WOW!  What a great day.  Mom and I and Soapy, his mom and Steve, his dog went to Estes Park.  You probably heard that Colorado had severe flooding in October, but now the town of Estes Park is open to tourists.  So, we went.  Approaching downtown Estes Park, we were greeted by several young deer.

We were greeted by these deer

Estes Park is one of my favorite Colorado mountain towns.  They have a lot of festivals, so I probably will be writing about Estes Park many times.  This weekend was Elk Fest.

Elk Fest and we are. We are under the last t

Estes Park is one of the towns that borders Rocky Mountain National Park.  There are lots elk in the park, and lots in town now also.  This is their rut, or mating time.  The males bugle to attract the females and chase away other males.  We saw lots of elk in a city park.

Male elk ready to defend territory and his females

In town, we walked along Elkhorn Street, the main tourist area, and things had been cleaned up and almost every business was open.  The main thing our moms missed were the huge pots of flowers.  Soapy and Zeb loved everything.  If necessary, our moms can go to the Botanical Gardens soon. We went to our favorite snack stores.  First to the Taffy Shop.  They have machines that pull taffy.

Taffy. Looks good and tastes better

It is so great.  The moms came out of the Taffy Shop with several boxes of taffy.  Then we went another block or more to Laura’s Fudge and Candy Store.  Again, lots of boxes.  This time fudge and white chocolate macadamia toffee and huge cookies.   I have tried it all this week.  I decided my favorite is every one.  Try them soon.  YUM!! The river goes through Estes Park and it is beautiful.  The moms took lots of pictures of us by the river.

Soapy & Zeb by water wheel and Nepal shop

Admiring the river

Soapy has a blue tie on and Zeb is casual and without a tie.  Steve, she is really a girl dog, has a blue collar and pink leash.

Don’t think this is usually in the river.

We all had to really watch Soapy as he is a scoundrel, just like his namesake Soapy Smith.

Soapy pushing Zeb to take boy’s apple

We walked to the end of the street to the Elk Fest booths.

Some visitors and booths

There were some booths, and some tourists, but not like previous years. After wandering, we stopped at McDonald’s for another snack.  What a surprise.  When we entered, they had two large yellow ducks on the counter.  Of course Zeb and Soapy had to have pictures with them.

Could be family reunion

They could have been our duck mothers.  McDonald’s employees told us that they sponsor the rubber duck races in late May, so that is why they have the big ducks.  Like we said:  Estes Park has lots of festivals. On the way out of town, we saw lots of elk in a park.

Elk relaxing

Some standing, many resting and some walking.  We have seen lots of elk since we became the duck family, but each time they are so majestic and wonderful. To get to Estes Park from Denver, you should get to Black Hawk.  You can do this by taking I-70 to Highway 6.  Heading toward Black Hawk, you will come to Highway 119 that goes past Black Hawk.  Continue past Black Hawk on Highway 119 to Nederland.  At the round about in Nederland, take Highway 72, also known as the Peak-to-Peak Highway.  This road will dead-end at Highway 7.  You must turn left.  Highway 7 will take you to Estes Park.  Estes Park is a favorite Colorado town and the main income is from tourists.  We love the town; they need us now, so let’s all go to Estes Park.  It is still fun!