Everything appears to be on the up at Rocky Mountain National Park’s Alpine Ridge Trail

No Rocky Mountains, no Estes Park. No kidding. Our days in the still-quaint but bustling Colorado village for my dear wife Karen’s Family Reunion were dominated by the looming peaks that make up the Rocky Mountain National Park. In fact, even walking along the tourist-trap T-shirt shops, the window-treatments trumpeted the fact that this year…

There’s a lightness on the edge of town

If there was one theme that repeated itself every dang day during my dear wife Karen’s Family Reunion in Estes Park, it was: Take a Hike. So on Monday morning bright and clear, the gang that remained gathered on the Village Green with a mission to walk along the Creek Walk that at its start…

Going, going, gone to Coors Field

We gave ourselves an 75 minutes between leaving the Denver Zoo and the start of the game between the Colorado Rockies and Cincinnati Reds on Sunday. After all, GPS told us the trip between the two downtown landmarks was merely a few miles and 15 minutes or so. George Three didn’t fancy the in-city driving,…

A wild time at the Denver Zoo

When my dear wife Karen put a Sunday baseball game on her Family Reunion group page on Facebook, nephew Drew from Alaska quickly indicated that he’d love to join his aunt, the Uncle from Syracuse he’d not yet met, and new cousin Elisabeth and her boyfriend George Three on the excursion to Coors Field to…

Take a hike, gladly, ride a jeep with the gang

The first day we walked around the town of Estes Park, outside a storefront my wonderful daughter Elisabeth spotted a bunch of people hopping aboard a big jeep. We wondered about the adventure awaiting. The next day, we ducked inside, grabbed a brochure, and talked turkey with the woman behind the counter. Well, elk, actually,…

Sharing the space at the Stanley Hotel

Driving, walking, visiting Estes Park for the first time, you can’t miss the big white place up the hill. All eyes at the my dear wife Karen’s Family Reunion were drawn toward The Stanley Hotel. Something about it just seemed so darn … familiar. On Friday morning, we four walked up from our cool blue…

A little light in the Rockies

There’s an interesting relationship in Estes Park between the sun and the Rocky Mountains. We found out during my dear wife Karen’s Family Reunion in this little village at the foot of Rocky Mountain National Park. So, in this parade of pictures and posts that will continue daily from the Little Bitty in the Syracuse…

Now that’s a salutation

So many exciting moments crammed into five full days for my dear wife Karen, wonderful daughter Elisabeth and tremendous boyfriend George Three and the entire Miner clan. Yes, Estes Park, Colorado, was a fine place to hold her first Family Reunion. I have much to write about in the week or more to come. Today…

The fifth and final piece of the family puzzle

Scott does exist. The middle child walked into the Mexican restaurant in the tiny town standing guard to the gorgeous and mammoth Rocky mountains of Colorado as darkness fell Sunday night and the Miner Family Reunion became complete at last for my dear wife Karen. She sat at one end of the table of 15…

People are strange

We saw two odd things in one day in Estes Park, one by car and one on foot. First my dear wife Karen, wonderful daughter Elisabeth and terrific boyfriend George Three and I were on the hunt for a store to buy some beer, a bottle of wine, maybe another beverage to stock the fridge…