Today was our last day of MINIs Take The States and the first day of our National Parks tour. Breakfast was saying farewell to all of our MINI friends at Keystone. The Denver Broncos Drum Corp was there to give everyone a proper sendoff.

Then it was on our way to our first National Park – Rocky Mountain National Park where Rhonda presented the friendly Ranger with our Senior Forever Pass for its first use.

The Park is a wonderful mix of mountain meadows, peaks and finally alpine tundra above the tree line.

This is the Colorado River only 10 miles downstream from its headwaters. From here it flows through Colorado to the Grand Canyon and ultimately to Mexico over 1,400 miles away.

On our climb to Milner’s Pass and across the Continental Divide we came across a man and his three dogs in a pickup…

The views were breathtaking

We grabbed a bite at the Alpine Visitors Center- 11,796 feet in elevation and well above the tree line. Yes, there was still some snow up there on July 22nd.

Then we turned around and headed back to Keystone to pack for our next trip to Mount Rushmore.