CAUTION!!! ROAD CONSTRUCTION AT 12,000 FEET!!!

You know I thought the road construction in Chicago was crazy but I kid you not, today at 12,090 feet atop the Rocky Mountains they were laying new road. I just could not believe it. But before I go there... this will be a day I don't think I don't ever want to forget. That is why I am up late blogging so I don't forget...

Ok so the day starts off a little crazy, we want to leave by 8, well you know that's not going to happen when we have to pack up so that we can move to a different hotel because the Silver Moon only had two nights. We are at the Holiday Inn Estes Park tonight. It's not too bad but for the cash I think it is just a little junky. Anyway, we got out and about at 9 or so and we found our new hotel and headed up the mountain. Today our plans were to go up to the Alpine Visitors Center and then come back down again. I was excited about it, a bit afraid because of my fear of heights but I was willing to face my fear and do this. So the journey began. We were able to go up a bit quicker then the day before because we had already made some stops yesterday and I didn't need to take pictures of the same thing twice. So we entered the park about 9:30 and the 1 1/2 journey up 20 miles began.

We drove the road called Trail Ridge Road that every one was telling us that if you are afraid of heights it will be something for you but you can do it. They said that there were no guardrails and that there were 2000 foot drop offs... but as we were driving yesterday and started our drive today we could not understand what people were talking about. The trip was going great. I was not freaking out too bad and I would say not at all, except for the few times I had to tell Don to slow down because I felt he was taking a turn to fast. But things were good. We got out of the car at different lookouts. I took some awesome photos. Some people took photos of the four of us together so they wouldn't all be of Don and the kids... we were having a great time. We were driving up, it was about 11 am, we had just passed the sign that said we were at 11,500 and some odd feet, I had just gotten out of the car to take some photos, gotten back in and Don says in a boisterous voice, OH NO, OH MY GOD, OH NO. Well you can imagine what I was thinking... he hit something, he saw an accident, someone fell over the edge... NO that wasn't it at all... WE WERE ALMOST OUT OF GAS!!!!! You know I had thought about this yesterday. I maybe even blogged about the need to get gas. But you know with everything going on in the morning I totally forgot.

So our gauge says that we have 26 miles to go on our tank of gas. You know going up hill you eat a lot of gas, much more than going down... so me the one who is always cautious, says to Don that I thought we were almost to the top lets go and coast down hill. Well, the wise man that my husband is says no and we turn around at 11,500 and some odd feet in the middle of the road and begin our journey down hill.

The car was pretty quiet. Don was panicking and I was praying to myself. I kept saying... ok Lord you feed thousands with two fish... we need to get down this mountain. Every time a mile would tick off the gauge Don would say it out loud. I told him to quit doing that but he just couldn't... he was worried we were going to be on the mountain without gas. Well we took the easiest way down and when I saw the "Y" from atop a hillside we thought we were pretty safe and we were going to make it... We did with 4 tenths of a tank of gas to go. Thank the Lord!!!

Anyway, It is now about noon. We were going to have a picnic lunch at the top and well... the kids were getting hungry. So what do we do??? We head back up the hill. We figured that we had been almost to the top and so we didn't need to stop we would be there in no time. And we figured because it only took us about 18 minutes to get down the mountain we wouldn't be too late for the kids, we would still be to the hotel by 4:00 and get some swimming and shopping in... We sure do dream big... So we begin back up the mountain. We only made one stop to a place we had been before because as we were coming down we saw a huge crowd stopped to see a large Elk beside the road. The Elk was gone but Grace and Don got some pretty pictures. As we continued up just past were we turned around there was this beautiful look out point called Rainbow curve. Well there were no Rainbows today but it was beautiful. Mac was sleeping so the three of us got out of the car, with the windows down, took some pictures. Don hovered close to the car in case Mac cried and I just went off taking pictures. We saw this cute little squirrel that looked like a gopher and so I wanted Don and Grace to come see it... well I think Don needs a hearing aid at times because when I got over there poor Maci was crying... wondering where his terrible parents were. I felt so bad. Anyway, we got some pictures taken with all of us and we were off. We had to be close we were at 11 some odd thousand feet... like I said I dream well.

We continued on our way when all of a sudden there are no guardrails, stone or the like. And on each side of us there was a 2000-foot drop and no shoulder. Ok I'm starting to freak out but I’m trying not to show it. I just keep asking Don to drive slowly. The next thing I know... we are above the trees. There is nothing but rock and grass and this road. Well the road somewhat changes as we get higher and we come to another lookout point that you walk out onto the mountain to see the views and it's really not so bad. Actually Don and I talked about how it looked like you could four wheel on the area but to be honest I wouldn't want to try it. :-) This is there area that the big horned sheep and the elk normally are... we didn't see many. I actually got pretty bored with what I was looking at and truly could have gone down the mountain. But no it was about 1:15 and so we just had to be close to the top so we got back in the car and continued.

So to get to my title... as we continue we see a long line of traffic stopped and so we figure we are almost to the top. We turn a corner and we see tons of people parked, walking around, and still a long line of traffic... They were stopped by a flagman and yes we are in a construction back up at 12, 090 feet in the air on a mountain and we still have farther to go... and we are going down to one lane. I just could not believe it. I was ready to turn around, but I didn't say anything... I needed to do this for Don and the family. So we continued, about a half a mile and we finally made it to the Alpine Visitors center.

It was 1:45, we got out, got out lunch, we ate right on a bench in the middle of everything. Don brought out Mac's high chair and hooked him to the bench and we were good to go. A turkey sandwich never tasted so good. When we were done we took Grace into the visitors center and we bought a couple souvenirs and well we were going to be on our way. We were going to go down the shorter trail to get home... the old road and it looked on the map to be shorter so we thought ok good we will be on schedule, maybe even earlier and that was good. Everyone would get a nap. Life was good. So we started down.

I should have known that we were in for trouble when I saw a sign at the top of the Rockies that said "To Estes Park" and Don said he knew it was there but he thought we had to go this other way to go down the back road, Old something Road... I can't remember the name of it. So I said ok. Looked at the map, thought he was right and we were off.

We didn't stop too much going down. We stop once for Grace to go potty at the Continental Divide... we didn't take a picture. I don't know why I have a picture of everything else, but Mac was asleep so we just kept going. At one point there were many cars along the road. This generally means there is an animal to be seen and sure enough... a Moose. The kids were sleeping so I let Don go take the pictures. While Don is gone Maci wakes up and I try to put a movie on for him and what happens... NOTHING. The DVD player is not working and we have how much more traveling to do I'm thinking to myself. I am figuring and hoping that it is just the battery and I tell Mac I'm sorry I can't play it and he just looks at me with the sweetest "I'm bored to death" look on his face. Don comes back and we are on our way.

About 10 minutes after we are on the road again Don says... I see a park entrance... we are not in the right spot. I see the sign that says Grand Lake and nope we are not in the right spot. We are on the opposite side of the park and we have two options. Go back the way we came or take a 3 1/2 hour drive to get back to Estes Park. What I haven't told you is half way down Don says that he thinks we are going the wrong direction but the compass read SE so we just kept going. That was the direction we were supposed to be going.

When we get to the bottom we have to decide... we know that it is only 48 miles to Estes Park from Grand Lake, but we have learned to believe people when they tell us it will take you a certain amount of time to get where you are going... so we have no other choice. We have to go up. The Ranger tells Don that the Old something Road... IS A ONE WAY AND THE ARROWS ON THE MAP SHOW YOU THAT... Well who thought to look at the arrows...

So... we have to go up.

I'm going to stop for today. The adventure is not yet over but... I will write more tomorrow and hopefully add some pictures. We need to leave for Utah in the morning so I should get some sleep... See you tomorrow