the    sides

Part of the blog silence this past weekend was because we grabbed the fam and headed up to Estes Park. Amy and I have a ton of great memories about Estes Park. We’ve had the honor/privilege/horror of bringing students for the past 15 years. That just seems so odd to write…(Hon, we aren’t getting old are we?)

I grew up in Aurora so I have great memories of Estes Park as a kid (despite the classic “Don’t make me stop this car” speech from parental units…) but bringing students up here from Texas, Kansas, and Arkansas are my favorite memories. Staying at the YMCA of the Rockies, ministering to folks in town and in Boulder. Great memories and great times.

This however was the first time we had a chance to bring our kids. They absolutely had a blast. Rainbows, elk, aspens, and wolves. That’s right, wolves. Elkfest was going on in Estes Park and one of the vendors had wolves they had rescued….and you could pet them. The wolves were twice the size of Cayden. In one of the pics below - that is Cooper, my 4th grade son, next to the wolf.

I understand where the myth of werewolves came from now. If I saw one of those in the dark in the wild I can understand thinking they were as big as humans.

Great time in the Rockies.

As Amy ran out to the tree to get a picture, it started raining. You can see the drops look like shards of glass falling from the sky. One of those “what a cool pic” moments.

Cooper with the wolf. Cayden and Camber also went in and pet it.

These pictures don’t do the rainbow justice. It was so bright and clear. We stood there for a while just looking at it.

This is on the golf course in downtown Estes Park. We got within 50 feet of a male elk. Gorgeous creatures who take over Estes Park in the fall.