Rocky Mountain holiday

There are a couple of interesting villages a short and scenic drive from Estes Park: Lyons and Glen Haven.

Glen Haven is reached via Devil's Gulch - an exciting drive through aptly-named terrain, a real twster of a road full of hairpin bends! Having reached the tiny village, who whould have expected to see an old London taxi parked outside an antique shop there ? We were told that the co-owner of the well-known Inn of Glen Haven is an Englishwoman. The menu posted outside the Inn looked rather rich for our tastes ("Black and Blue Loin of Elk, Steak Escoffier, Escargot de Cafe Paris") so we passed on .

A quote from Isabella Bird's Fifth Letter springs to mind:

"An English physician is settled about half a mile from here, over a hill. He is spoken of as holding "very extreme opinions". Chalmers rails at him for being "a thick-skulled Englishman", for being "fine, polished" etc. To say a man is polished here is to give him a very bad name. He accuses him of holding views subversive of all morality. In spite of all this, I thought he might possess a map"(Isabella slyly remarks).

The other nearby small town, Lyons, sports several interesting antique and art stores, one of which had me searching for my credit card !

A refreshing aspect of Estes Park and these two small towns is that chain restaurants and eateries are not present here. Apart from "Subway" which IS in evidence, all eating places seem to be independently owned and run in this area. This, of course, does not guarantee good quality, but it does give the feeling of not knowing what exactly to expect, which is absent in American chain restaurants. We enjoyed many good meals, I especially remember the home-made soups and breads, which reminded me of days gone by. Eating out in America can be very enlightening to a foreigner like myself - I enjoy the atmosphere, surroundings and watching other diners, much more than the food itself.

After the rush of traffic following Labor Day had subsided we commenced our journey home, Tuesday morning, 5th September. We heard from an early TV programme the sad news that Steve Irwin had died. In the same broadcast it was also reported that a mountain climber had fallen 800feet to his death not far away from where we sat. It crossed my mind to wonder whether planetary influence was at work here - two people doing what they loved best - both cut down in the midst of it.