Several months ago, we were thrown into a tourist mode when my cousin from Lincolnshire, England, inquired whether she could come over to Lakewood for a week or so. This prompted us to send one of Colorado's attractive brochures supplied free by tourist information. Joan was overwhelmed by the many coloured illustrations and, due to our respective ages and ignoring the fact none of us skied anyway, we looked hard at which visits would be of interest to us all. This occasion was to be her first long haul flight other than a wedding attended in Florida some years ago.

We planned ahead, as top of the list was a weekend to Rocky Mountain National Park. The weather mid-May was anyone's guess - we knew for certain that Trail Ridge Road remained closed until Memorial weekend. As it happened the accommodation at 'Streamside", Fall River Road, was delightful, facing the river with an elevated view from the second floor deck. In fact we were lucky to catch on camera several elk coming in and walking noiselessly across the river bed. From here the park entrance was but a few minutes drive (Fall River) plus a good restaurant within walking distance (Nicky's). Needless to say in three days we spent most of our time in the Park and never really ventured into the busy Estes Park main shopping street.

Bear Lake looked daunting for us with much snow across the entrance to the main footpath so we settled for a walk round Sprague Lake. Moraine Basin was also a pleasant river walk following the meandering, curving stream with a mountainous backdrop in front of us. Cub Lake trail was a 'must', due to my visit four years ago sketching a river scene. This time I selected a view of the valley and mountains, a scene already being the focus of three painters with easels. My equipment is a small pad and a brown pen, not having yet been into the realms of larger artwork.

One of the delights of the Park, particularly for my cousin, was spotting the many varieties of birds. One venue in particular was from the back room of a coffee shop where the feeders provided many different species. Nearly on a par with this was around the Trading Post at Red Rocks where a bluebird, oriel and owls took center stage. On our first day, a two hour walk around Kountze Lake in Belmar provided a whole host of birds not common in England.

The panoramas experienced from the glittering snow-capped Rockies were hard to cap, as it were. We managed to reach the highest pint at 11,000 ft where the road was closed on up to the Alpine Visitors Center.

Music had to be in our itinerary so we stopped at the Jazz Festival in Estes Park to hear the town's big band and the swinging "Falconaires" from the Air Force Academy, plus an enjoyable session with the Ralph Sharon Trio at Dazzle. Add the IMAX Theatre and the Impressionist exhibition at D.A.M. to cover a few gaps.

We had a string of other places, but so little time. As I always say when people tell me that they spent three days in London - you really need three weeks. Not as if we want people to stay with us for three weeks!!