Estes Park, CO
- Mallery Zion
- Nov 14, 2017
- 4 min read
In 2014 I went on my first out-of-state road trip.
Driving across Kansas to Colorado is nicer than I expected. Everyone complains about the lack of things to see, but I found it refreshing to be able to take in so much green open land. Good music and conversation is definitely a necessity! Time also passed easier by being spontaneous and stopping at things we spotted and thought were interesting.
We started across Kansas in the afternoon, so we spent the night in an odd hotel called Sunset Inn in Goodland, KS. Fitting the hotel name, sunsets in Kansas are amazing. Maybe there's not as many interesting features for light to bounce off or hide behind, but since the landscape is so flat, we basically got to watch the entire gradient progression of the sunset, and see many more vivid colors than we can in Kansas City.
I also was only 15 on this trip, so with a fresh permit I was excited to get to drive a lot of the way along i-70. The first appearance of my bad luck on this trip, was when I got pulled over for the first time. Sorry mom.
In Estes Park we stayed at the KOA in a quaint little cabin, that matched the atmosphere of the rest of the area. Now, we went in July, so I thought it was lucky we had a quick hailstorm so that we could see the area covered in what looked like a thin blanket of snow.
One of my favorite parts about Estes, and of course surrounding areas, is the beautiful little flowing river that is visible in an endless amount of spots. Along with mountains on the horizon, the river is a constant and enjoyable sight. It was so loud from flowing so vigorously along all the big rocks.
There is absolutely plenty of activities and sights to see in and around Estes. And so much history. The nature is definitely the star of the show - the way it should be. A couple of the activities we enjoyed were horseback riding at Sombrero Ranches, and the Estes Park Aerial Tramway. The main attraction of course is Rocky Mountain National Park, but I will give that bad boy his own post.
This was my first horseback riding experience, and it was definitely an interesting one. My horse decided to go to the back of the line away from my friends, that wasn't too bad though. Then, it started hailing. Ha, there's my bad luck again, but I oddly like when things go wrong or spontaneity takes over. It just makes experiences so much more interesting, and makes telling the stories that much more interesting. Along with the horse rubbing my leg up against the "gum tree", the whole group going downhill on slippery rocks with the horses' knees buckling and hooves sliding all over the place, and the horses' lack of bathroom etiquette, it is quite a hilarious story to tell.
I really enjoyed the aerial tramway. Hiking is the best, but gliding up the mountain a couple hundred feet above it is a lot easier, and very beautiful. The view and exploration around the area at the peak it takes you to in definitely worth it. You can buy bags of peanuts to feed the famously friendly Colorado chipmunks, and there are plenty of lookout points to admire the scenery.
Lily Lake
One of the days we were there, we took a mini road trip to the city of Boulder. We took CO-7 E/S and drove through, of course, so much beautiful scenery. Along the route we stopped at Lily Lake. Wow this was absolutely stunning. The lighting was really cool due to the incoming thunderstorm. We walked around and took in the beauty, and I met a nice elderly woman in a sunshine yellow cardigan. She said they lived in the area, and her husband was there with her but he took off walking on the trail around the lake. I stood and talked to her for awhile, and eventually another group of visitors joined in with us finding a cute little family of ducklings swim up to a dry patch of land for a nap. When we were in the car and driving away, we saw two young people walking back to their car barefoot, after a rock climbing session.
It is so refreshing to see people truly immersing themselves in nature.
Continuing on the drive, we pulled over at a nice view along the mountain highway. Now I don't recommend that anyone try this, especially right next to a mountain highway curve, but I laid down in the middle of the road with my little point-n-shoot to get this pretty awesome worm's eye view shot. We then proceeded to walk over to that little hill you can see in the risky picture, and got a good overlook of the mountains.
Getting out of the car, and not looking at everything through the glass for .5 seconds, is much more satisfying.
Nederland
We continued down Peak to Peak Highway 72 and stopped in the hippie town Nederland. This town is quite charismatic and has a lot of history. There are tons of quirky things to do and see. We just walked around the shops for a bit. I remember we stopped in Nature's Own rock shop (which is the epitome of hippie) and then we found a cute music shop called Brightwood Music. They had a friendly fluff, who I hope is still alive, and a multitude of instruments originating from all across the globe.
We definitely spent a good chunk of time in here trying different instruments and watching the owner play them extremely well.
There is a plethora of things to discover in Estes Park and in surrounding areas and towns.
It is definitely one of the best spots in Colorado, but that also makes it a beacon for tourists. I believe it is definitely worth visiting even if you want to stray away from more popular places.
All in all, you would have to put effort into being disappointed anywhere you are in Colorado! It's basically impossible!
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