Pikes Peak and Manitou Springs

Today I'm showing you what we did on Monday. We visited Pikes Peak. Keep in mind while you look at these, that I don't like heights! This was a real test for me, but I came out intact! (Physically that is)

This is the view from a scenic turn out, just a little way up the mountain.

Here is a lake we stopped at part way up. There were people fishing here. What a pretty sight!

We had been told that Bigfoot has been sighted in the area, and were quite surprised to see him on the trail at Pikes Peak!

This is about halfway up the mountain.

Getting closer to the top!

Here's a shot of the road. Much of it wasn't even paved, but you can see how curvy it was. As you get near the summit, nothing grows, because of the lack of altitude, so it looks pretty desolate.

We made it! This is the view from the top. Do you see the wispy clouds?

Proof that we made it! You can't see it in this picture but it was snowing at the top. We could really tell the air was thin and were ready to start back down. Of course, those curvy roads weren't too fun going down either. They stop you half way and check your brakes to be sure they aren't too hot.

After Pikes Peak, we stopped in Manitou Springs. It's a tourist town, right next to Colorado Springs. It's know for its mineral springs which people used to visit and drink as they thought it was good for you.

Here is one of the springs. We tried it and didn't like the mineral taste at all!



There is a nice little stream that goes through the town. We enjoyed walking next to it for a little while, and we found this pretty bridge.
That's it for now, but I'm afraid I'll be continuing this - more pictures next week!

Meeting friends and enjoying more sights

While we were in Colorado I had the chance to meet a long time blogging friend. My friend Renee, from Life at Aspen Trail Hill lives near where we were going to be, so we arranged to meet her and her family on Sunday and go to church with them.
She is just as sweet in person as she is on her blog. We had a wonderful service at her church and enjoyed meeting her adorable daughters and her husband!

Here are Renee and I with her girls.

After lunch we went to the Air Force Base.

This is the chapel at the base.

It's beautiful inside. These strips of stained glass, are around every spire you see from the outside, which makes it almost glow inside.

This is the organ loft in the back of the chapel.

After we left the Air Force Base, we went to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. It's a huge place with a lot of memorabilia from past Olympics. We saw the torches from the past 3 Olympics that were held in the states, along with a luge and one of the flames that burns while the Olympics are being held. There is a neat area that has walkways with the flags of all the countries that participate.

This is one of the signs at the entry.


This huge sculpture shows athletes from different times holding up the earth. One of the athletes depicted was someone from ancient Greece with the laurels around his head.
This was another fun and interesting stop.

Garden of the gods and Manitou Cliff Dwellings

Saturday we had another great day. We started the day by visiting the Garden of the gods. What a beautiful place!

This is a view of several of the formations near the visitor center.

We had just started looking around when we saw this bighorn sheep way up high. If you look closely you can see 6 others further down on the rocks, 5 are on the right and one is on the left.

There were several people climbing while we were there. It doesn't look like anything I would ever try!

More beautiful formations.

This is called the balancing rock. It doesn't look like it should stay there!

Here are a couple of cute guys I found in the park!

After we left the Garden of the gods, we visited the Manitou Cliff Dwellings.

This young man is a descendant of the original cliff dwellers. He did several of the dances from that time, which were quite interesting.

We were able to go into the actual dwellings and look around. We were surprised by how cool it was inside, when it was very warm outside. These dwellings were quite small for many people to be living in.

Here is a picture of the Cliff Dwellers homes, built right into the rock of the cliff. I'm glad someone had the foresight to preserve them!
That's it for today - more coming tomorrow!