G & B: The best and the worst day yet

Thursday's report: This has been one of those days that one minute it's awesome and the next it's horrible and then it immediately turns around and then back down again. We woke up after having a good night's sleep at a cabin and we decided to move on from Estes Park. We got in the van and drove through Rocky Mountain National Park over Trail Ridge Road which is a mountainous scenic drive. Let's just say that mountain driving does not agree with me. I have never been so terrified of driving in my life. The road starts at something like 7500 feet and ascends to over 12,000 feet in a matter of about 10-20 miles or so. At 7500 feet you have pine forests and nice mountain meadows. At 12,000 feet you have tundra where trees don't grow and the temperature drops drastically to the point that there was still snow on the ground.

Anyways, true to it being both the best and the worst the scenery was spectacular but at the same time I was so scared driving up these mountains on a two lane road with no shoulder and some serious drop offs that my hands were almost numb by the time we made it to 11,000 feet. I went between 20 and 25 mph the whole way. Greg coached me on deep breathing and relaxation the whole way up because I was on the verge of completely freaking out. Yes, it was that scary. We drove forever and hardly used any gas. But when the drive was done we made it. Riley was even whining during some of the trip. I'm pretty sure he was looking out at those drop offs and imagining us and the van falling right off the edge. I have never seen scenery like I saw on that drive and I know for sure the photos won't do it justice. The best part of the drive was driving in the alpine region and seeing a meadowful of elk just hanging out. Some were lounging and some were just standing there, huge antlers and all. I couldn't stop to take a picture because, as there is no shoulder, there were no scenic stop offs near that section so for safety's sake we kept truckin.' We made it to the continental divide and headed towards Grand Lake, the Rocky's western entrance. The best and the worst drive I've ever experienced.

The western side of the divide gets more rain but has been devastated by the pine beetle. These beetles have destroyed god knows how many trees and the destruction was evident by all the dead and dying trees on this side of the Rocky's. We made it to Grand Lake were is definitely has a western vibe with dude ranches, horse stables, and stores stocked with western wear. We found the Grand Lake beach where Riley had a blast playing in the water and we recovered from our drive by sitting on a blanket on the lake's beach.

We asked for campground recommendations and drove sooooo far to get to one that was supposedly "awesome." It was not awesome. It was on a dirt road and when we got there they had no water (and we didn't have any water either) plus it was incredibly isolated to the point that we knew that even though they said the water would be fixed we didn't believe them. There were some very strange characters working there and we listened to that little voice that says, "Not here.... do not stay here...." It was a no-go. We had to turn back and drive all the way back for nothing down 9 miles of dirt road. It was a bad moment and we were both discouraged. We finally found the perfect spot on Lake Granby and have set up shop here for the next two nights. Things are right again.

Check out today's photos: