As the title of the post suggests, we went to Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) today. You'd also know that had you A) read yesterday's post and B) paid attention to it. Needless to say, RMNP is ridiculously majestic. Mountains, particularly ranges that span an entire continent, tend to have that affect. Just in case you're a non-believer, see below:
Not the largest photo, but you get the idea. If it were any larger, it would literally blow your mind and you would die. I'd probably feel a little guilty if family and friends started dropping like flies because of something I did.
Within minutes of entering the park, we came across a lone elk just laying down in a meadow by a stream. It almost seemed like someone planted him there. You'll see him in the photos by clicking HERE, but he had enormous antlers atop his cranial cavity. No wonder he lays down all the time. I'd lay down wherever I could if I had to carry that rack on top of my skull. No thanks. I'll just stick with baseball caps.
There are a lot of photos from RMNP and how many pictures of mountains and elk can you look at, right? WELL LOOK AT ALL OF THEM! And then go back and look at any of the days that you missed. Julia and I have decided that we will not discuss our trip with anyone who has not religiously read the blog. Special points go to those who have posted comments. You all get caps.
Like Bryce and Zion, RMNP is just such an incredible place - it almost seems like a foreign country. Who knew we had all this cool stuff in the U.S.? All you have to do is go look at it. So I don't want to hear, "nice photos, but there are so many mountains." Someone will be in serious agony if such comments are made. Be warned. If you are allergic to cats, don't open your mail. If you hate snakes, stay out of the garage. Oh, it's spiders you fear? Well an insect loving friend of mine says that you are never further than eight feet from a spider. So take that.
This is one of our favorite photos from the day.
The Indian paintbrush flower is pretty cool and it stopped raining long enough to snap this photo.
There was a sign next to a gravel road that read, "Upper Beaver Meadow" and it looked like nobody went down there, so, of course we did. It's a huge meadow at the base of the mountains with flowers (such as the photo above) and trees and little rodents scurrying around and digging for who knows what. We, however, were in search of larger game, like elephants and the black rhino. The aforementioned insect friend would probably tell us that elephants and black rhinos do not roam the meadows of RMNP, but whatever, he only knows bugs and chimps.
The Elk in Upper Beaver Meadow
We came across three elk chomping on some meadow greens, pulled Indy Car 2007 to the side and got out to photograph the vegetation ingesting beasts. We stood at the edge of the road and snapped several photos when this little jerkface decided that he was baddest elk in the meadow.
He looked up from the emerald grasses with crazy eyes a-gogglin' and actually spoke these words to me, "Do you want to fight me? I will destroy you." I shrugged him off at first and then he started saying things like, "What? Are you a little girl?" and made whimpering sounds as though I was a poopy-diapered toddler crying for mommy. He irritated me with his taunts, but I simply told him, "I'm not interested in brawling in the meadow with you today, Mr. Elk, sir. We're just here to enjoy the beauty of your natural habitat. Please rejoin your family and finish your meal." He didn't let up and the insults and ridicule continued. Look at him. There's obviously something not right in his brain. He's crazy and he knew I knew it.
Then he said the one thing that he knew would push me to fisticuffs. Mr. Elk spoke these words - I remember them so clearly. "You know what, dude? Your blog has too much baseball stuff on it."
I could feel my ears turning red due to the anger welling within me. I handed Julia the camera and told her to record what she was about to witness. I walked over to the elk and met him face to face, eye to eye. His heated breath smelled of meadow grass and tree bark. It was quite gross, actually. I drew back my right hand and backhanded him across the jowls. Like Kenny Rogers once said, "Sometimes you gotta fight to be a man." Mr. Elk wasn't pleased and he began trying to pummel me with his weapon-like hooves. I deflected each blow with powerful forearm blocks and grabbed him around the neck and slapped on a sleeper hold. It was over in 30 seconds. Mr. Elk was left unconscious on the floor of upper beaver meadow, soundly defeated. The other elk applauded and said, "Thanks for putting that jerk in his place. He had it coming. I can't believe he dissed your blog. Don't hold that against the rest of elk-kind, okay?" I assured them that they were safe, but to spread the word of what they had witnessed so that future beat downs would not be necessary.
After my triumph, I asked Julia for the camera to see the proof of my heroic tussle with Mr. Elk. I tried to turn the power on the camera and...nothing. The batteries went dead on my way out to meet my enemy and the match was unfortunately not captured on film, thus, I cannot share it with you now. I curse you Energizer Bunny!
We finally left RMNP and headed to Estes Park (the town just outside the main entrance) for dinner. Julia ordered Viennese Goulash, which I thought was a joke, but the stuff was actually very tasty. We finished dinner and set out for our hotel for the night by Denver International. Since our flight leaves at 6 a.m., we decided that staying near the airport was better than getting up at 2 a.m. and driving 1 1/2 hours from the Magill's. No off on the genius switch. On the way back, we looked up into the stormy sky only to see this and thought it was a fitting way to cap off our 2008 Baseball and National Park Road Trip.
As we pulled into the parking space at the Days Inn, the odometer flipped over and we stopped counting. Here's what it read:
73 degrees (up from the low of the day at 39) and 5, 435 miles, precisely.
Since the alarm is set for 3:10 a.m., I'm ending this post here to count some sheep, or maybe some ferocious elk. So if you haven't already, click HERE to see the photos from Rocky Mountain National Park.
As Mega would say, "That's it. We're done."
Next stop: Denver International and home to The Dings and any mayhem they may have caused in our 17 day absence.
3 comments:
1. I loved the butt licking elk picture.
2. How do we know that you didn't just drive around the Days Inn parking lot until you hit the number at .0?
- Doubting Willis
You doubted my wisdom on the continental divide.
Believe it or not, I didn't know that off the top of my head and had to look it up. I was actually glad to do that because it was always a question I asked too. Of course, I asked Pat, and he knew it right off the bat. Why am I so stupid? But I still want the cap.
i feel that the west has made you violent pumkin. Maybe if you had loved that elk, you would have had no need to fight him.
mck
Post a Comment