8-22-19 - (Day 29 - Hanging Around Granby)

We saw our first Golden Eagle this morning.  We were out in the front yard talking with Chuck and saw what we thought was a buzzard circling over the mountain.  A closer look, revealed it was a Golden Eagle.  There was also a Red-tailed Hawk.  It took Lauren's long lens to get a picture of them, they were a long way away.

We packed a picnic lunch and went to Lake Granby for a pontoon boat ride.  We had a great time puttering around on the lake looking for critters.  The smooth lake got a little choppy when we got a few sprinkles of rain.

When we left the lake, Chuck drove us around to the other lakes.  He told us all about the water rights of the lakes and rivers in this area.  Water rights are a big deal in this part of the world.  These lakes supply water to Denver and to the Great Thompson River.  A total contrast to the water in our part of the world.

We saw a couple of nice bucks around the lakes and a black bear upon a hillside.  The black bear was a few miles from the entrance of Rocky Mountain National Park.  He was a big one!  He had a red-tailed hawk diving him as he walked around the hillside.

We came back, ate, and crashed.  We had another fun filled day.

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8-21-19 - (Day 28 - Friend Docking)

Ferny Kat enjoyed her last morning exploring at Williams Fork Reservoir.  We cooked breakfast outside on the Coleman stove, got a good hot shower, and packed up.

We relocated about 15 miles to Pam and Chuck's yard in Granby, Co.  They have a nice cabin on the hill with good views of the mountains.  Our first order of business was to wash clothes and Amber.  It was way past time to do both of these chores.

We enjoyed the afternoon sitting outside talking with Pam and Chuck.  Pam cooked really good green chili burritos, peach crisp, and fixed some great margaritas.  We pulled out the propane fire pit and sat around until time for bed.

We have our first souvenir of the trip.  A ding on the truck that happened when we were leaving Williams Fork Campground.  Rap dipped one way, the truck another.  Oh well, stuff happens.

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8-20-19 - (Day 27 - Rabbit Ears Ride)

We were going to have a short day of riding today, but that didn't happen.  We took a ride across Rabbit Ears Pass.  It was a pretty ride up and a long descent down of 7% grade.  We stopped a time or 2 to take pictures of critters.

We stopped at the Steamboat Springs Visitor Center.  The lady working there was very knowledgeable of  the area.  She told us about Fish Creek Falls which was just a few miles out of town.  We love water falls, so away we went.

Downtown Steamboat Springs has a lot of traffic, red lights, and was hot.  We headed out of town to country roads through Gore Pass.  We stopped at the side of the road under an aspen shade tree for lunch.

We got back, went to town to stock up on groceries, built a fire, and cooked burgers over it.  We had another pretty sunset over the lake.

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8-19-19 - (Day 26 - Another Day at Rocky Mountain National Park)

We took another ride into Rocky Mountain National Park.  We saw a moose laying down in the woods right after we entered the park.  It was another beautiful day with beautiful scenery.

We stopped at the Medicine Bow pullout and saw 3 more moose near the creek.

We thought on a Monday there would not be as many people in the park, we thought wrong.  But, we were able to get into the parking area at The Alpine Visitor Center and had our on special parking for Amber.  We saw elk resting on the mountain side.

We hiked up the 209 foot elevation gain on the Alpine Ridge Trail.  We took our time, taking lots of pictures, and catching our breath.

We made a few more stops, then had lunch in a picnic area that only had 2 tables above the creek.  It was a very quiet area away from the crowds.  We had a couple of Canada Jays come visit wanting a handout.

We hiked the 1 mile round trip to the Holzwarth Historic Site.  We didn't realize that we would actually be touring cabins, shops, etc.

We had a couple more hikes planned, but it was late afternoon and time to head back to camp.

We sat around and relaxed by the lake until time for bed.

                           

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8-18-19 - (Day 25 - Ride to Rand)

Lauren finally got his lap top up and running again this morning.  Hopefully, it will make it this trip.

It was 37 degrees this morning.  We took a walk around the campground waiting for it to warm up.  Around 11 am we took off.

We rode Highway 125 to Rand, Colorado.  Highway 125 is a very curvy road through the pretty hills.  When we got past Rand, the land flattened, and the wind was howling.  It didn't take long to turn Amber around.  High winds are no fun on a motorcycle.  We had our picnic lunch at a pullout along Willow Creek.

We thought there would be some activity on the lake this afternoon.  When we first got home there were a couple of kite surfers on the water.  They packed up shortly after, and it was late afternoon before a boat put in at the ramp.

This is the first afternoon since last Wednesday, that the winds were calm enough that we could sit outside.  Even though, they were still around 15 miles an hour.

The winds finally died down and allowed us to build a campfire and grill our steak and baked potatoes over the fire and it was some kind of good!

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8-17 -19 (Day 24 - Ute Pass)

We took a ride across Ute Pass today.  We rode about 15 miles on a dirt road that was as good as some paved roads.  It was nothing to be concerned about on the Asphalt Queen.  It was a nice peaceful ride with very little traffic.  When we turned on Highway 9, there was lots of traffic and a lot of people enjoying Green Mountain Reservoir.

We decided to go toward Granby and look at waterfowl at Windy Gap Wildlife Viewing Area.  We saw several species of ducks, white pelicans, geese, ospreys, and a bald eagle.  We planned to continue to town for a couple of more miles and get a steak to cook tonight.  Those plans changed when we noticed dark clouds headed our way.

We got back to camp with just a few sprinkles and a calm lake.  We were headed in to change into our shorts when the wind started howling, and the rain started.  We sure were glad we headed home when we did.

We had another evening of 50-60 mile an hour wind gust.  The camper next to us was wanting high winds to wind surf.  The winds must have been too high because he got off the lake.  He had to come out of his camper and retrieve his board that was tumbling around.  When the winds died down to about 20 miles an hour he went back out on the lake.

The sun came out, the winds calmed down, we went out, the winds picked up, and it was on again. This cycle happens about 3-4 times every evening in this area.

The internet service here is extremely slow.  We have been uploading photos for the last few days and finally have completed the last 4 days of our blog!  Luckily, we got all this uploaded before Lauren's computer crashed tonight.  It's about time for a new one.

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