I am finally posting about our trip to Estes Park in September! We were there during Scotfest 2014, Sept. 4th – 7th, and it was so much fun!!
I don’t have many pictures of Midge, unfortunately. We were at the festival most of the time, and the campsite wasn’t very picturesque :(. More on that later.
If you’ve never been to Scotfest, you really need to check it out. We arrived in Estes Park on Thursday, set up camp, then headed to the festival for the opening “Tattoo”. It was one of the most amazing shows I have ever seen! It was foggy and started raining – very much like Scotland! We were in the covered grandstand, but the poor pipe bands were performing in a pretty heavy downpour. It was a sea of kilts and pipes! Can you ever have enough of either? Not me. All of the bands were fantastic, but my favorites were the 1st Battalion Scots Guard Pipes and Drums and the 1st Division Marine Corps Band.
Here are some pictures and a video of the Tattoo. Not the best quality, I apologize.
Estes Park Tattoo
Estes Park Tattoo….rain!
Royal Scottish Piper
This is a video of the bands performing together. They played “Patton’s Theme” and “Band of Brothers Theme”. It was awe inspiring. So beautiful! Please excuse the amateur filming.
I KNOW. SO GOOD.
We spent the next couple days at the festival. We watched sheep dog herding demonstrations, pipe competitions, shopping, and Irish dance. We hung out with the Stewart Clan in the clan tent and were invited to their pot luck gathering! It was so much fun and gave me a chance to show off my vintage Kiltie Cooler that we purchased at the Denver Modernism Show.
Kiltie Cooler
Isn’t that THE cutest thing ever?
Our good friends came up from Denver and spent the day with us. We all enjoyed some great food and beer, and listened to some awesome Celtic rock! Some pictures of the fun:
Piping Competition with the most beautiful mountains!
Herding Demonstration
Celtica
Celtica
“Scottish” (?) Cheese Fries, and good friend, Clay.
MMMMMMM…..Scotch Eggs!
Oh, did I mention we DID NOT take our pack of dogs? Oh, lord. It was so nice! I liked it a little bit too much, and am looking forward to our next trip without them. I love my dogs, but they are a handful while camping! It was really nice not having to worry about them, and trip over their fence, and worry about their poop schedule, and rush back to the camper to check on them! It was JUST SIMPLY…….RELAXING. Here’s something ironic: a couple walked by our campsite with guess what??! 3 wiener dogs and a reservation mutt dog. How flipping weird is that??? (It did make me miss my dogs for, like, 3 seconds.)
Here are the few pics of Midge, etc….from the campground:
Cozy Midge 🙂
Vintage Coolers
We had a visitor during the night….(no coolers were harmed).
Dinner of Champions: Spray Cheese and Crackers and Cocktails
I’m glad they give instructions for spray cheese…..
Cell phone and laptop. Hey! Aren’t we supposed to be CAMPING.!
Midge Interior
Cozy Bedtime
My thoughts on the RV Park:
We stayed at Paradise On The River RV Resort. It is a really nice, small RV park. We had full hookups, and everything worked great. The people were very friendly, too. We did not get a spot on the river, we had an interior site. These sites are very tight. We were sandwiched between 2 really large RVs, which is why I didn’t take pictures of Midge in her spot. In hindsight, I should have gotten pictures so I could share them with you here. Duh. The sites on the river are great! They aren’t huge, but they have little wooden decks right on the river and seem more private than the interior sites. I am glad we did not have our dogs as there is really no dog walking area. The RV park is on a fairly busy road, and I wouldn’t want to walk my dogs there. It is a nice park, and I have no real complaints other than the size of the sites. Most of the people here are long term. There are only a handful of seasonal rental sites, so you need to definitely make reservations.
It was a really great weekend, and we are definitely going back next year! Oh, and GET THIS:
There are RV sites on the festival grounds! Electric and water, no sewer. You can reserve a spot for the entire week for a very reasonable rate. You don’t have to be there the entire week just come when it is convenient for you and you will have your spot reserved! What a treat to not have to deal with Estes Park weekend traffic! Also, if you just need a break from the bagpipes (GASP!) you can retire to your own little retreat. So. Great. Everyone was having such a good time, I imagine the rv area will be a hoot! We already have our name on the list for Scotfest 2015! Yay for me!
projectmidge 
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