Black Friday – the day everyone goes shopping and retail stores turn a profit. We decided to buck tradition and pile the family in the car and make the 90 minute trip to one of my favorite places – Rocky Mountain National Park!

We arrived at Sprague Lake at about 8AM. As expected, the lake was a frozen block of ice. Because the temperature was in the low 30′s however, the skies were as clear as I had ever seen them. I spent a lot of time trying to capture the streaks of light the sun was creating as it was peaking through the over-hanging branches of the resident pine trees.

Our next stop was Bear Lake. The trail to get to the lake was ice packed snow so it made the short walk more harrowing than need be, but as always, Hallets Peak didn’t disappoint.

Our last stop at the park was along Trail Ridge Road, at the overlook of Upper Beaver Meadow. It was here that we found the Steller’s Jay and his regal headdress. I put the big hardware on the camera and was able to snap off several shots of this elegant bird has he flew from branch to branch looking for some breakfast.

Our journey nearly complete, we had one more stop – Le Peep in Longmont. I’ve already waxed eloquent about the food there. Suffice it to say it didn’t disaapoint. It all added up to a great Black Friday for the entire family.

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So Johnny and I went with my mother-in-law Linda to Georgetown Colorado today! We saw some great wildlife (I am sure John will be posting some pictures), had a really weird breakfast and checked out the little railroad. Here are the highlights:

Georgetown Colorado Big Horn Sheep Overlook

When we came from Denver on 70 towards Georgetown, we saw Big Horn Sheep on the right hand side, just as advertised on AM 520 Big Horn Sheep Radio! The way to see them and take pictures is to get off the highway, turn left and then left again and go to the overlook. There was a ton of great info and also a very pretty lake beside the road.

Georgetown Colorado Loop Railroad

So we scoped out the Georgetown Colorado Loop Railroad for when Daddy comes out in November. There is regular service throughout the summer and then speciality trips for the Georgetown Bighorn Sheep Festival (the second week in November), Thanksgiving Weekend (we will be taking this one), weekends in November, Christmas in Georgetown and Santa’s Polar Adventure. I will let you know how it goes!

Genesee Park Colorado

Finally we went to the Genesee Park Colorado to see the Bison overlook. IT WAS GREAT! We went into the park and followed it around to the feeding area for the Bison where Johnny snapped a couple of pictures before they ambled off up a hill. Then we came back through and saw a herd of Elk with lots of moms, babies and a buck with a HUGE rack. Then the best thing happened – we went around to where we thought the bison might have gone and got within 2 feet of them through the fence! Definitely a go see…:)

And here is the lowlight:

We went to the Georgetown Coffee Company for breakfast. The waiter was about the worst we have ever had, there were ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY NO SUBSTITUTIONS OR SPLITTING, no egg whites although you could get an over easy egg and the BEST?!??! The cook came out after she finished cooking our breaky and started talking loudly about the cattle slaughtering industry and how no one should eat meat because of how disgusting the slaughter industry was. Needless to say, I did not enjoy my bacon as much as I thought I would…:) A definite miss!

Overall a REALLY great day!

(Click on photo to see full sized image on Flickr)

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