Jan made phone arrangements from the motel in Boulder to get her contacts polished. The vision shop was in Longmont, less than an hour's drive north, and right on our way to Estes Park. After getting the much improved contact back, Jan was much happier. She had estimated her headaches were being caused by the dirty contact, and indeed, the headaches did stop. We visited the fly fishing shop downtown, St. Vrain Angler (a superior FF shop....thanks Mark!), where I purchased a teeshirt and a 2day fishing license (about $5 per day). Had lunch at a brewpub a few blocks down the street. After lunch, I called a buddy I had met on the Internet and arranged to go fly fishing for bass with him the following evening at 6:30.

St. Vrain Angler, Longmont, Colorado

Left Longmont, drove to Estes Park, arriving about 1:45. Checked into our room, discovered that the Fall River was in plain view directly outside our balcony window hardly more than a stone's throw away. Went shopping and wandering around the tourist-ville of downtown Estes Park. I drug Jan over to a fly fishing shop called Estes Anglers, but didn't buy anything. It looked to be a top quality Orvis shop.

Moraine Park, eastern edge of Rocky Mountain National Park

Walked around, got even more bored, so jumped in car and headed to RMNP. Roamed around, found a couple lakes, walked around the shores. At Bear Lake we found it to be a bit nippy due to the wind. At the first 'photo op' stopping point, I offered to use the camera of a couple sporting two young kids, and they said that would be super. After snapping the pic, I said I'd like to take some them with my digital, so I snapped off three pics and we gabbed for a while. I gave them my web address so they could find and view their pictures.

Back down the mountain and back to our room so I could comb my hair before heading off to dinner (that wind had REALLY been blowing!) As we were leaving, Jan spotted two deer running past our motel, and we backed up and watched them bound into the forest back up the hill. Neat!

Found the Estes Park Microbrewery, so stopped for dinner and some brews. The microbrew samples were free, so I endulged a couple, then had trout for dinner while Jan enjoyed bbq chicken. Trout wasn't all that great, but the chicken was super (I ate the half Jan didn't want.)

From my notes: "No more party for us.... back to the motel. I've been mixing a few games of Freecell with typing up these notes, and I just looked back and found Jan snoozing, lamp on, glasses on her nose, and it's only 8:29. Are we getting old, or what? Guess no late-nite TV for me!"

Continue the Journey! RMNP Pictures!

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