It sounds like a long drive from Wichita, where we live, to Estes Park (8.5 hours) but these days the drive flies by listening to audiobooks and podcasts, chatting or doing a little catch-up on email or social media. It’s also nice to be sitting in one place long enough to have a conversation that can wander. We try to start early so we can arrive into Boulder for a late lunch or even make a quick stop at Rubio’s in Flatiron Crossing south of Boulder for the tasty inexpensive fish tacos and then a quick check into a couple of stores to see what’s on sale that might be useful for the house.

This time, though, Lauren and William had arrived (from Cleveland by car with Milo, the dog) and had lunch waiting so we didn’t stop. It was a beautiful, beautiful day and after a hectic few weeks at home it was particularly wonderful when we started up along the St. Vrain river toward Estes Park. The effects of the flood of September, 2013, are still very much in evidence but the river restoration is beautiful and the roads are better.

Heading north out of Boulder

Near Lyons

The Rockies come into view

The view near the Estes Park welcome sign on Hwy 36

It was a much warmer day than usual, 85, so we had lunch inside then chatted and unpacked and started our list of old favorites we wanted to do and new things to try. Which hikes? Any new stores or restaurants to check out? We never got around to that miniature golf game last time… maybe this time? (Something we would never do at home). Or maybe we’d get around to that game of actual golf, which we watch from our deck every day but never seem to get out to do ourselves. Which neighbors are in town? (Some are here full-time and some have vacation homes). What home improvement projects shall we do this time? How can we make things better for the people who come to stay here?

A little catch-up time

The hummingbirds at the feeder on the deck

The front of the house

After lunch we walked north on Fish Creek to check on progress of the road and creek restoration from the flood and the new houses in the development. We then turned back south and walked to the other end and around to access the creek behind the homes. That restoration is also coming along. This fall (2016) the rebuilding of the walking/cycling path that goes from behind our homes into town and we are very excited for that to be restored. We even were thrilled to find a fish in the creek, which used to be abundant with them before the flood. Progress!

A fish!

Coming to see the fish

Where is it?

Watering the golf course at sunset.

Lauren and William took the lead on dinner prep and made a really tasty dinner. We marvel at the fact that our daughters have both developed such a love of food and cooking and we are (by far) no longer the standard they aspire to. Both have gone on to develop their own wonderful styles and have discovered flavor combinations or developed recipes from the inspirations of others or just figured out how to simply make something excellent from the ingredients at hand, many times from their own gardens. Cooking together in any home or vacation kitchens is a highlight of gathering together and we paid a lot of attention to making sure the kitchen here was outfitted well for that purpose. 🙂

We sat on the beautiful, warm deck and enjoyed the view, the food and wine and one another as darkness overtook the evening and the stars came out. A wonderful day.

We came to Estes Park with dear friends at the end of March and happened on some great weather! We continue to be thrilled with how enjoyable Estes is at all times of the year. 🙂

Sunrises are so beautiful

A little later in the morning

Elk everywhere

Love this birdhouse on the golf course (our house is in the background)

Closeup of the birdhouse on the golf course.

On a walk at Lily Lake

Lily Lake

Lily Lake

View from the trail above Lily Lake

Toward Long’s Peak from Lily Lake Trail

Lily Lake from the trail above the Lake

What a sky!

Lumpy Ridge behind the houses.

Next time we’ll wear the Trax

Great view from up here, though (toward Alberta Falls)

Elk late afternoon

The elk are quite used to people

Majestic creature and view

Gathering in the shade

Long’s Peak from the deck

The weather in Estes Park the weekend of the 7th was glorious and unseasonably warm but our schedules didn’t permit a visit that weekend – our plan was to go on the 13th to 16th after the arrival of the front that was anticipated to bring snow and temps in the single digits.

We packed our warm things and headed across Kansas and Colorado, turned north toward Boulder, stopped in for a few provisions (cheese and bread, mostly) at Whole Foods and headed up. The average temperature for the drive was about 6 degrees and we started seeing the snow near Denver.

I assumed we would spend most of the weekend indoors, and we did, but we also bundled up and went on a couple of hikes from the Twin Owls trailhead… stunning!  I knew Estes Park was awesome in the summer but it turns out it’s a great spot in the winter, too, and I hope we can get back again soon, in any weather.

Row trees just north of Boulder

Getting closer…

On the road to Estes

Our view upon arrival

Sunset

Hundreds of elk!

Living Room

Twin Owls

Pretty bridge

Front coming in!

Love the little rock formation – looks like a monk with his prayerbook maybe?

And here’s what the front was bringing

My “desk”

More snow

Our front yard

Trail to Gem Lake

Along the Gem Lake trail

Gem Lake Trail

The other side of the same sot

Cold but gorgeous

Love this trail

Love the little bit of blue (Mark)

Eagerly anticipating the amazing chocolate dessert

Coyotes across the creek every morning

The last morning

So happy to see guests have enjoyed themselves

Especially happy when friends stay (and take their family!)

We finally got our whole little family together in one place and are having a GREAT time.

Fish Creek restoration will take a long time as there are seven entities involved in decision-making and funding. However, decisions are getting made and progress is happening. It is hoped that the temporary sewer line (the bump along the creek bed) will be moved back under Fish Creek Road sometime in the next year. That will restore direct access to the creek, too. There is no estimated date yet for reconstruction of the walking path to town, which was heavily damaged.

New google map image

From the front of the house to the south

Front view (we are third from the left)

View to the west from the deck

View to the southwest from the deck (Golf Clubhouse in the distance)

View of the creek behind the house (we are third from right)

View to the south

Another view to the south

Stacking rocks in the creek bed south of the development

Good rock-stacking spot south of of the neighborhood

Andy the NRCS guy advising the homeowners

Willows and sedge will hold the banks best

The weather has been lovely, which has made for some nice lunches and dinners and general hanging out on the deck.

Dinner with the Fam

Lunch

Studying (with a few distractions)

Golfers are so interesting

Pouring water on the deck – great fun

Making games for a niece

New hummingbird feeder!

Mountains Daddy!

We’ve had some beautiful hikes…

Juvenile redwing blackbird at LIly Lake

Getting ready to head up Twin Owls trail

Up the trail

Twin Owls trail

On the trail

Twin Owls

View of Long’s Peak from Twin Owls Trail

Getting ready to head up Twin Sisters

Up to Twin Sisters

On the Twin Sisters trail

View from Twin Sisters trail

Twin Sisters trail

On the Twin Sisters trail

Longs Peak in the distance from the Twin Sisters trail

On the Lawn Lake Trail

Great ride

Lawn Lake Trail

Mark and Judith

George and Katharine

William and Lauren

And fun times inside, too. 🙂

Such a tasty lunch!

The Estes Park Library has a GREAT children’s section.

Teamwork cooking

Watching the rain fall

Sorry

Duplos with Papi

We have often seen elk in the distance but they decided the vegetation in our back yard looked extra tasty, apparently and we were thrilled to get to see them up close!

We heard about a good fishing spot called Glacier Creek so we drove up about 5 miles toward Bear Lake from the Beaver Meadows park entrance and found it. Beautiful! And there were indeed fish in the creek…

We picked up Katharine and Martha from Valley Center, KS, nice and early on a Friday morning and drove out for a quick weekend. It was short but very sweet.

The sunrise Saturday morning was spectacular… worth the drive!

We had ordered a console table and a couple of stools and the large box one of the pieces came in was perfectly Martha-sized. Katharine took a knife to the box and little by little it became a fantastic little playhouse.

It was wonderful to celebrate Thanksgiving here this year, especially since there is so much to be thankful for in this very place. We looked things over carefully when we arrived and other than the changes to the creek and landscape behind the house, everything looks fine. We were so engaged in enjoying our time together that we didn’t get a lot of pics this time. 🙂

Making the traditional pumpkin ravioli.

A bit of work, a bit of reading.

The view north from the remains of the walking path to the south of the house.

The view from where the bike/walking path was washed away and the new creek bed.

On September 12th, I noticed a Facebook post from our wonderful trim carpenter about nonstop rain for the previous four days and wondered what our little tiny creek behind the house was looking like as a result.  Then I received a video from our next door neighbors that showed the creek was definitely UP.  The next email we got was from another neighbor reporting that things were getting really bad and soon afterwards he followed with some photos and video and also reported that the neighbor next to him had lost the back half of their house.  We were stunned.  That tiny little 2-foot creek behind our house had become a 50 foot wide river and it had completely changed course, knocking out sections of the road, sewer, water and electricity and flooding homes upstream.  The two neighbors who were in their homes at the time were told to evacuate over Trail Ridge Road (Highways 34 and 36 from Loveland and Boulder were too damaged) and expect not to return for at least 8 weeks.  (It turned out to be 7, thanks to amazing effort by the Town of Estes Park).

The Town of Estes did a great job of communicating on Facebook

The Town of Estes Park Facebook Page started posting lots of information and updates, EP News and Trail Gazette FB pages became more active, and even the Upper Thompson Sanitation District (sewer) was instructed to get a Facebook Page up.  (If you look at their Facebook Page, you can see it was instituted on September 13th, 2013… very poignant.)  Someone in the marketing or public relations department in the Town of Estes Park should get an award of some kind for the impressive way they keep information flowing (and still do).

As of this writing, the sewer line repair is complete, water has been turned back on and we are out of the “No Flush Zone”!  Our wonderful housekeeper, a neighbor and our stellar real estate agent have all been in the house and all report they couldn’t see any damage.  We started hearing early on that our lower level had not been breached, but with that much soggy ground we were a little concerned about the foundation and are greatly relieved to hear it appears to be okay.

The photos below were taken by friends who were there at the time of the flood or have been there since.  We will return to the house ourselves to celebrate parents’ significant birthdays (80 and 85!!) and Thanksgiving, which will be heartfelt this year.  Considering how much damage was sustained in the area, we are truly grateful the house appears to be fine.

We finally got to spend a week in the finished house without a long to-do list!  Heavenly.  The mornings were in the upper 60’s, days in the mid-70’s and the evenings were glorious.  Sitting on the deck and watching the sunsets was all the entertainment I needed, but we did get some walks, hikes, fishing and bike rides in, along with some reading.  And of course since we all love cooking, we had some marvelous dining adventures, all at home. 🙂  Lauren’s chicken/mint/onion kebabs were to die for, as was Mark’s pork with smoked paprika pork on the grill.  Katharine had brought blackberries and made one of her fabulous cobblers, which we had for breakfast and dessert the rest of the week.  We had brought along our last CSA share of veggies from Elderslie Farm, and some eggplant from our garden, so we were set!

A special treat was the visit on Saturday from old friends from Wichita who now live in Colorado Springs.  Cary and Susan picked up their daughter, Kiley, who lives in Boulder, and came up for a hike near Lily Lake and a nice long lunch on the deck.