Day 27 to 31: RMNP and Denver, Colorado (again) YESSS!

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These past few days, we've been camping in Rocky Mtn. National Park. On our way out of Denver, we stopped at the SAME Cafe. SAME stands for: So All May Eat. The employees and volunteers serve you food and you pay what you can or you work an hour for a meal. (Comment from Mary - I read about this cafe a few years ago and really wanted to visit it. I was so inspired, and would love to start something like this. Check it out at www.soallmayeat.org) Rocky Mtn. Nat'l Park was a lot quieter than Yellowstone. Vanessa and I saw a program on Elk which was cool because we learned that in the winter the male Elk's antlers grow up to an inch a day! We did a fair amount of shopping in the few days of camping. We bought two pairs of nice shoes for Vanessa and a nice sweatshirt for me. Vanessa and I went to this mini amusement park in Estes Park, the nearest town to the campground. We really liked going on the go-carts. They went very fast! We also drove around Estes Park and it was very nice and small. It was surprising how many ice cream shops there were in that town. We ate burritos at this really tasty restaurant in Boulder. It was called Illegal Pete's. I had the regular beans, rice, cheese, and pico de gallo. I rate this burrito a 10 for not being too spicy and for being a little moist. (Another comment from Mary - we also hiked and explored RMNP by car! We didn't spend all of our time in the Rockies shopping and eating!)

A few days ago, Vanessa ran into Laurence, a close college friend who is in Boulder right now. We ate lunch with her and her fiance at this tea house from Tajikistan. It was created there and was shipped here. I ate veggies and hummus which were amazing! I was happy to go there!

Tonight we're staying in this really nice hotel in Denver called the Aloft. It has a good amount of space with colorful pieces of furniture and window shades. Tomorrow, we're going to have a very long drive to Kansas!

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Photos

Ellie at the SAME Cafe!
This cafe is called "So All May Eat."

Pink Flower in RMNP
Another camper told us these flowers are thistles.

Super High Elevation
...on Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mtn Nat'l Park. We got up to over 12,000 ft above sea level.

Expanding Whoopie-Cushion
The higher we went in the Rockies, the rounder this cushion got!

Our Campsite in the Rockies
...before the wind blew our screen tent over and damaged it.

Wooden Bench
We think benches like this would be a nice addition to our backyard fire pit at home.

Path Up to the Bathroom
Lots of beautiful vegetation.

Comments

[Daddy]

The famous SAME Cafe
Hi guys: Happy you got to go to SAME Cafe. How was the food? I also like the pictures of wild flowers. Was the road up the mountain scary?

[Ellie and Mary]

Hi Daddy!! The food was fantastic!! Yeah, the flowers are really pretty. The road up the mt was kind of scary, but not to scary. How r u doing? So much love, Ellie