We drove from Goodland to Fraser via the Rocky Mountain National Park. The park has a 40-mile long ridge road. We “sped” through the park in 5.5 hours. We spent plenty of time out of the car looking at amazing mountains, several marrots, and even an elk.It was the best day of the trip so far.

In addition to beautiful weather and an amazing area, we were lucky enough to be there during one of the best times of year. The colors were changing. The evergreens were green. Many areas and meadows were brown. Lichens and aspen trees were shades of gold and red. We took a short, half-mile hike on a paved path up a mild hill. It was incredibly hard, because it was at over 12,000 feet.

After we got back, we were quite tired. We had lunch and took a short rest. We were more particular about where we stopped and even took a picture from the car window. When we left the park, we went into the visitor center and watched the movie. By the end of all this, we felt better and went for a 1.5 mile hike. It was an unpaved trail with mild climbing. But we did fine, because we were back down to 8.000 feet, where there’s more oxygen. Our hike took us to a waterfall and an incredible meadow. It was a totally satisfying experience.