My sister Susan and I, along with her dog Blackberry, drove to Rocky Mountain National Park from Denver Tuesday afternoon, and headed up Trail Ridge Road until we reached the gate closing off the rest of the highway for the season. There is an observation point there, where I took the photograph on the left. It was almost 70 degrees back in Denver, but up there it was windy and pretty damn cold. I was going to suggest to Susan that we continue up Trail Ridge Road on foot, but since it was impossible to get her to walk more than a few feet from the car, I decided that that suggestion would not go over well. And after all, she did just celebrate her 80th birthday this past January, but as they say, 80 is the new 40.
On the way back down, since there was so little traffic, I was able to stop the car in the middle of the road and take photographs, such as the one on the right. I am sure it is much busier on the weekends during the winter, but nothing compared to the summer, when it is often bumper to bumper traffic, and there is absolutely no place to park at the trailheads. The park has now instituted a reserved, timed entry system for visitors during the summer, and provides shuttle bus service from the parking lots near the park entrances to all the popular trailheads. That reminds me of that famous quote from humorist Dave Barry, repeating a line from park literature telling visitors to "Avoid the traffic by using one of the park's shuttle buses, and view the elk rut with a park ranger." No way I can top that one.
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