It’s our last day before we head back towards home. It’s always a sad day. Of course, we made the most of it!
The weather, again, has been disappointing. When we come back here (and we will!), it will be later in the year with the hopes of warmer temperatures. Thank goodness we had planned to do our hiking on the absolute perfect day of our time in this fine area. As Rick said, yesterday was picture perfect.
And today was quite special too. We did get a little bit of sunshine early in the day, which was nice to be able to sit riverside and enjoy our perfect spot.
We did some needed chores before we get on the road, dodged raindrops on and off, and almost left…
When the rain and cool breezes came back, we were so disappointed. The weather here has been challenging, and not what we had hoped for. So we even started to look at what it would look like if we left today (early afternoon), took a new route, new campgrounds, etc. But it really just didn’t make sense for us to leave since it would mess up our other planned destinations on the way home. Plus we are here in this beautiful space and it would be a shame to waste it.
So we rested a bit , reading and journaling.
Then we decided to visit a highly recommended and interesting place that is really close to our campground.
We loved The Rock Inn. Wow, thank goodness we didn’t experience this until the last night because we would have been there EVERY NIGHT!!
The atmosphere, food, live music were all top notch. They opened at 4 and the reviews said to get there before 5 if you want a seat. It was just a short walk up the street, so we were there promptly at 4:45! The bar was mostly full, and clearly locals. The restaurant quickly filled up, especially with a talented musician who started at 5pm. It was pure delight, all the way around.
I did remember, after looking at the interesting artwork on the walls, that the website mentioned that they feature local artist work for sale. How cool. Well, I did a quick look around and yes, you guessed it, spotted work from our favorite artist.
We had to do it… it was meant to be.
It had nothing to do with the great drink, although I have to say that an old fashioned made with pine syrup that is allegedly made from the pine trees on property is pretty cool…
So tonight, we are back at our place, pleasantly full of good food and drink, with wonderful musical tunes in our head (including some Irish favorites!) and another brand new piece of artwork to take home with us.
We have had an incredible time, even despite the setbacks. This place holds special memories and a strong desire to come back, hopefully as a family vacation with Rick’s kids…
We have 4 days/3 nights of driving ahead of us. And we cherish all of the memories we have made thus far. More to happen on the drive home, hopefully all fun and uneventful days..
But we will be back to Rocky Mountain National Park, Estes Park and the Rock Inn ???
Leave a Reply