Sunday was pretty much a day of rest. We went to church, did some grocery shopping, and then we hung out by the pool and took it easy. I was too tired to do much of anything else. On Monday, after another cycling class (these guys are trying to whip me into shape) I packed up the RV and Abbey and I headed for Grand Lake, on the other side of Rocky Mtn. NP. I went to visit Jim and Jeri Moat, friends from Austin that I used to do medical missions to Mexico with.
I hadn't seen them in about 7 years so it was great to catch up with them. They have a beautiful house right outside the park on the north side of Grand Lake which they built themselves. With hiking, boating, skiing, and camping all right there, I think I could live in Grand Lake. The only thing is the winters are real long and the snow doesn't melt in your yard until the first week of June. That might be a little too much for me. But it sure is beautiful. They have bears, elk and moose right in their yard. Jeri fell asleep in the hammock one day only to wake up with an elk staring her in the face. Sounds a little like Northern Exposure to me. Maybe I could live there.
Anyways, we took a hike on Tuesday after driving what seemed like forever on a gravel forest service road. I was just glad I didn't have to drive the RV down that road for once. We managed to get caught in a couple of hailstorms, but no thunder (lucky for Abbey) or lightning and they didn't last long. Our lunch spot was overlooking the valley and beyond to the mountains in the park.
It doesn't get much better than that to me. Well, except maybe for the margaritas and nachos we had back in town later on. Grand Lake is a pretty tiny little town and Jim and Jeri seemed to know almost all of the locals. During the winter the population is only about 450.
On Wednesday morning a friend of theirs called up and asked us if we wanted to join them for a boat ride around the lake. We headed over early to Shadow Mountain Lake and got in a decent paddle while checking out the million dollar mansions on the lake. A million bucks just doesn't go as far these days. Their friends showed up with their boat but unfortunately the battery had died. Luckily, they lived close enough that we only lost about 15-20 minutes. Later on we were happy for the delay because on the far end of Grand Lake we saw 3 big bull moose in the water. I had been telling Jim and Jeri that I would probably never see a moose in my life because I often came close but never hit the jackpot. Here were 3 bull moose just hanging out in the water, all with big racks.
It was hard to top that, but we found a nice island in the middle of another lake, Shadow Mountain, and we went ashore and had a picnic lunch, complete with red wine. It was hard to say goodbye, but I had to make it back to Loveland for an appt. with the podiatrist at 4:30PM. It was sunny and beautiful, so the ride back on Trail Ridge Road had nothing but spectacular views and slow cars.
