Road trip Day 26.

Saturday. A great end of the main trip.
I started out heading south from the campground I stayed at inside Rocky Mountain National Park to the visitors center. I walked around the exhibit there and saw a note about a short walk to Adams falls. I started that way, and it was a pleasant drive there, and an even better short hike to the falls themselves. I stayed at this one for awhile, and walked up the river a few hundred yards just enjoying.
After the falls, I figured I needed some breakfast so I went to the Grand Lake Lodge. Walked into the restaurant, sat for a few minutes, and the two waitresses I guess just didn't see me. There were a few couples that were leaving, so the waitresses bussed the tables, and joked to the couple just leaving about how the service sucked. After a few more minutes, I agreed. I left.
Went to the town proper, found me a little spot, and read the local paper waiting for a great denver scramble and potatoes. It hit the spot.
Then I traveled back north and re-entered the park. I basically stopped at every turnout, read the info there and some that had short walks I took advantage of and enjoyed. One in particular was Lake Irene, and there were some deer that walked across the path. The lake was very nice.
This park has the highest visitors center, the Alpine visitor center. Its up above the treeline, with the arctic tundra. It is a sight to see. 12,000 feet up is a pretty harsh environment. It was beautiful.
Past the visitors center the next pullout was pretty good size. It was the highest point in the road, and I chose to hike up another 250+ feet to the rocks on the hill for the 360 view. There was a brass monument on the tallest rock, and it held distances to and elevations of the surrounding peaks, as well as the mileage to national parks around the country. It was neat. I took some pictures of it; I hope they turn out good.
It sprinkled long enough to make rain, so the second day of 26 probably is acceptable. Made some different photos too that look pretty neat.
I continued through the park for a few more hours, and ended up at Bear Lake. Its in the south portion of the park, and was smooth as glass. A path winds around the half mile perimeter lake, and I enjoyed the views around the edge. I the headed down the pass and continued to Evergreen where I began this journey more then two weeks ago.
It was about a two hour drive to Evergreen, and ended me up just about 9600 miles. I'm here for probably a few nights, then will head south toward home. The weather has been perfect; and cleaning out the car showed me what I did see this trip. Its gonna be fun to go back and read the first posts; seems like last year already.
I'll be posting a summary of sorts for the trip once I return to Houston. As far as day 27, we'll see when that is. A few folks have mentioned Palo Duro Canyon near Amarillo; might have to make a visit passing through. We'll see.
Drive on.