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Published: September 27th 2009
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What a difference the sunshine can make. The nasty weather has moved on and now the sun is shining once again. No more snow in the mountains. The skies were blue and the temp this morning was 52 degrees as we headed out for the day. We decided that even though the sun was shining here in Ft Collins and down in the valleys and canyons, that we would give the snowy mountain pass a day or two to clear before heading up there. The projected temp for the valley tomorrow is 80 so it will be in the 40's in the mountains.......normal fall weather.
Frank had heard of an interesting drive near Feather Lakes, so today we headed that way. We didn't know the name but there was evidently a Buddhist Temple that was interesting. Shambhala Mountain Center is a mountain valley retreat located on 600 acres. Since 1971 the Center has offered hundreds of programs on Buddhist meditation, yoga and other contemplative disciplines. The name is The Great Stupa of Dharmakaya. It crowns a meadow at the upper end of the main valley of the Shambhala Mountain Center. Construction of The Great Stupa was initiated in 1988 and the
monument was consecrated in August 2001.
The Shambhala Mountain Center was designed to bring the energy of the Stupa into the lives of the people who come to visit. We visited and took photos. It was an unexpected find in the middle of the forest.
From there we took Highway 14 to the Poudre (pronounced pooh-der) canyon where we had been a few days earlier. We had our picnic lunch sitting beside the Poudre river. The warm sunshine, the trees changing colour and rustling in the breeze and the sounds of the river beside us made for one very pleasant lunch time.
The canyon is beautiful as are all the many canyons in this area.
We decided to head for Estes Park and then into Rocky Mountain park again to visit Bear Lake where I'd taken the lovely photos of the fall colour reflections a couple of days ago. Because the sun was shining, I knew that today I'd be able to see the mountains over the lake. I wasn't disappointed. Although there was a breeze and no still water for reflections, the mountains were clear up above and it was quite a view. I walked the circle around the
lake once again and it felt really good to get the exercise.
Our route back to the hotel was once again through Big Thompson Canyon along side the Thompson River and because it is the most direct route, we will see it a couple of more times in the next few days. What a gorgeous drive. Along the roadside we saw a bighorn sheep trying to cross the road. He took one step out and then thought better of his decision and headed back into the woods. There were also lots of elk to be seen today, both in the park and along the roadsides. The elk are everywhere at this time of year.
We are staying in Ft Collins which is about an hour and a half from the National park because the price for accommodation in Estes Park (the town nearest the Rocky Mountain Park) is about twice that of the cost in Ft Collins. Even the gasoline costs 50 cents more per gallon. Estes is a real tourist town and everything there is very pricey, so we just do the lovely drive through the canyon each day to reach the Rockies.
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