Home, home on the range, where the deer and the elk signs roam

2 days to fill in....

What an incredible 2 days. I drove to Grand Lake up through the Rocky Mountain National Park. What an incredible drive. Hitting over 12,000 ft and some amazing views.

Got to Grand Lake and had a wonderful paddle on Grand Lake and Shadow Mountain Lake.

Grand Lake is a lovely place. It seems to be caught in some sort of time warp which gives it a certain serenity.

As you walk along the boardwalk of  downtown Grand Lake, you find that about 80% of the stores are gift shops of some description. The rest are some sort of eatery. I saw some tourists there, but surely not enough to support that town. I have concluded that they are a very friendly bunch, and maintain their town by buying one another gifts. Although one person that won't be getting a gift was the lady behind me at breakfast this morning. The conversation went something like this....
Lady: " I'll have the Grand Lake special breakfast thank you"
Waitress: " Certainly ma'am, will that be our home made fries or fruit with that?"
Lady: " I'll have the fries, and make sure the eggs are well done"
Waitress: " The eggs are scrambled ma'am"
Lady: "Yes, I know that. Make sure they are well done"
Wow, I'd hate to see how she has her steak!!!
The drive both to Grand Lake and now to Dillon Lake were very scenic, however I harbour some concerns about the wildlife here in Colorado. You see there have been innumerable signs warning of wildlife ahead and even a flashing sign warning of elk. The only conclusion that I can come to was that the Elk warning sign was warning of more elk signs as it would appear that the signs out number the elk by about 10-1. I did have the pleasure of sighting  a herd of elk high in the mountains, but that was about it. I looked fervently, but to no avail. I even stopped at a wildlife sighting place...

All I managed there was some wet and dirty shoes, access to the river, and some local habitations, from which I also saw no wildlife.

About as wild as it gets here it would seem is a couple of feisty cows and  a moderately annoyed horse who may have just been brushing flies away. At least in Australia if you are not able to see the wildlife hopping, crawling or running by, we have sufficient roadkill by the side of the road to suggest that there was live wildlife there sometime recently. The most I've managed to see here was a small red skidmark which was most likely a wayward squirrel.

Arriving in Dillon I headed straight to the water and enjoyed a beer at the Tiki bar.
This was a great prelude to a paddle down the other end of the lake to Frisco, which fortuitously also had a waterside bar.

 A couple of beers there and a solid paddle back with a constant cross wind.
 Being a significant work out, it was time for another beer at the Tiki bar and a shot with John the bartender.

The Tiki bar is an extension of the Pugg Ryan's Brewery, just up the hill. The destination for dinner and a couple more beers and sadly my first Colorado brewery of the trip...