Flash Fiction # 614 -- Real life vacation/2

 Head south from historic Scottsbluff, a landmark for those who crossed the land in wagons.  The terrain reminds me of the southwest -- and then opens into more prairie. Before long, we reach the Pawnee National Grasslands at the Colorado border.  At the end of the road, we turn west.

Mountains come into view as distant cloud-like images.  It is summer, so sunset is a long way off.  From Loveland, the foothills appear to be more prominent than the mountains behind. After a few curves, hillsides rise out of nowhere, and you see now why they won the name Rocky Mountains.

Flash Fiction # 613 -- Real life vacation/1

(For the next few weeks, I plan to post drabbles and pictures from trips to Rocky Mountain National Park. I hope you enjoy them.  I'll be back to fiction in about 2 months. The pictures are from 2017 and 2019.)

We live in the extreme northeast corner of Nebraska. Getting from here to Rocky Mountain National Park is an adventure.  We go there every few years, and we've found the best way to make a quick, two-day trip.

We leave at about 3 AM and head west, driving through areas we know well while it is still dark.   West, west, south, west -- somewhere around Alliance it is sunrise.   We head through the remarkable Sandhill country and sometimes all the way to lovely Scottsbluff .

Then straight south to the Colorado border. We've been on the road for at least twelve hours.