The View From The Top

If you want to pick a random city to move to, choose Colorado Springs. Be warned your productivity will decrease because you will do nothing but stare at the view God has given those people. Simply gorgeous in all directions. We started our time in the area at Garden of the Gods. It appears as if God has literally dropped giant stones on their sides for use to stare and marvel at their beauty. They are giant, red, and gorgeous. We did some hiking and took in the view of Pike's Peak in the distance. 

We ventured into Old Colorado City at the recommendation of travelers we met along the way in Iowa. Here we discovered a yummy little cafe and had our first real meal in days. A quaint little part of town that also led to a bit of window (and real) shopping. 

Manitou Springs led us to Pike's Peak. We took the train to the top. It's the longest cog railroad in the world. This 90 ton train traveled 8.9 miles to reach the summit of Pike's Peak at an altitude of 14,115 feet. It was steep and slow. At one point there is a 26% grade and the front of the train is three stories higher than the back. We were super lucky to have amazing seats. The back window going up and the front row coming down. This also put us next to the engineer so we had a new friend to tell us all sorts of information! 

Upon arriving at the summit we discovered donuts, hot chocolate, and the view that inspired "America the Beautiful."  It's chilly at 14,000 feet and it's hard to breathe. We learned that breathing alone causes you to lose a liter of water so it's important to stay hydrated...so obviously we had hot chocolate!

This picture is me enjoying the view. I can see how one would be inspired to write about how beautiful America is. What you should know is that right after this I fell off this rock. No warning. One minute sitting, the next rolling over and falling off. I'm blaming it on the lack of oxygen. 

We decided that while in the area we would check out how the other half vacation so we headed to The Broadmoor, a 5 star resort in Colorado Springs. We decided to have dinner there at a place recommended by our new train engineer friend. Seeing as how we were dressed as hiking riff raff, we knew we needed to stop and change somewhere. (The beauty of a road trip is that you always have everything you need with you!) There were zero gas stations along the way so we parked at an inconspicuous spot in the parking garage and went from drab to fab in ten minutes. :) We had a lovely dinner on the patio of The Golden Bee, an English Pub with a fun story behind it. As we paid and we're getting ready to head downstairs to listen to the music at the piano bar, Mindi dropped her credit card. It fell between the concrete paver flooring and the wall. I am not exaggerating when I tell you this...they had to take apart the floor to get it out. We caused the flooring of a restaurant at a 5 star resort to be taken apart. We should just stick to the KOA. 

As soon as we decided to take this trip, I knew white water rafting in Colorado was a must do activity. It took me some time to convince Mindi it would be just like the River Rampage ride at Dollywood. She finally agreed to the adventure and we took off for Idaho Springs this morning. After a safety briefing where they tell you how to survive every possible worst case scenario, we had to get our gear on. If you have lived your life having never put on a dry wet suit, consider yourself blessed. After fighting our way into this nonsense outfit, and Mindi taking the skin off her knuckles in the process, we paraded down to the river with our new found layer of blubber in 90 degree heat. 35 degree water splashing over you never felt so good! This adventure was the most fun!!!!!!!! We both loved it and no one had to put the safety training to use. We must get over to Wild and Wonderful West Virginia for another trip down the river. 

We have made it to the Colorado/Utah border for the night. If you ever find yourself in Denver, drive west on I-70 until you get to Glenwood Canyon. You can call and thank us for the jaw dropping views you will see.