ONE if by Land, TWO if by Sea - A Combo Summer Trip Report

[HouCuseChickie]

Day 4- June 28th

I was hoping to sleep in a little, but I got a rude awakening from the window.



I was reminded of our 2019 stay in Estes Park and how the rising sun seemed to show up an hour+ earlier than home. The room had a northern exposure, but the sun was so bright at 5:30am that I originally thought an artificial light was shining in the window. Nope…sun!

I did my best to get back to sleep but it was a lost cause. We eventually all got up, had a little breakfast downstairs and headed out to enjoy our morning. First stop…Benson Sculpture Garden.








It’s pretty cool how there’s this whole sculpture garden intertwined within a neighborhood…including a high school and Lake Loveland. I wish we could have walked some of it, but ya know…kid in a boot.

Next up was Horsetooth Reservoir…







I should have a few more pictures of this in an upcoming photo dump from the big camera…or maybe even the next post since I took a lot of pictures with the big camera.

After taking in the views of the reservoir, we went to check out the hotel where we were originally booked for the trip. It was pretty and elegant, but I’m just not a fan of boutique hotels for team trips. On our previous teams and friends’ teams, pool time for the kids after games was a big team building component, so we insisted on the change for team lodging. In any event, this other place was very nice, but far more suitable for a wedding or nice weekend getaway.

We still had lots of time, so we went in search of the Cache la Poudre River. We found it along with the start of what was supposed to be a nice scenic drive, but nobody was feeling it. So, I hopped onto the interstate and headed north to Wyoming.


(Forgot to get pics of these last trip)

 

[HouCuseChickie]

First order of business...I was immediately shot down on my idea to drive to Yellowstone and Grand Teton on our free day coming up. It was similar to driving through the Orlando area, seeing signs for WDW, and being told no. We crossed the state line, saw a large digital highway sign about the current status of Yellowstone, and I was shot down. While I already knew the south loop was open and was well aware of the license plate system at the time, being in a position to warrant highway signage made it feel close enough to be an attainable reality. Not to mention that our free day was an odd numbered day and my license plate ends in an odd number. Nope...nobody was on board. I tried to finagle a shorter drive to the Rapid City area, since we never got a chance to see Wind Cave NP and Jewel Cave NM and it was about half the drive time, but also a big no. Oh well.

So, I'm not sure how we missed the Southeast Wyoming Welcome Center the last time we drove this way. We devoted a lot of time to speculating that it must be new. As you can see on the link below, the structure stands out pretty prominently on a rather stark landscape...not to mention it confirming that it opened in 2012. I guess we had other goals last time that blinded us to seeing this.

Southeast Wyoming Welcome Center | Anderson Mason Dale Architects

www.amdarchitects.com

All I can say is that we were really impressed. Sure, we needed a bathroom, but there was so much to check out in here that it's all we ended up doing in Wyoming. It's not like we had a lot of time anyway, but seriously fun visitor center. I think we all took several turns in the jail cell before realizing there was a prison break slide option. My kids initially couldn't care less about the slide, but some younger kids showed up...were just climbing the faux rocks to get to the slide...and that's when we noticed there was a door. We let the kid in the boot even go once because it didn't seem to be any real risk. I also probably should have opted for video with the light display on the walkway. Oh well.

(I took A LOT of pics in here...so may just be several posts of them. I think there will be more in the photo dump too.)

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Hard to make out, but this is one of several pronghorn we saw as we were leaving.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

We needed to get back to Fort Collins for games. Sure, she couldn't play, but Sam could help with warmups and she's really good on picking up on things with opposing teams. Some teams are really vocal with calls, so she's able to quickly make a mental note of what each one winds up meaning. The more impressive one is learning the little ticks. ex. This pitcher raises her pinky whenever she's going to throw an off speed over the right side of the plate. So, she could still be useful.

I also had David take a picture of the Colorado sign on our way back into the state...



We seemed to have plenty of time, but navigation routed us to the recreational side of the park. Wrong place, but I think we all wanted to get out and try the twin silo slide...



What's funny is that I wanted to turn into the correct entrance, but my copilot insisted I go to the next one. He was just following navigation though, so it's really the nav's fault! Oh well...we got there and I found a nice shaded spot away from the fields. Not sure why, but most of the field complexes we visited in CO had very little protection from foul balls. Also, a few too many also lacked shaded bleachers. We were stuck sitting in the grass under some landscaping while waiting on our game to start and then baked in the sun come game time (yet still cooler than home). Kendall had some of the most epic meltdowns about spiders in the grass.

Oh yea...and this is why you never park near the fields...



They won their first game. While it was just pool play, pool games usually count for seeding. We also had one of the best umpires I can remember. Every time someone hit something foul, he'd say "It's a foul ball!" really loudly like the neighbor in A Christmas Story says "It's a major award!" We had several hours in between games, so we decided to grab a snack. I don't know how Wendy's came into the mix, but we drove halfway across Fort Collins to go to Wendy's.



I will say that the fireplace was a nice touch. We also got a good chuckle when two elderly men came in for food, but one bought a milkshake from another place to eat with his Wendy's. At some point he started puttering around trying to find it. The girls spotted it on the counter and helped him...but it was this odd faux pas of having something other than a Frosty at Wendy's. LOL

It was kind of funny...when we got back, my car's twin was parked in the lot near me.



Things ended up going late, but they won their second pool game. We had some great umps with this game too...although more descriptive in calls and less colorful in how they called it. It was a Tuesday night and a lot of things closed early, so we did some quick searches for pizza and wound up at an Old Chicago. The rest of the team went someplace else, were eventually denied seating due to party size, so we suggested they come where we were. It was open late and there were plenty of open tables, but again, they did their own thing. Whatever... we were seated and had food...and a drink...











Those funky looking rollups are Buffalo chicken with bleu cheese and ranch. The square pizza was Detroit style. It wasn't bad and was good for several days of leftovers.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

After dinner, we went back to the hotel for pool time and drinks. Kendall had just been cleared to go swimming (leg infection) and she was all about trying the slide.



Poor Sam was just over it. She recently got her ears pierced and couldn’t get her head wet. She’d gone in the previous night just to use her legs in the water and throw the ball around. It was all ok’d by her doctor, but some of her idiot now ex-teammates had the stupidity to suggest she was faking it. Competitive athletes don’t fake injuries that keep them out of their top competition of the year. I just felt bad that she couldn’t enjoy the 3 story slide in addition to missing out on play.





We didn’t stay up too late. The next day was a break day and we had national park plans!

 

[HouCuseChickie]

June 29th-

I started digging into information for Rocky Mountain National Park as soon as we found out that the team would be headed to Colorado. We've been here before, but not since the park implemented the reservation system. I had no idea if we'd even have time to get to the park since game schedules and team bonding events have always consumed the bulk of our time at previous travel tournaments, especially with our last two teams. Still, my America the Beautiful parks pass was good through June 30th and park reservations were only $2 a day, so it wasn't a big risk to buy just in case. So, I bought timed entry passes for June 27th-June 30th. I opted for 1pm entry (vs 9am or 11am) because it's close to an hour drive from Loveland and I figured we might get multiple trips in if we had morning games.

Warning- about to have another salty moment!

Big tournaments often give you a full free day off like this. Most teams we've seen or been on use it as a team bonding opportunity. They typically pick a private activity, use team funds to pay for slots for all of the girls on the team, and depending on the activity- offer the parents/families an opportunity to buy in as well from their personal funds. This team didn't think about it until the last minute, presented some ideas from an "if you're interested" and "if it's in your budget" standpoint, and then got the reality check that the good stuff was already booked up...at least for the number of slots we needed. As for the team funds, I believe a chunk of that went into three new team uniform tops per girl for this tournament (we already had SIX). I had shared that we were going to the park, but nobody seemed to care until after they were shut out of other activities. I had privately shared with one family (since they arrived early and were turned away) that the park holds back about 20% of the entries and opens up these reserves at 5pm the day before via the app. When it came up, I was kind enough to share this as well as detailed instructions with the whole team. I wanted to change our entry time to 11am, so I needed to try to get on to modify ours too. Cellular service was awful because of the bandwidth demands from the crowds. As a result, I was having problems with the app. We literally drove to several spots in Fort Collins just to try and get me a better signal. In the middle of all of this, other parents on the team were scarfing up spots. They were offering help to anyone having trouble...i.e. I was able to get an extra, let me know if you need it, kind of stuff. But when I put out a plea for help...nothing! We wound up having to create an account for David and get a pass through him, since his phone was having fewer reception issues. In the end, we got the time slot we wanted and all was good, but it always stings when you offer help and get burned.

Getting to Estes Park was a breeze. No pics, but we spotted our first bighorn sheep and elk on the way there. We planned a stop at this general store that's not too far from the Beaver Meadows entrance. I was hoping we could get goodies from there, but they were cash only because their servers were temporarily down. Oh well, we passed the entrance sign...



and then headed to the visitor center first...









One of these days, I’m going to learn to keep my fingers away from the phone lens.

Entry into the park was a breeze. Just showed my pass, ID and screen shot of the reservation QR code.

Driving Trail Ridge Road was the goal… so we headed up. Storms were rolling in so it was pretty dark and windy. We pulled up with a few open Jeep tours and they looked miserable! We made four stops before getting to the Alpine Visitor Center. I will have a few pictures from the big camera before I do a big photo dump at the end of this day. So I’ll weave those in.



This guy and his friends were at our very first stop…along with a ranger. He seemed surprised that I knew this was golden mantled ground squirrel. It turned into an odd discussion about squirrels, chipmunks, beaver and moose. I had to excuse myself because it was starting to mist.

Next stop was where we saw tons of frolicking marmots in 2019. Today, we only saw four, but Sam felt she had a connection with this guy and he was meant to come home with us.



I had a lot more pictures from these last two stops, but this will have to do for now. We also had drama at this second stop. Kendall dropped her phone over the edge of the scenic overlook. No…not like the recent guy who dropped his into Vesuvius… thankfully. It just dropped into a flat patch of grass and rocks, so David was able to go around and retrieve it. Phones stayed in pockets after that (well, kid phones).

No phone pics at the next stop, but I started taking a lot from the car as we drove towards the weather…

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Sam got excited about the weather and wanted to stop…





It’s all fun and games until it’s “weathering” right at you!





We were just a few steps from the car, so not a major issue. We were also right near the Visitor center. So the goal was now to get there, park and get inside before the heaven opened up.

Of course It started to pour just as we were running in. It was in the 40s up there (dropped quite a bit between that pic of David driving and parking), so we even had some sleet in the mix…which is kind of painful in gusty winds. This was after we made it in and the rain started to taper off…



The wind isn’t too bad in that video, but you can really hear it from this first overlook stop (I think this was the one with the squirrel).

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Speaking of overlooks… these were some of the others we visited before the visitor center…

 

[HouCuseChickie]

It wasn’t nearly as crowded as our last visit and there was plenty of parking; however, everyone was clustered inside because of the weather. There was plenty of lightning and thunder so people also fled some of the nearby trails.

We scooted from the visitor center side to the gift shop and cafeteria portion. I didn’t buy Christmas ornaments last time because nothing spoke to me. This time, two ornaments were talking.



Sam was pretty excited about the marmot ornament. We were hoping to find her marmot jewelry, but instead kept losing her.

We were pretty hungry, so we went back to the cafeteria area. Unfortunately, they were out of nearly everything. David and Sam settled for some chili while Kendall and I had veggie sandwiches. We also were able to snag a window seat.







I also surprised everyone with some huckleberry bonbons.







I also marveled a bit at the bag and was floored by the number of Xanterra places we’ve been.



After lunch, we headed out for a bit to find how it had changed into a sunshiny day.

 

[cgersic]

This is such a perfect picture. I can totally smell and feel it there! I'm so glad I found this report, but now you are making me sooo homesick! I was born in Ft Collins and raised in Windsor. I am a mountain girl at heart (always and forever) and I too take pictures of them every time I'm there. Don't ever feel weird about it - it's the people that transplanted from other places that won't understand. Happily following along!

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Just wanted to check in. I should be able to start back up in a few days. We’ve been a little preoccupied

 

[HouCuseChickie]

View attachment 655965
This is such a perfect picture. I can totally smell and feel it there! I'm so glad I found this report, but now you are making me sooo homesick! I was born in Ft Collins and raised in Windsor. I am a mountain girl at heart (always and forever) and I too take pictures of them every time I'm there. Don't ever feel weird about it - it's the people that transplanted from other places that won't understand. Happily following along!

The beach time during this cruise also confirmed that we’re mountain people. Obviously, we weren’t born and raised in the Rockies, but it’s certainly our preference. I also understand some about a place being home. I hear all kinds of people weigh in on their visits to the NY Metro area and it’s just different when it’s the place where you spent your childhood. Of course, I prefer Colorado over my motherland

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Ok, so when I last posted, we were finishing up lunch and appreciating much nicer weather. We hopped back in the car and continued on Trail Ridge Rd. We had been discussing how we hadn’t seen a single elk in the park when these girls came into view.



There was also at least one bull in the mix. I’ll have a lot more pictures in the photo dump.



We kept driving and saw more pretty scenery and elk.







We eventually made it to the Coyote Valley Trail area. It’s a beautiful spot, just beneath the headwaters of the Colorado River, but it’s also a great spot for moose spotting.












It’s a beautiful area, but no moose. I know they were there recently…as evidenced by some fresh moose poop (I’ll spare you the picture). We’d come across some other visitors just up the road who swore there was a moose out there. Maybe I didn’t see what they saw, but I got out the big lens and saw an elk.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

As we approached the western side of the park, we came across a lot of the recent wildfire damage.





It’s surreal seeing it in person. There are a number of buildings burned out as well that I guess they’re still discussing plans and funding. Also interesting is how you can see which was the winds we traveling through the waves in which the burned trunks sort of froze it in time.

Upon reaching the western edge of the park, we had some decisions. We could head back the way we came or we could take scenic rte 40, which goes through Winter Park. We opted for the latter, as we were planning to go watch a friend playing in a different invitational tournament that week and it was closer to where we’d come out on option 2.

Most of my pics were on the big camera, including my failed attempts to get the osprey we saw just outside of the park. Here’s what made it onto my phone.




After getting onto I70 and making our way towards Denver, I even got the Mother Cabrini statue…something I missed last trip.



I got several more on the big camera.

We were now running a bit behind due to traffic, but the friend’s games were also several hours behind due to weather. Their concession stand was also pretty limited with food…so we hit up a Chili’s for some dinner.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

We made it to see some of the friend’s game. Things were kind of crazy since they were so far off schedule, but there something neat about being able to pop in on people you know when you’re all far from home.

We decided to cut out because more weather was moving in. It makes for pretty skies, but scared the daylights out of me with all of the lightning striking around us.



We got back to the hotel and pretty much called it a night. We had early games the next day, so best not to be up late.

 

[cgersic]

The beach time during this cruise also confirmed that we’re mountain people. Obviously, we weren’t born and raised in the Rockies, but it’s certainly our preference. I also understand some about a place being home. I hear all kinds of people weigh in on their visits to the NY Metro area and it’s just different when it’s the place where you spent your childhood. Of course, I prefer Colorado over my motherland

I'm lucky that I've been able to live in quite a few states with New Jersey being one of them. I moved to Edison when I was 21 and spent the next 2 years living the NYC life - taking the path train in, driving in. I fell in love with it and still enjoy when I get to visit. That being said, I'm currently living on an island, so I've been living my best beach life for the past 26 years!

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I'm lucky that I've been able to live in quite a few states with New Jersey being one of them. I moved to Edison when I was 21 and spent the next 2 years living the NYC life - taking the path train in, driving in. I fell in love with it and still enjoy when I get to visit. That being said, I'm currently living on an island, so I've been living my best beach life for the past 26 years!

I know Edison I can’t recall if we ever discussed before, but I grew up in Scotch Plains. We had cousins in Metuchen and a number of places we’d frequent in Edison. Metropark in Iselin was usually our go-to for getting in and out of the city. And now, you’ve got island life! Nice!

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I’m just going to do a photo dump from the DSLR for the day. Not sure how many posts it’ll take.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

 

[HouCuseChickie]