MLA 5: Rocky Mountain National Park

Crystal was such an awesome hostess in Colorado. That was so nice. A true blessing.

Last Sabbath we went up to RMNP. Awesome. I took almost 3 rolls of film. We saw 2 coyotes; it was my first time. There were at least a billion or so elk.

We parked next to a buck (bull elk?) that was probably 2 or 3 years old. Like I really have any idea. It walked over to our van and started licking it. Weird. Awesome. It was licking snow off the back corner of the van, so I crawled back to the rear seat and took pictures of it through the window just inches away. I'll add pictures eventually. John had an idea why it liked our van--maybe it was van-illa flavored. Ouch.

All day we looked for the perfect place to get good evening light. We finally chose one place for its sunset potential. We drove around and came back to it around dusk. As we were snacking and discussing how to meter to bring out the evening colors, Charissa put on Chris Rice's "Cathedral." Clouds precluded a light show, but it was still awesome to watch darkness fall on the Rockies as we listened to:

Sweetest days of childhood
Playing in the deep woods
Stomping through the creek and feeling oh so much alive.
Camping in the forest,
We’d join the cricket chorus,
And hum our songs of gratitude around a crackling fire.

And out here in the stillness
I found my house of worship
With column trees and canopy of stars.
Here in my cathedral.

It was beneath the blue skies
I ran down to be baptized;
Felt the river wash me clean, and dried beneath the sun.
And to this day believing
When wide awake, or dreaming
I scan the ancient sky and understand where I belong.

‘Cause out here in the stillness
I find my house of worship
With column trees and canopy of stars.
Here in my cathedral.

This is where I find my soul
Out where holy men of old
First knelt in soil and thanked You for the rain
Wrote the psalms that fill the air
Herald angels sang their prayer
Out beneath Your darling constellations.

So let me often wander
In robin songs and thunder
Surrounding me with stained-glass leaves that change with every breeze.

And out here in the stillness
I’ll find my house of worship
With column trees and canopy of stars.


Pack nothing but the magic of God's universe for your next adventure.