On Saturday we headed up to Rocky Mountain National Park for the day! We had gone up last year and loved it, we even got to see moose last year (still a highlight for me). Jeff found out that Saturday was a free day for the National Parks so off we went! We headed up through Boulder and first stopped at Longs Peak just outside of the park. Jeff and the kids got their National Park Passport books stamped at the ranger station. Jeff loves collecting different stamps from all the parks and the kids are now hooked on it!!
The crew with their passports stamped!
When we were at the ranger station we even got to check out a llama that was heading up the trail with some rangers. He was hauling tons of supplies; look how cute he is:)
We then headed through Estes Park and into the Park!
We first stopped at Moraine Park Meadow. We visited it last year and had to go back. It offers such a beautiful panorama of all the mountains in the park! We then headed up to the old beaver ponds, they have since left this area but the kids got to put their feet in the water and check out some mountain fish!
We then drove over to a huge washout area that was created by a flood in 1982. It was nice to soak our feet in the icy water on a hot day!
On the hike back down Jeff gave the kids the binoculars and they were off looking for wildlife:)
We didn't see as many animals this time around in the park but here are a look at some of the friends we found!
On our way out of the park we noticed a ton of cars pulled over looking at something so we stopped and found out we were looking at a huge Great Horned Owl nest with two baby owls. The mama was just two branches up keeping an eye on everything. The nest was amazing; truly a special thing to see:)
We had one more stop to make just outside the park. At the beginning of the day we had stopped and gotten Ashley and Cameron Jr. Ranger booklets. Their job throughout the day was to complete all the activities in the book finding animals, plants and exploring the park. When we stopped in at the Ranger station the Ranger was so cute and quizzed them on the book, even making them take a park oath:) Then he asked everyone in the visitors center to stop and congratulate the newest Jr. Rangers! Needless to say the kids were so excited. They wore the badges all the way home:) Here are some pictures of them finishing up the booklet and getting their badges.
Hard at work!
Getting quizzed:)
Taking the park oath!
Official Rangers!
Celebrating:)
It was a great day in a wonderful place! Here are some scenery pictures from the rest of the park.
