New Year’s Eve Day started with an extended discussion/argument about who would sit in the middle seat in the back seat on the ride from Boulder to Rocky Mountain National Park.
Ally is the smallest, but she wanted a window spot. Mallory had sat in the middle earlier and refused. Casey quickly agreed when he realized that the ride from Rocky Mountain National Park back to Denver that afternoon was longer and he could get his middle duty out of the way on a shorter drive. But the girls wanted to do makeup in the car so they didn’t want Casey in between them for that. I assume this is what conversations with North Korea are like. No one budged and everyone just kept restating their positions.
Finally Ron was able to maneuver the suitcases so that we could salvage a spot in the third row as long as you didn’t move your head to much to the left. Casey happily agreed to that, and we were on our way.
Rocky Mountain National Park is amazing. It’s full of those snow-capped mountains you picture when you think of the Rockies and was surprisingly busy for a very, very cold day. We forgot our National Park annual pass at home, but got a day pass and drove through, stopping for pictures and soaking up the scenery.
The wildlife was very cooperative and we saw a bunch of mule deer, tons of wild turkeys and a big elk. Ron and the kids did a very short hike to Bear Lake (I’ve got a bad back so stayed in the car) and we stopped at the visitors center before heading to Estes Park, the town at the base of RMNP, for lunch and to fulfill Mallory’s quest for a T-shirt/sweatshirt from every place we visit.
Then we headed back to Denver. This time Mallory was in the third row surrounded by suitcases and Ally and Casey fell asleep. Ron worked on his final CPE credits before 11:59. I’m thinking his New Year’s resolution should be to not procrastinate.
We rang in the New Year at a party at our friends’ house. Ron and I also tried our hand at giant flip cup, but gave up after two rounds. We will have to seriously dedicate ourselves to this craft in 2020 as it’s a whole different thing than regular-size flip cup.
We didn’t see Casey for almost four hours as he got swept into the basement pack of boys playing video games. Ally eventually warmed up to the karaoke machine (no surprise there) and Mallory and I played cards.
On a more somber note, Ally and Mallory are mourning the loss of “Friends” and “The Office” on Netflix. Could they *be* any more bummed?