Day 5

Day 5 So I finally got a touch of altitude sickness as I sit here typing this blog I have a splitting headache and feel numb and weird. Perhaps I overdid it a bit today but it was worth it. We decided to have a lazy morning and slept in a bit and got up to get ready to hike. This was a mistake. Apparently the main road that goes through Rocky Mountain National Park is getting resurfaced this summer

. This means that the main road is closed from 9am to 4pm all season. Today was the first day of this. The rule is that you must park just inside the park and shuttle busses will take you to the desired destination. I know this may come as a surprise, but a federal agency was woefully unprepared for a contingency. The bus system was a disaster. They would not come for an hour and then come all bunched up. It literally took us 2 hours to get to our trailhead which was just a few miles from the gate. We were not able to start hiking until noon. Nonetheless, it was a wonderful hike up to a string of alpine lakes. The kids and I had another snowball fight and just relaxed next to the lake. There was something about that level of solitude combined with the view and weather that just made me feel at peace. If only for a moment. We continued back down the mountain to deal with the bus fiasco yet again. By this time the baby was melting down and we were very pleased to get back to the car. The children had completed their junior ranger badge workbook so we stopped by the ranger station and they turned it in to receive their badge. They still get very excited by this and its fun to see them get so happy. We left to go back to the campsite and cooked the trout from yesterday in foil with some lemon pepper and butter and some brown rice with beets and beet greens we had squirreled away from our garden. It game out splendid. With full bellies we put all three now miserable children to sleep. We are worn out and there is laundry yet to be done, but a good day nonetheless.