Our time in Rocky Mountain National Park was amazing. Because it was the elk mating season, we heard the males bugling every night. It was an extremely strange sound. It sounded like a mix of a flute, a sick donkey, and a shofar, and it was very high pitched. The elk herd spent at least three days behind the campground, and we saw them almost every day. Pa and I also saw something very cool: a moose! It was standing about 30 feet away from us, eating. It didn’t seem to care at all that we were there.

One day, we drove higher up, to just over 12,000 feet. We did two short hikes in the treeless alpine tundra. The only plant life was tiny ground hugging plants. There were high peaks in every direction. We saw three big horn sheep, and a bunch of big furry marmots.

We also did some very fun hikes at Rocky Mountain National Park. My favorite was one that went past a waterfall. There were a lot of people at the waterfall, but we hiked past there, and then there were almost no people. We saw a tiny adorable weasel. It was so, so, so, so, cute!!!! We had our lunch in a meadow of very tall grass along the Colorado River. We saw an otter in the water!

After we left our beautiful campsite on the Poudre River, we went to a campground on the West Fork of the Laramie River. Even though we were camped at a higher elevation than before, (9000ft) it still looked like we were low, because there were tons of peaks towering over us. Little Kid “fished” and poured water while I froze my feet in the river. Ma and Pa were happy to read their books and relax.

One day we went on a hike through the mountains. Little Kid was great – he hiked almost three miles uphill! While we were having our picnic lunch, I turned around and said “um, do you know there is a deer right behind us?” Sure enough, there was a beautiful deer standing there watching us. The deer was the only animal we saw, but Barney was going insane about all the animals he smelled.

The deer was cool, but the next day we saw something even cooler – a moose! It was about fifty yards downstream from the campsite, standing in the middle of the water. It was a young moose and a moment later the mother came out too. Unfortunately, Ma was out walking Barney, so she didn’t see it. (Ma never sees moose)

After we left there, we went to another beautiful high elevation campground. It was right on Denver Creek. Lots of wading, dam building, and mud pie making. Ma also spent her birthday there. It was a very chill birthday, with lots of napping, reading and a few surprises.

After more than a week of driving, it was extremely nice to just chill out in the Colorado Rockies for awhile. The orange canyon walls loomed over our campsite on the frigid fast flowing Poudre River. We spent most of our days on the sand and rock beach at our campsite. Little Kid filled up his buckets with water and pretended to wash dishes while I swam in the river.

Pa and I went off exploring in the woods, and we came back with enough wood for two fires, beautiful (and good smelling) cedar for carving, and a rock with tree roots attached. The next few days our campsite seemed like a wood working shop with all the sawing and whittling.

We were spending the night at a campground in Brush! (that is really how it is written!), Colorado, when we heard there was a demolition derby right across the street. At least we thought it was right across the street when we decided go, but it turned out to be a twenty minute walk, and it would have been a lot longer if a nice worker hadn’t let us through the back entrance. Once we were inside though, it was awesome.

The cars were not in good condition. They looked like they were from a junkyard, but they were pretty good at smashing each other. Once, a car got stuck against the wall and it’s tire exploded! Another time, a car’s engine caught on fire. It was so awesome to watch! Smoke stacks blew flames, and fluids poured out of engines. A car’s crankshaft actually fell off once!

I am really hoping this is not our last demolition derby.

There is one word to describe Niagara Falls: amazing. I had been asking to go to Niagara Falls since February, and it was even better then I thought. The huge horseshoe shaped falls sounded like a giant growling. The water pounded down with so much force it sent mist up to the top of he falls. I’m happy it was hot, because we were soaked. We got even more soaked when we went on the Maid of the Mist boat ride up to the falls. I think it should be renamed the Maid of the Rain! The ponchos they handed out kept us mostly dry, but our heads looked they had been dunked in the river.