Colorado Springs

Garden of the Gods is free, so every time we're in the vicinity we drive through.  Unfortunately, it was a cloudy day, so it wasn't as lovely as it is with sun shining on those red rocks.  It had rained on us off and on all the way to Colorado the previous day, and the clouds remained.

At the Visitor Center we watched a film explaining how the Garden of the Gods was formed.

Next, we went to Seven Falls, which I was surprised to learn had just re-opened this year after being closed in September, 2013, due to flood damage.   We parked the car at the Broadmoor Hotel, since that's the company that now owns Seven Falls, and rode a tram to the falls.

We didn't go to the highest observation platform, although ten years ago I'd have been gung ho to climb all those steps.  See those brave souls beginning their climb to the top?  It's a long way up there.

We chose to enter a hole in the mountain and take the elevator.  It doesn't go as high as those other steps, but it got us to a point where we could see all seven of the falls.

Of course I had to have a selfie of us.  If you look closely at Cliff's expression, you can almost tell what he's thinking:  "Why oh why did I ever leave home?"

On the way back to the Broadmoor, the tram driver mentioned The Penrose Heritage Museum, which was near the place where we had parked.  That gave us another place to visit on our first day.  We enjoyed it.

I believe it was shortly after this that we wandered around town trying to find a way up Cheyenne Mountain.  By the time we went through all that to no avail, I was getting sick of the Colorado Springs crowds and vowed to get out of there the next morning.

It seemed strange to drive past shops selling marijuana.  Colorado Springs only allows sales of medical marijuana, but in Manitou Springs, which is practically part of Colorado Springs, sells both the recreational and medical varieties.  I wanted to go inside the shop and take some pictures... which of course they wouldn't have allowed, but I didn't think of that.  The evening I intended to get my pictures, there was a line all the way out the door.  Not as long a line as in this picture I swiped off the Internet, though.

If you're interested, you can see the pricing and taxes on Maggies' Farm products on their website HERE.  We laughed at the couples coming out of the store, giggling like school kids playing hooky, with little bags of their purchases in hand.  

And there you have it, Day ONE of our unplanned visit to Colorado.

I've been on a road trip

Last week we were planning to go on a road trip to Rollag, Minnesota, to one of the largest tractor shows in the country.  We've been there once before, but it's been a long time.  At some point Wednesday afternoon I went to the shop to see what Cliff was doing and he informed me that we were going to go to Colorado instead.  This wasn't really his preference, but he thought I'd enjoy the mountains more than a tractor show.  

I was worried about traveling anywhere, with Cliff's back bothering him so much, but he was pretty insistent, assuring me, "I'll be fine."

That night I got out the suitcases out and we started packing.  No use waiting around if we're going to go, right?  Cora was in Iowa.  I got online and secured a decent motel in Colorado Springs.  As much as I've visited that town, there were some things I've never done... Seven Falls, for instance.  And I never get tired of Garden of the Gods.  

When I was a teenager my parents and I drove up Cheyenne Mountain to the Will Rogers Shrine.  We were all petrified on the way up, because on the right-hand side there was nothing to keep a car from plunging right over the edge, straight down.  My mother always did the driving, and Daddy would peek down over the edge and then lean way over toward my mom as we went up, trying not to look.  It was funny, even though I was scared too.  I've wondered if the drive up that mountain had been improved any; for instance, maybe there had been some low walls put up so it wouldn't be as easy to drive off a cliff.  Maybe they've even widened the road.  I really wanted to go up Cheyenne Mountain!  Now, Cliff doesn't like heights, but he figured he could manage this.  I found the address of the Will Rogers Shrine online and put it on the GPS.  We followed all directions until, according to the GPS, we were 1/8 of a mile from our destination.  But that's as close as we got, because the road to Cheyenne Mountain was being worked on, so it was closed.

We couldn't find any other way; there's a zoo up on that mountain, and I'm sure there was some other route, but we couldn't find anybody to ask.  When I tried calling someone at the zoo to ask, I had poor signal and the call kept dropping.  

We had done NO planning, but we know our favorite places in Colorado.  The trip was OK, although every morning I wondered if Cliff would be able to walk upright.  Two mornings, he could hardly get out of bed!  As long as he had an hour or two to let the Ibuprofen kick in and get his back loosened up, he made it.  I'd massage his back with horse liniment (try it before you scoff), he'd get in the shower, and that's pretty much how he got through each day.  

Of course, Labor Day weekend was approaching; apparently every motel room in town was booked from Friday night on.  I booked our room for Thursday night too, since we were there already and rooms were getting scarce.  

I'm working on some pictures and stories of things we saw on our trip.  I'll be back tomorrow with the first entry.

Oh, by the way.  Remember the popup camper we bought last March?  We figured out we've both lost all desire to camp, so on the same day Cliff decided we were going to Colorado, we advertised the camper on Craigslist.  Great timing, right?  

We were fielding calls and writing down phone numbers every single day.  They'd call, I'd tell them we were in Colorado and would be home Monday to call them in the order we received the calls.  On our first full day at home, Tuesday, we sold the camper for a little more than we paid to the second people who looked at it, having never once used it ourselves.  

Meanwhile, enjoy this entry made during our 2012 trip to Colorado.  Here's another.

Peace.