The Roach Family: Road Trip Day 8 & 9

Day 8

Well... We left Kansas City around 6:30 and made our trek to Estes Park, Colorado. The 10 hour road trip was fairly uneventful. The kids have been amazing road trippers. Eli says that he's built up his "car endurance". It was great to see Kansas-land.
However, something interesting did happen on the interstate. So... we are traveling with a car-top carrier on the Roach-wagon. One of my biggest fears is that it will come unlatched and I'd dump everything out. Well... on the way to Estes Park there was a car that had its carrier unlatch and things were falling out. I suddenly hit the brakes and changed lanes. I followed it a bit. It never slowed down or pulled over. I proceeded to pull up beside it and Juli and the kids motioned to the car that their carrier had become unlatched. The driver and passenger just nodded and gave us a thumbs up. And... never stopped! Just kept going! Wow... couldn't believe it.

Roach-Wagon at home

We made it to our campground (East Portal at Estes Park) safe and sound. We set up our tent and settled in just fine. The site isn't very level, but we've made do. Our car did do that crazy-electric-thing as soon as we pulled into the camp site. After we set up camp, and had it parked for a bit. We left to grab some food in Estes Park. It is a cool little town. We walked down the little river walk and enjoyed the mountain air.

Camp-site at East Portal

Day 9

We woke up and immediately headed out to Rocky Mountain National Park. Which turned out to be the right thing because everything got crowded and congested as we were leaving.

First, we drove up the Trail Ridge Road to the Alpine Visitor Center. The kids got their passports stamped. The road was amazing! The snow-capped mountains and being above the tree line was just majestic. We did a small hike from the visitors center that offered views indescribable.

Hike from the Alpine Visitor Center

We headed down and ate lunch at our camp-site. After lunch we explored Lily Lake area. We hiked around the lake. Saw some pretty ducks, birds, and even a marmot. As we drove out we took in the views of Long's Peak.