Weekend in Estes Park

On a Friday at the beginning of October (yes, I am that far behind in my posts) Ben called me up and said, "We are going to go spend the night in Estes- pack the bags, I will be home soon." Yay!  We never go and do overnight trips so we were excited to take a 'mini-vacation.'  

Ben had gotten us a hotel via some internet deal so we headed to our hotel to check in.  My family did not stay in hotels growing up; I can probably count on one hand the amount of times I have stayed in one, in my life.  Ben, on the other hand, goes on business trips and apologized that it was not fancy.  WHAT? It had a bed I could jump on, I didn't have to hang my towel and there was a microwave in my bedroom- to me, that makes it fancy!  If it is not yet evident,  I was so excited!! 

First, we went swimming in the indoor pool- the bottom of the pool was bubbled up so you could stand on it in the deep end (but it kind of moved under your feet- so weird).  Then we went to our room, popped some popcorn, got some candy from a vending machine (another thing I did not do growing up- also 'so cool') and watched a movie (in bed).  Ben kept laughing at my childlike enthusiasm and how easily I was pleased.  It was really fun for me to stay in a hotel and in the morning- I didn't make the bed!!

The next day we went to the Estes Visitor Center to find a good hike.  It turns out that because of the snow, fires and restricted park access that there were not very many hikes to choose from. We ended up going on the Twin Owls Hike, which is on the north side of the Estes Park Lake;  I honestly had never hiked on this side of the lake ( we usually went in the park or down near Allen's park).  It was a really beautiful area, with lots of rocks and wonderful climbing places, the hike was pretty short but we found out quickly that we underestimated my pregnant hiking ability.  The beginning of the hike was pretty steep and I thought I was going to die, but almost a mile in it evened out to a gradual incline and I started breathing again.  It was cool to get up above the trees (or some of the trees- we weren't above timberline) and to be able to look at the snow and storms over the mountains to the south.  It was a little chilly with the rain but it ended up being a great hike.  

We then went and walked around Estes Park's Main Street; it is pretty much a tourist/visitors center walk but it is still kind of fun to walk around and see things.  We stopped and ate at a Chicago style diner (pizza and loaded hot dogs) and it was delicious. 

 

It was a wonderful weekend and so fun to get away from the stresses of life and be together.