Sunday drive

We took the kids for a Sunday drive up Trail Ridge Road — the highest continuous paved road in the nation — which bridges the west side of Rocky Mountain National Park with the east side. It was the best way to get them all above treeline and into the high alpine environment — wildflowers and all — that I adore. In fact, we were sweltering down in town. It was 80 degrees and like 10 percent humidity and we all thought we were going to MELT. It's all relative, right! Everywhere else in the state/country people were sweltering in 100 degree weather with 100 percent humidity — AND WE'RE COMPLAINING. So the drive above treeline had another advantage. It was about 64 degrees up there and it cooled us right down like a splash into the pool. We even had time for a few lessons — botany, geology, glaciology, biology and cartography.
Arden and I ran into a yellow bellied marmot (almost literally) and we saw an American pipet (one of the few song birds that loves the altitude). We also rediscovered Crunchy Granola Bars. Man, those are good.