning colors and the temps are cooling off...yeah!
     I decided to drive up to the highest point to start the day....the pics do not do justice to the amazing views. So if you ever have the opportunity, get up here!

  

   Now I am from upstate NY and we have beautiful fall colors- reds, oranges and yellows.
Colorado has mostly yellows. Sure it's nice to see but there's nothing like the fall colors of the east coast. I've lived out here almost 20 years, so the yellows look spectacular to me :)

  Elk can be seen all over the park but there are a few meadows were they like to hang out.
There was large herd but they were pretty far away. I got some decent pics for the blog but they were not note card worthy......

    I was hoping to get some better pics of the elk. I remembered that they hang out all over town ( Estes Park). So I decided to go into town and then head home.
I had just left the park and was in a residential area when I came upon a bunch of cars parked along side the road. Instinctly I grabbed the camera and jumped out to see what was going on.....I still had elk on the brain, so wondered if it was an elk. Nope! It ws a momma bear with her cub.

   Above is the cub after crossing the creek. Mom had crossed ahead of him.

   Here's mom checking us out. We were at the safe distance, so she was okay with us watching her.

   The cub climbed up a big tree by the house while mom took a break :)

  Then the cub climbed down...how cute is that!

   Finally mom decided it was time to go and they headed down the path.

      I have never seen a bear outside of a zoo, so I was just thrilled!
  So I shifted gears again to go find some elk. I 'm driving down the road and a turkey and her young crossed the road. She seemed pretty tame but I'm guessing she was someone's pet turkey......yes, the cars stopped and they made it across safely.

   I was tired from a long day but hoping to get a decent elk pic. So I drove down this road near the golf course and there they were. 3 bull elk hanging out......

         There's a bike path right near them, so I just walked by and grabbed a few pics. 
         Amazing huh?

        I had to laugh to myself. I spent a few hours trying to get decent elk pics in the park. 
       When all I had to do was drive around Estes Park.......

       

    So it was a very fun day! I bought myself a pass to RMNP, so I'll be back very soon!

    Thanks for reading!