East Portal Reservoir, Estes Park CO (26-28 August 2011)

Lat/Long:  40.32778, -105.57722

Location:  East Portal Reservoir, Estes Park

Electric Hook Up:  Yes

Water Hook Up: Yes, but not at all sites

Bathroom: 100 yard walk

WiFi:  Nope, not even a cell signal

Shower:  FREE!!!  Beware, the website says there are NO showers…

Reserve on web at: https://www.larimercamping.com/

Site:  A01

Here we are again….our weekend escape.  We got an early start on Friday, arrived around 2:30 Friday afternoon.  We’ve become “regulars” I suppose…she handed me a receipt, pointed toward the wood pile and told me to have a great weekend.  No more checking in….they know exactly who we are.  Was able to set up, shower and kick our feet up to watch the “masses” check in.  Ironically, there really aren’t as many people as in past weeks.  Think it has a lot to do with school being back in session.  Campground was already pretty quiet prior to this weekend, however, it’s REALLY quiet now.  I would estimate that half the campground is occupied…if that.  The tent sites above us are almost empty minus a handful of people.

The bear has been back – Friday he stole himself a cooler in the middle of the night.  I was talking to someone closer to the scene of the crime, he said some lady let out a blood-curdling scream that sounded as if she was being attacked by Freddy or Jason.  There was a sighting of him Friday evening, I went up with camera in hand hoping to get a shot of him.  The campground host greeted me with a .45 and bear mace warning me to be careful.  Told him the same thing, especially if he got near my campsite in the middle of the night – I’d be greeting him with a  .357.  Two weeks ago he got a watermelon, I’m afraid when the ranger or the camp host gets near him he’s going to get himself killed.  He’s spent the whole summer here gathering pic-a-nic baskets and coolers…little to domesticated I’m afraid. 

Karon and I did some cleaning up of the T@b.  (this was by far our most productive part of the weekend.)  Thanks to Brian and Cole our trip to the Grand Canyon is on an all green GO GO GO status!  Both of them have done a lot of maintenance that we are just too ignorant to do ourselves.  The only thing we really have to do within the next two weeks is fill the tank with propane and check the tire pressure.  I think I have our route all planned out.  We plan to travel thru south Colorado vice going I-70 West thru the mountain pass.  This will give us a night in Gunnison or Alamosa.  I’ve never seen this part of the state, hear it’s beautiful!  On the way home we will more then likely travel I-70 with a sliver of a chance of stopping in Moab, UT.  We are very excited for the trip though, we have a 4 night reservation at the North Rim Campground and 4 nights at a state park outside of Bryce Canyon, UT.  I’m looking forward to getting pictures.  My hope is to fill and refill my memory cards many times over. 

 As far as weekend activity – there was none.  It was pretty magnificent!  We read a lot, played banana-grams, Sequence (board game), snacked, did a little organizing and that’s it!  Totally relaxing to just put our feet up and chill out.  It’s nice to be able to enjoy the days here.  Most of the masses go into town for a $12 burger, ice cream and a small trinket that probably says, “My Mom went to Estes Park, CO and all I got was this stupid plastic bear.”  So, it’s great to be able to shower whenever, take a short walk or just sit outside and listen to nothing.  Next few weeks will be busy with some photo shoots, shifts at work and regular weekly activities. 

See you next time FROM THE GRAND CANYON!  ;) 

East Portal Reservoir, Estes Park CO

Lat/Long:  40.32778, -105.57722

Location:  East Portal Reservoir, Estes Park

Electric Hook Up:  Yes

Water Hook Up: Yes, but not at all sites

Bathroom: 25 yard walk

WiFi:  Nope, not even a cell signal

Shower:  FREE!!!  Beware, the website says there are NO showers…

Reserve on web at: https://www.larimercamping.com/

Site:  A33

After a long week, it was very nice to escape to the mountains.  This place doesn't seem to get old for us.  Cole and Ashley met us up there again this weekend, they got a good head start on us as they arrived Friday around noon.  We had different spots this weekend that were a little separated, but it didn't stop group food gatherings and Canasta games.  When we packed this time, we did so while in a daze...arrived with no water tank, no food dishes for dogs....the Powells of course rescued us, felt like jerks though.  :)  I will be creating a checklist later tonight FOR SURE!  

Cole helped us do some MORE maintenance this weekend.  Put a new wheel hitch on the T@b and replaced our battery.  Hitch was a little work as we had to drive to about 5 different stores before we found one.  I had purchased one from a store here in Boulder prior to us leaving.  The dude told me, "Yes, all of them are universal, should fit no problem!"  Thanks buddy, you were very wrong--there was nothing universal about it--at all.  We'll be returning that ASAPLY tomorrow.  But--the adventure to find this one took us into town to see and battle traffic with all the Estes tourist shopping up a storm, packing local eateries, clogging up sidewalk and road traffic with looky loo's.  It was nice to drive back into our oasis of quiet.  

To make things exciting this weekend, we did something we NEVER have done while camping....drink.  Started with a few innocent drinks Friday night that turned into a "stop in" to the liquor store for re-supply Saturday which produced phrases Saturday night such as, "We killed both bottles, there are no more shots, Hey ya'll watch this, is it quiet hours right now?, I haven't felt like this in a long time, I need to sit down, I need to stand up, shhhhhh--it IS quiet hours right now-I think, I have to pee again!, I can't believe I did that".  All wrapping up on Sunday to phrases like, "That's why we only do that once a year, Where is the gatorade?, I feel "pretty" good, I can't wait to brush my teeth, do we have advil?"  All in all -- it was a great time.  Zero complaints.  

Cole and Ashley had quite the neighbors.  As we sat Friday playing Canasta we turn to watch newest arrivals position their pop up camper.  It seemed as if this may have been a "maiden voyage" or something as it looked as if it may turn into a train wreck. With some help from Cole they got positioned...as did we to watch the "set up" show.  Everything seemed to go ok until it came to hook up power.  They had power that flickered on and off at random, only seemed to turn on if you stomped on the floor with some gusto.  Cole tried different power, took apart the electric housing to check for lose connections, checked for bad breakers...all to not really find the problem.  However, his efforts definitely constituted him as "weekend hero" to those ladies.

The "ladies" named from left to right, Amy, Julia and Gina...who we affectionally named "Three Wolf Moon".  Why, mostly because there were three of them and we had two nights of a big, bright full moon.  And...b/c they continuously cracked us up.  Their drink of choice Friday night was Fat Tire mixed in with some sort of wine that we caught Julia holding by the neck and Gina and Amy sipping out of camper coffee mugs.  Whether Julia actually drank from this bottle or just carried it around, we'll never know.  Nonetheless, they all cracked us up.   Saturday night they had a formal presentation (please note:  Julia promised to sing and never did) where they had many words of praise for Cole for helping out with the setup.  They pooled "ALL" of their money to get him some fancy chocolate with an Estes Park label.  

The best part about these gals as I've been thinking about it all day long -- it was so refreshing to meet some down to earth people.  Amy, Julia and Gina reminded me that the four of us are all part of a family -- we're a daughter, a son, a sister, a brother, a neighbor, a friend.  While we'll probably never see those folks again -- it was a good reminder that we're all part of something bigger.  It's important to be sincere, genuine and polite...because in the end, we're all kind of connected.  We all got a lot of great laughs for sure.  We all enjoyed the company.  Best of luck next time "Three Wolf Moon" -- Bless YOUR heart!   ;) 

So, the rest of it consisted of animals and smores and fires.   Chase had a tough weekend as he spent most of it grounded in the T@b.  He could NOT help himself to STOP barking.  So, he was out to pee, stretch his little legs and eat.  His "hurt feelings report" status seems to have expired as he's cuddled on my lap now.  The other three dogs were well behaved as long as the gang leader (Chase) was put up.  Weekend was a great success on a lot of different levels.  Had a hard time packing up as I just wanted to stay up there to continue the bliss away from reality.  

Looking forward to next trip, where we'll have more laughs and the ability to enjoy the sensation of not having to look over our shoulder or worry about where to be at what time.