Mills Lake Hike - RMNP

The highlight of our trip to the Rockies was undoubtedly our day hike to Mills Lake. Mills Lake is a high altitude lake ( at about 10,000 ft) that sits at the foot of an immense glacier gorge. The lake is beautiful and the views from here are nothing but spectacular. In spite of the fact that the hike up to Mills lake is quite easy (6 miles round trip with less than a thousand ft elevation gain), we were glad to see that it wasn't as crowded as we had expected.
It is very difficult for me to pick pictures for this post because I loved them all! Here are some of my favorite ones:

At the trail head

Alberta Falls

Alberta Falls in the background Good view of the Continental Divide from the trail Our first view of the lake Our destination - Mills Lake Kabu is finally free to explore We decided to take it a little farther - on the way to Jewel Lake
Our lunch spot next to Jewel Lake Mommy's turn to carry Kabu on the way back One of the glowing aspens on the trail

It certainly turned out to be a memorable hike. If you have the patience to see a hundred more pictures, they are uploaded on Picasa.

Denver pics

Some random pictures taken in Denver before we headed for the Rocky Mountain National Park

Tundra slopes

On one of the touristy things we did while we were in the Rockies last week was to drive on the Trail Ridge Road which is supposed to be the highest paved continuous highway in the US. It crosses the continental divide and reaches a highest elevation of ~12,200 ft. The drive is beautiful and winds its way above timberline through alpine tundra slopes.

It also happened to be the tail end of the elks' fall mating season and we hand the opportunity to see many bull elks with their harems.

Saurabh took the above picture of a lone bull elk at dusk at about 12,000 ft. Its been featured as the "picture of the day" on BBC today. Have a look.

More pictures from the trip coming up!

A new talent has emerged

This style is for western songs...

..and here's a desi style for desi beats.

Hello from Denver (belated)

I had written this post the day we had arrived in Denver (10/4) but had not been able to post it until now.

That's right - we got here today! In spite of the craziness leading up to it (where we felt like we were packing our entire home to take with us), our first day exceeded all our expectations! This was Kabir's first time on a plane, and I was anxious about how it would turn out. But from today's experience I feel like Kabu is a born traveller! Perhaps the numerous plane rides he took when he was still in my womb contributed to it :-)

We got to the airport more than two hours before the flight so we could go through all the procedures in a relaxed manner. We spent some time at the huge glass windows so Kabu could see the planes taking off and landing. When it was time to board, we were surprised at how quickly the two hours had gone by.

Kabir sat on my lap for the take-off, but he was too busy nibbling on his rice crackers to notice that the plane had taken off. Soon after, he fell asleep and spent the next 2.5 hrs napping in his car-seat. He woke up right when it was time to get off the plane. Needless to say, the flight was very relaxing. Our air-hostess on Southwest Airlines was awesome - she talked with Kabu, gave him some stuff to play with and even flirted with him!

Right after the flight, Kabu got his first ever train ride when we had to take a light rail on the airport to get to baggage claim area, followed by his first ever bus ride when we had to take the bus to the car rental location. Finally, we had an uneventful (which is good) car ride to our hotel.
Once here, Kabu seems to be excited about being in a new place. He has been crawling back and forth in our room, exploring it and in general is in his 'happy baby' mood. He's also spent the last hour or so playing and goofing around with his papa. Here's hoping that the rest of our trip continues to be just as good.

To be continued..

We've been in Denver since the last weekend. I've been trying to upload some pictures and stories from the trip but our hotel internet connection is somewhat patchy. So it'll have to wait till we're back home.
Its been a sucessful conference for me and a good time in Denver city so far. But the best part is coming up: a trip to the Rockies!

Tiny pull-ups

In the last week, though I have been slow at reporting it, Kabir's been progressing at break neck speed. He is now able to pull himself up with support. This has opened the door to a world of things that weren't accessible to him before. And he's been taking full advantage of it.

rukavat ke liye khed

One of the reasons why my blogging has slowed down is that Kabir has now made it difficult to take good pictures or videos. The camera intrigues him so much that the moment I point it at him, he stops what he's been doing and goes straight for the camera. I'm going to have to be a little creative to take his pictures/videos from now on.