Jen, Stu and the boys, a year in the States 2013, 2014 6 months, 2015 4 months: WinterPark, wildlife and turning 50!

Here is a link to a video of Stu snowboarding at Loveland, end of April, 2014...unbelievable snow.
Loveland snowboarding...end of April, 2014
and another day at Loveland...Quote from the Ski Patrol "Best snow of the year!"
Loveland 30th April, 2014
Connie and Bill very kindly let us use their condo again, and here it is....(just kidding!)

for the last week of snowboarding at Winter Park. The night we arrived it started snowing

and it pretty much lasted for 5 days. Stu was up on the snowfields talking to people who were saying that this weather was more typical of January/February, not the end of April. But Stu wasn't complaining...he has had an amazing 6 weeks of snowboarding since we have been back in the US and this last week was phenomenal.

So we have had loads of snow in Winter Park and surrounds which of course has made for some magical scenery...

and then the night perspective.....

and even the Macca's outdoor eating area can look good with a bit of snow....

This house is typical of the least "grand" homes in WinterPark...and is one of my favourites...Hansel and Gretel comes to mind....

Last year we bought a US National Parks pass for $80 which we used constantly and saved us a fortune, so we bought another one when we arrived this time and have already covered costs. Winter Park is a 45 min, "magnificent"drive to Rocky Mountain NP....past Lake Granby which is still semi frozen, and Grand Lakes.

We visited the park last year and were able to drive from one end to the other. Unfortunately with the snow this year, we could only go 10 miles into the park before the road was closed, but that was OK.....it is still amazing.

We went up there about three times during our week here, mainly to spot wildlife. Two times out of the three we saw nothing, but one afternoon we had THE most exhilarating couple of hours.....watching a coyote searching for food in the snow..and finding some....

and Stuart had spotted two moose way, way in the distance across a frozen creek and open snow plain.

We saw a road we could take out of the NP to hopefully get closer to them.....we couldn't believe our luck when we got there, as they were just about to disappear into some reeds in search of food. We could hear them trudging through the creek amongst the reeds and were able to spend about an hour just watching them. It was unbelievable!

Eventually they crossed the road in front of us,

jumped a fence and headed into the snow and trees.

We were the only ones there and to see these beautifully strange looking creatures in their own environment, by ourselves, on a stunning, cold evening was a real privilege.

Oh and we saw a couple of birds as well!

And then on the way home, as it was getting dark, we saw these impressive elk.

The next afternoon (which happened to be my 50th birthday in Australia!) we did another quick drive around the Winter Park area...it was bloody freezing and we were getting snowed on....but I was pretty happy to have snow fall on me...I haven't had too many birthdays where that happens!

If you have haven't had snow fall on you, try and experience it one day.....it's exhilarating!

We noticed this statue from the road and went and had a look....it is a statue of Dwight Eisenhower...he apparently used to come up this way when he was President. He loved his trout fishing, and despite having an entourage of Secret Service and other staff, he managed to get in a bit of fishing as well as sign some pretty important documents!!

And only a short drive from our accommodation (3 mins) we came across this...

When you look at these gorgeous scenes, it is almost like it's in black and white, but then a red barn or a green tree or red shrub appears and it looks like a postcard!

The next day was actually my birthday in the US, so despite the snow falling we decided to go and explore a tiny pocket of Colorado we hadn't been to. I cannot say it often enough, but get out of the city in Colorado (and the word city is used VERY loosely in Colorado, so I should say populated areas) and you see the most AMAZING country....the views are literally EVERYWHERE!!!!
We were driving up Passes where visibility was almost non existent and then the snow would clear and you'd get great views. There's a railway line running alongside the Colorado River in the photos below. We've seen some pretty impressive train lines in Colorado....following rivers with sheer rock cliffs either side.

We were high up a mountain and looked down to see this freight train meandering alongside the Colorado River like a huge snake...impressive!

And up the top of the mountain we were driving through groves of aspen and I can only imagine what this area will look like during the Fall.

We drove through Kremmling and just off the side of the road, very incognito was this scene! Seriously??? So to one side of us was this beautiful blue sky, while on the other side it was SNOWING!! So diverse!

After 8 hours of exploring, we headed back to Winter Park and as we were approaching the town you could see, high up in the mountains, snow dusting the trees....bloody magnificent!

We head down to Denver tomorrow for a few days before leaving Colorado and flying to California...San Francisco...and picking up our RV to start our driving adventure up to Alaska. We are both really looking forward to it.
But, while we were over here I was missing out on all the family time down at Windy Harbour over Easter....I would love to have been there with everyone, so I was happy to see this photo of them all on the balcony at Mum's hut...