I'm not going to complain about my scribe ignoring her duties and not writing for me last night, since it was a group decision to have one last day exploring Rocky Mountain park instead of packing, which meant that the entire evening was filled with packing and making plans and booking things to see and stay on the way home. So yeah, we had some adventures, and made plans for new adventures, instead of getting my blog written. I think I'm ok with that.
Our first stop in the park was the Holzwarth Historical Site, an original "dude ranch" as we were told. Some guy (probably named Holzwarth, but I'm just guessing here) saw all the people vacationing in the park after it opened in 1915, and decided to profit off it by offering cabins to sleep in, and his wife's delicious cooking. They operated there until the 1930s when they built a more modern resort down river. The original buildings are all there though, and that's what we went to check out. It was a short hike from the parking lot to the cabins, and well... Clare described it best when she said it looked like a summer camp, complete with main cabin for eating, little cabins spread out in no particular arrangement and even a large campfire pit with benches in a circle around it. There were a number of activities for kids to try out there. I wasn't too fond of washing socks, but I think I'm a natural with a lasso.
On a side note, I have to comment about something that my old travelling companion Rissa would have called "a great story", you know the ones, those great moments that have nothing to do with your actual vacation, but are the first thing you tell everyone when you get home because they were so funny or coincidental. Well, here's a good one for you...
On arrival at the Holzwarth parking lot, a family with three young girls got all excited about our car. It turns out, they were playing that weird license plate game that Robin taught me as well, and they were all excited to be able to check off Ontario. When they found out we were playing too, they were even more excited. Turns out they needed one more US states (and they HAD seen Alaska and Hawaii). We still need four US states (including those two elusive ones). I guess my companions aren't the only ones who play this game after all.
As if that wasn't good enough, when we returned from visiting the cabins, we had to do the obligatory checking of all plates in the parking lot before leaving (you never know if someone has arrived since you last checked, you know). Well, we might not have got any new plates on that round, but there were two, yes TWO other Ontario plates! There were only 22 cars in the parking lot (I know, Clare counted). What are the chances?? So, we did what any normal Canadian would do in that situation; we waited. Yup, we waited. Maybe 20 minutes. Not sure. Eventually, someone approached the car, and without even thinking about how silly they might sound, Robin blurted out "Ontario?" The couple stopped, then looked at our car, and their eyes lit up. The third Ontario car owner was with them, and suddenly everyone was hugging and wanting pictures. I'm not totally sure about this part of the deal. They never even asked names, just "what city?" The other two cars were friends, all from Thornhill (part of Toronto, about an hour from our home). With pictures taken with multiple phones, and after everyone checked their phones to make sure they were happy with the results, we all went our separate ways, not likely to ever meet again (and still not knowing names). Strange custom to be sure!
Our final hike for this trip was to Adam's Falls, which was a very nice hike, but the falls are a bit anti-climactic when you are used to the likes of Niagara, so we hiked on a little further to the meadow that we were told was worth the extra fifteen or so minutes. It wasn't. Well, maybe it is if you go early in the morning, when it is apparently full of moose drinking in the pond, but at three in the afternoon, it was just a meadow surrounded by mountains. Was it pretty? Absolutely! Was it worth the extra walk. Maybe?
As I said, the rest of the night was spent planning the drive home and all that we'll see and do along the way. There are a couple of pretty cool stops, so don't stop reading yet :).
Today we drove back through the southern pass to catch the interstate and head into Denver. We went to the Museum of Nature and Science, and I think we can safely say its on par with the Ontario Science Center (in Toronto). We went to the planetarium and were sent through space and time to explore the solar system. We then spent quite a bit of time in their temporary exhibit on the five senses, with a lot of cool information about how different animals perceive things compared to us, and a really strange room that looked like the floors and walls were all curved, but were in fact flat. It was rather surreal.
We would have loved to spend more time in this wonderful science center, but sadly it closed at five. Still, we got in a great few hours of discovery before getting back on the road.
Tonight we are in Limon, CO. Not much to say about Limon. Not even sure how to pronounce it.
Whatever!
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