Wandering Around Colorado

So I got to Denver fairly early.  After meeting an old friend for lunch, I went back to the hotel for a bit and took a little nap.  I didn't want to waste my opportunity in Colorado, so I headed over to the Rocky Mountain National Park.  I'd been in the area before but we didn't make it to the actual park.

 But first, one picture from the airport.  This is a statue of Elrey Jeppesen.  He is one of the early pioneers in aviation and as he traveled from airport, he would keep detailed notes about approach paths to airports.  Eventually, those became the charts that would comprise the books he would sell.  Even in this day of GPS's and what not, people still use them.

 To get to the park, you get out on US-36 which passes through a series of mountains.  I'd been here before, so this was fairly familiar to me.  However, being from Michigan, I am always impressed by mountains.

 I wasn't sure about the weather but it started to cooperate for me as I got through the mountains.

 I kind of wish I'd seen more of these reddish colored mountains.  I think I like this shot with the road curving into it.

 More mountains.  I just wish I'd had more time.  I guess I shouldn't have taken that nap but I did need it.

 I kind of like the way the clouds set off against the brightly lit mountain.

 This is the famous Stanley Hotel.  It was the hotel that Jack Nicholson stayed at in the Shining.  Although if I remember correctly, the famous maze is somewhere else.

 I can't get enough of the mountains.  At this point, I was finally in the National Park.

 Some here.

 And here.

 So as I was driving through the park, I saw a bunch of people pulled off to the side of the road.  Of course I had to look for the reason why.  As I looked, I saw the reason why.  There was a herd of elk in the field.  So I stopped.

 Here he is eating dinner.

 And some of the female elk.

 One more shot of the male.

 It looked like the colors were starting to change but not that much.

 Looking out over the valley.

 I just wanted to do this shot just to show how high up I was.  You can see the string of cars working up the mountain.

 Another valley.

 A pair of chipmunks.

 Unfortunately, the sun was starting to get lower in the sky, so I didn't have much more time, so I headed back down the mountain.  I passed this sign on the way up and I was in a place where I could get a picture of it.

 Another valley.

 I kind of liked the layering in this mountain.

 I like how the tree grows straight up, even though it's in the side of a mountain.

 More trees.

 As I was leaving the park, I saw another group of cars and looked out to see this scene.

 More elk.

 And one more shot of a mountain before I left.

 So on Monday, I had to visit a supplier that was towards the northern part of Colorado.  It was pretty much in the middle of nowhere.  They did have this cool statue though.

 And part of their facility is in an old Atlas silo.

It's funny, when you think of Colorado, you think of mountains.  Eastern Colorado is not quite so.