After taking a day off for some touristy sightseeing at Estes Park, and dinner with a cherished, long-time friend, we drove through the mountains one last time to explore RMNP.

Never underestimate the healing effects of water or mountains. Being a lifelong Chicagoan, I’ve always been drawn to Lake Michigan. When I travel, I look for destinations with water, or mountains, since we don’t see anything vaguely resembling that in most Illinois topography.

Rocky Mountain National Park is the third most visited national park, with 4.7 million visitors in 2019, according to the National Park Service. I’ve visited Colorado many times, but never explored Rocky Mountain.

Our last day at Yellowstone was all about the geysers and it was a perfect morning to see them, with clear sunny skies and cool early morning temps.

We wanted to get an early start this morning in hopes of seeing more wildlife at the opposite end of the park. The cooler morning temperatures made the rising steam from the geysers more visible as we drove past the Norris Geyser Basin.