Estes Park Colorado - September 19-22

Following our hair raising drive along Trail Ridge Road from Grand Lake (see previous post) we arrived in Estes Park. We checked into the glorious Rockmount Cottages where we always stay. Beautiful peaceful cottages by the Big Thompson River just a couple of miles from the entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park. And most times we are there, a herd of Elk will sidle by to drink and spend a few hours in the adjacent meadow. Not this year though.

On Saturday 20th, we decided to hike the Gem Lake Trail and Lumpy Ridge Loop up towards the "Twin Owls" rock formation, which you can see from anywhere in town. It is a marvelous hike, where there are mix of easy and steeper bits and the views keep changing. Each time there is a break in the trees the views back over the valley and town are wonderful. At the top is a small pond and a rock face where the climbers like to play, while the rest of us eat our sandwiches.

Sunday, we took it easy and had a lazy morning reading at the cottage followed by a naughty lunch at the excellent Bird & Jim, where they don't trouble you if all you want to do is graze on appetizers and wine. We consider that a good reward the day after a fine hike.

Monday we flew home. Another trip wrapped!

Grand Lake Colorado - September 15-19 2025

Laura and I love going to Colorado in Spring and Fall, to hike and/or snowshoe and to stay in our favorite Rockmount Cottages in Estes Park. This fall we decided to add a stop at Grand Lake on the way to Estes Park and can highly recommend it.

Instead of finding a cottage or cabin to rent, we booked in at the Gateway Inn, Grand Lake, and were pleasantly surprised with a lovely room, great service and the hotel had a nice pub-restaurant with live music most nights. We ate in every night and enjoyed the food, drink and music.

On Tuesday we hiked the "https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/colorado/shipler-cabin", a lovely out and back half day hike along the river with some elevation gain. Views were lovely, but then a storm came in as we were still on our way in and we had to turn back before reaching the target cabin. Oh well, we did most of it and did not get too soaked on the way back. That evening there was a great duo in the hotel restaurant playing a mix of blues and soul. Wonderful.

On Wednesday we drove up to Milner Pass on the Continental Divide to hike the Ute Trail. This turned out to be a bit over ambitious. As the sign say, we were starting the hike from of two miles, and it went straight up from there in switchbacks. We made it about a half mile and 300 feet of climbing and we both felt the onset of altitude sickness - headache, light headedness and general fatigue. We backed out and enjoyed the drive back down. Enough adventure for one day!

On Thursday, our last full day in Grand Lake, we opted to hike the Big Meadow Loop, which is an 8 mile loop, with 1200 feet of elevation gain/loss through a lot of burned tree stumps, but then gets into forest that was spared the big fire and then out to a wide open meadow. It was a lovely day of hiking, taking us 5 hours, and we felt somewhat redeemed after our retreat the day before.

On Friday we headed north out of Grand Lake, back to Milner Pass and onwards On Trail Ridge Road across the mountains to Estes Park. That route saves about an hour and a half versus taking the highway south and around the mountains. However the route has many hairpin turns and steep drops with little in the way of safety barriers. It was a hair raising drive. I am glad we did it once. Next time we will take the long way around!

Paris - August 12 to 15

On Tuesday August 12 we disembarked from the cruise at Le Havre and took a car transfer to Paris. We stayed at the Hotel Chateau Voltaire, which had its pluses and minuses. The location was perfect, just north of the Jardin des Tuileries, where we walked every day. The hotel was beautiful, the reception staff charming and our room was delightful. On the negative side were the bar and the restaurant. At the bar at 6pm the first night, the only bar server did not know how to make a martini - would I mind waiting for the main barman to return from his break (he did not show up for the half hour I was there)? We ate at the hotel restaurant the first night and it was small, bereft of other diners, the food was bland and the waitstaff disappeared for 20 minutes at a time. Weird for such an otherwise excellent hotel.

After checking in at the hotel we took a walk through the Tuileries and then explored our neighborhood a little. We ate a late lunch at the marvelous Restaurant Drouant where the food and service were both superb. We immediately made a reservation to return the next evening for dinner. Before heading back to the hotel we explored some beautiful churches including Saint Roch and Église Notre-Dame de l'Assomption.

On Wednesday August 13 we did another walk through the Tuileries and continued onto the Champs Elysees - we are tourists after all! Lot of grand buildings and statuary to see at every turn. We particularly liked the architecture of the Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais and the Statue de Marseille.

In the afternoon we had booked a private guide to show us around the Notre-Dame Cathedral, now that much of the renovations are complete. Unfortunately the guide was not empowered to skip the line, and it was a 90F day with bright sunshine and the line was outside. After about an hour we finally made it inside, and it was definitely worth it. Our guide as very knowledgeable and the renovations inside we quite spectacular. Work still continues on the exterior. When we came out from Notre Dame, it started to rain and we ducked into the delightful Petit Pontoise for coffee and cake until the rain stopped.

That evening we had dinner at Restaurant Drouant and it was excellent, as can be seen in the photos below!

On Thursday the 14th we had no bookings and enjoyed a lazy day in Paris. We wandered over to the south bank of the Seine and explored a couple of neighborhoods there, looking for perhaps a different place to stay next time. We found a couple of possibilities. We love Paris and will definitely return soon. On Friday we headed to the airport and the long flight home.