For this week’s post, I’d thought I would wrap up the Colorado series with my family’s last big adventurous part of the trip. After we left Breckenridge, we drove up to Estes Park. If you are unfamiliar with it, it’s where the movie The Shining took place. We actually drove past the hotel it was filmed in. However, we were only there for two days so we did not have time to have a tour. Plus, I think we were all a little too scared to do it. We got there close to dinner time, so there was not much to do besides eat dinner and go to sleep.
The next day, we decided to do a jeep tour around the park. At first, we wanted to hike around; however, the park was huge and we would need a tour guide, which we thought might be a bit boring. Thus, we decided to do a jeep tour since it seemed more fun and we would get to see most of the park. It took all day, but we got to see some very cool views. On the tour, we also got to step out of the jeep to do small walks and take pictures, so we weren’t in a car all day.
A stop on the tour.
The tour was mostly over Trail Ridge Road, which is the highest paved road in the United States. It has an elevation of about 12,000 feet. My dad wanted to drive on this road in our rental nissan, which we soon realized would’ve been a horrible experience and we were glad to have a professional at the wheel. I also had no idea what I was getting into when we first got in the jeep, but we kept going higher and higher with no rails. To say the least, I was not having the best time. I was handling it better than my mom since she couldn’t look outside of the car or she would freak out. We got to the peak that landed us at the top of a mountain and a restop. We all got out of the car to walk around for a bit and take a bathroom break. However, when we got back into the car, the way down was much slower. There was bumper to bumper traffic. The road was not only narrow, but there was construction on the road. We were stuck on that road for a few hours, which cut out other parts of the tour. It wasn’t fun being on that road. Since we were so high up in elevation, it got very cold. Luckily, there were blankets to snuggle under until we started moving. Plus, it was not easy staring at the edge of the mountain. On the other hand, I did get great photos with my camera. Finally, we started moving again and ended the tour.
The view from the traffic on the Trail Ridge Road
Ultimately, the jeep tour was fun and different, but there was some unfortunate circumstances that made it a bit miserable. On the contrary, I was glad to have the experience since we went to different parts of the park that I would not have seen if we just did a few hikes on our own. Plus, I was able to learn interesting facts about the park like the major floods that occurred and how the Trail Ridge Road has to close for winter. In addition, I get to say I drove over the highest elevated road in the United States.
It has been a long time since I go to a picnic with my family. That is incredible to hear that you can go everywhere with your family together in a jeep. Congratulations on having a good trip.