
It seemed that we were lucky...a group in a motor home was just finishing breakfast and said they were leaving in 10 minutes and we could have their campsite! Yeah, it was a miracle, I thought. We paid for the site, and pitched our tent and then headed up the Rainbow lakes trail for a hike and a picnic. Here is Macy, hammering down the stakes (it was windy then) with a rock.
And then we headed out on our hike, Mimi carrying Belle and the lunch. Macy was our


When we returned from our hike, though, things got a bit more adventurous. There were people in our campsite, and they claimed that they had paid for the site but just didn't pitch their tent. This is against the camping rules--you have to

We roasted hot dogs filled with mac and cheese, and strawberry marshmallows (Mimi let Macy choose the food...) and then we played in the creek

Macy and I got in our tent after dark, and off course, Macy had to throw up in the tent (probably from altitude and too many strawberry marshmallows). There was a lucky stroke to this, too, though, as Mimi had the window open and she threw up out the window onto the ground. Mimi was seriously hoping that bears do NOT like recycled food...
Anyway, about 4 AM, the neighbors who had STOLEN our campsite shouted "Get out of here" and I knew there was a BEAR!! The bear was growling and hissing at their tent and it ATE their plastic water container and their foil. The bear teeth marks were really far apart too--a very BIG bear. I was safe, of course, because I was across the road, sharing a tent site with Miguel and Gabby, and Miguel had Bear Mace. The camper next to me came over (in his shorts, cowboy boots and cowboy hat--did he SLEEP in those things?) and said, "Honk your car horns!" so we did, and the bear ran off. But our neighbors were terrified and said they were leaving and going to a hotel, and Mimi just laughed because she felt so lucky that they had STOLEN her campsite and she was forced to move away from the bear!

The next morning, we had breakfast and Macy and I headed out across Trail Ridge Road to Winter Park--for a stay in the hotel and a hot shower!
