Jett's Day 4: A very blustery day

I'm going to tease the highlight of this day with this picture:

So it's June 4, and we got into a snowstorm at Rocky Mountain National Park. If you want to see the progression (from Loveland to Winter Park), you will just have to scroll further.

We started in Loveland and were immediately driving in rain. Not as bad as yesterday but not what you like to see on your way to natural beauty.

Jett's never seen The Shining, but the hotel used as the facade of the Overlook hotel is in Estes Park.

This is as close as we could get without having to pay for parking. 

As requested, we stopped at McDonald's for lunch before heading into the park.

You  probably can't read it but it says Rocky Mountain National Park

You can see the drizzle and the clouds.

Just inside the park, we spotted our first glimpse of wild life -- a herd of elk!

If cars are pulled off the side of the ride, there's probably wild life!

Our next stop was a rock formation that included this bristlecone pine.

They got brave and walked down to the slightly lower path.

Then they contemplated climbing this rock formation.

After many attempts, I finally caught a photo of this chipmunk following Jett up the rock.

The chipmunk was just to Jett's right.

There they go!

Okay. That's far enough.

Ready to climb the next mountain!

Spotted this bird but have no idea what it is.

A video is supposed to show up here. So if it's blank, it failed. Read on!

And then we  hit a snow storm! All along the side of the road, the drifts were 10 feet high in places. They park just opened on May 26 and had to snowplow the main road. 

So excited to see our first snow. Little did we know ...

How we saw the mountains. :-(

Snow plow ready to go.

Ice forming on the window.

Parked at the Alpine Visitor Center.

They love it!!!

Temperature 32º

Humidity 95%

They had to touch the snow and write their name on it,

This was my contribution. Heh heh.

As we descended, the snow vanished. These are aspen trees.

Another herd of elk!

Also saw a moose!

Fire area.

Sharing the view with their Funko of Roger Taylor.

That's all I'm posting now. I have photos of a funky barbecue place at which we ate dinner and our hotel. But we're getting ready to head for Mt. Evans (highest paved road in North America), so will save for later.

This was an interesting barbecue place.

Doggie wants barbecue.