Rocky Mountain holiday

The drive from Loveland to Estes Park gave us a preview of what was to come. Wonderful scenery through Big Thompson Canyon. Big Thompson is a river, not so big nowadays, not deep, but crystal clear water tumbles over stones and rocks, flowing noisily and rapidly.
On a whim, we booked into American Wilderness Lodge, the last lodging place in Estes Park which seemed to be in a convenient location for the town, a restaurant close by, and just 4 miles to the Rocky Mountains National Park. Accommodation was basic, but adequate. A plus factor - a small stream gushed on by the back entrance and small verandah of our lodge apartment.

On one of several forays into the Rocky Mountains National Park we saw a plaque, positioned in a viewing area of surrounding terrain. The plaque contained a quotation from one Isabella Bird, an English visitor to the region in 1873.
Later that day, we stopped at the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center, watched a film about the geological formation, wildlife, flora and fauna, and history of the area. I noticed copies of a book by Isabella Bird on sale there - already intriqued by her adventurous nature, this was a "must buy" for us - "A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains"

At this juncture I shall introduce Isabella Lucy Bird. Born in Boroughbridge, Yorkshire, England, in 1831.

Back to astrology for a moment: after erecting a birth chart from the information available (no birth time) it appears that Isabella had Sun, Mercury, Venus and Mars all close together in Libra, with Moon, Jupiter and Uranus in Aquarius. Saturn in Virgo. I'd been expecting to see heavy Sagittarius influence in her chart, but unless her ascendant was in Sagittarius, or perhaps Libra or Aquarius was on the cusp of the 9th house, putting several planets there, I would be disappointed. I've seen one or two comments in her book which are clearly Aquarian - more on this later.

Isabella was a sickly child, but it has been said that whenever she was doing what she loved most, her health was excellent. What she loved to do most was to travel. She travelled widely, helping to finance her journeys by writing books about her trips. After a visit to Hawaii (then called The Sandwich Islands) she travelled back to the US mainland in 1873, and across to the newest state, Colorado. She had heard that the air there was excellent for the infirm. Dressed practically and riding not side saddle but frontwards like a man (though she threatened to sue the Times for saying she dressed like one) she covered over 800 miles in the Rocky Mountains. Her letters back to Henny( her sister Henrietta) in Scotland, comprised her third and perhaps most famous book," A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains".

Isabella writes beautifully. Her descriptions and impressions of this region mirror ours very well.

The name Estes Park brings to mind the modern definition of "park", but in this case that definition is inaccurate. "Park" in this area, in times when woodsmen, pioneers and explorers first arrived here, was given to mean "valley" - between mountains. As well as Estes Park (named for one of its earliest discoverers, Joel Estes, a hunter, there are Middle Park, North Park and South Park and many others, probably still un-named. Meadows within the valleys have always been feeding grounds for the abundant wildlife, and latterly in the case of Estes Park, the site for a small town.