[Yesterday’s run: 3.25 miles]<\/p>\n
I was lying in my bed in the hotel here in Loveland, Co yesterday morning.\u00a0 I was fooling around on my cell phone,\u00a0 reading Facebook and Reddit.\u00a0 It occurred to me that I’d be doing that kind of trash in Mississippi.\u00a0 This is my non-running-related vacation time, this weekend and next weekend.<\/p>\n
So I got myself up and out of the motel by about 5:30 on the road up\u00a0 the Big Thompson Canyon.\u00a0 It’s been almost 10 years since I used to commute up and down the canyon every day.\u00a0 And there has been a major flood since then, so things have changed a bit.\u00a0 But the traffic was light and I zoomed up the canyon.<\/p>\n
I briefly stopped at the EP Mc Donalds for some breakfast and continued on.\u00a0 The Fall River entrance booths of RMNP<\/a> were vacant, so I went on in to the park.\u00a0 I drove up Fall River Road to the Alpine Visitor’s Center.\u00a0 The place doesn’t open until 9 AM and I got there about 7:30.\u00a0 Having forgotten my jacket at home(the temp was around 40F), I put on a few layers of t-shirts and dress shirts.<\/p>\n I watched a herd of elk arrive into the little meadow below the visitor’s center and move across.\u00a0 Other people started to arrive.\u00a0 I saw elk, mule deer, marmot, sparrows, humming birds and lots of flowers.\u00a0 There was still a large snow bank below the cornice of the peaks near the visitor’s center. The clouds were low and brushing Mt. Chapin, obscuring the higher points.<\/p>\n I kept trying to get enough cell service so that I could send a text message.\u00a0 I was wanting someone to capture my picture on the Alpine Visitor’s Center\u00a0 web cam<\/a>.\u00a0 But it was not to be, nothing went through.<\/p>\n It was a calming experience to just watch the clouds and the elk and the people coming and going.<\/p>\n At 10 AM I hopped in the car and headed down Trail Ridge Road.\u00a0 The traffic by that time was a steady stream.<\/p>\n