We Visited Estes Park Today. . .

[debron]

Traveling home from a ski trip to Keystone, CO, we detoured via Estes Park. An absolutely gorgeous location! Those of you attending this year's rally will love it. Even the main highways coming into town are great. Highway 34 from the east is an amazing, twisty ride through Big Thompson Canyon, a deep canyon with tall rock walls. We left town that way but came in on Highway 36 from the S/SE by way of Boulder. That too was a scenic twisty road. On Hwy 36 coming in to Estes Park you will see this famous sign:




Town of Estes Park:




We drove out to the Historic Hydroplant Park, the venue for the Monday night pre-rally dinner. Turns out the hydroplant museum is closed on Monday's so you will have to come back to visit the museum (free admission.) Here are the picnic grounds today. The white stuff will be gone by June, I promise as it's already melting fast! Temps today were in the high 50's, low 60's in some areas.




While in town, we visited the historic Stanley Hotel. They even have a Stanley Steamer in the lobby!






We also visited the Rocky Mountain Park Inn to check it out. The rooms are quite nice, the courtyard for the bike show is like our own personal arena. The pool and spa looked great too! If you heard the rumor that the rooms that are near the pool tend to be noisy (true,) don't worry about it. None of the AVA Block rooms are near the pool.

This is going to be a great rally, so get your registration forms in now!

[ekap1200]

great pics Ron, we love pics. Looks like many nice rides to be driven and enjoyed. How did the bike run in the thin air ? Do the gas stations use as much alcohol in their mix ? Gene

[debron]

Yes, Gene, there are more nice rides than you will be able to do in four days! In fact, Board member Don Medina, who grew up in Denver and knows everything there is to know about the area, is planning some pre-rally rides and events for those who can and want to arrive a few days early (Friday??) He's been checking out "inexpensive" motels (that still meet my wife's and Trisha's standards! ) and working out a deal with a local Kawasaki dealer. More details on this will be coming soon, both here in the forum and in the next Voyager's Voice. Stay tuned!

This particular trip was a ski trip so we were in the car. Can't pack skis, gear, and stuff for three weeks on the bike! Plus I don't ride in ice and snow and we drove through heavy snow storms over four passes on the trip down! I did ride through Rocky Mountain National Park and Estes Park in August 2012 and the XII did great! I almost think it likes the thin air of altitude better than the oxygen rich air at sea level!