Road Trip 2012, Part Five - Colorado Springs, heading home

We woke up pretty early Thursday morning and took a drive through the Westminster area before heading out towards Colorado Springs, where I was looking forward to visiting the Garden of the Gods, our first stop.

Pikes Peak in the distance

Balanced Rock (these are saved counterclockwise, not sure what's happening, will try to figure it out)

After a stroll down around the old town and an ice cream stop...

 

 

... we headed to Manitou Springs to take a last minute train up to Pikes Peak.  The lady I called promised we could get a seat if we were there in 15 minutes.

 



The Pikes Peak Cog train was fun, if a little slow.  Pikes Peak summit was worth the long ride, as were the views as we emerged from the forested area and looked out at the 360 panoramic view. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We checked in to Garden of the Gods Campground, into a cute little cabin.

 

 

The next morning, we ate camping oatmeal and took advantage of the campground swimming pool.  We then spent the afternoon in some parks (Acadia and American the Beautiful) and walking around the downtown area. 

 

 

 

Walking around Old Colorado City, I managed to find a nice belt buckle for Andrew's birthday.

 

 

Colorado Springs is now my favorite US city.  You can actually park downtown and walk to a coffee shop or a park, yet it's close enough to big city living and an international airport.  There are mountains in the distance to set your eyes on during sunset, and cost of living is not ridiculously high. 

 

It was time to start heading home.  Only a couple more stops to make on the way back to Texas and after two weeks of packed days, I was getting a little homesick.

 

There weren't any signs and it was pretty dark by the time we made it, but somewhere along Hwy 87, I just knew I was back in Texas.

 

We headed to Clayton and ate dinner in the Wild Horse Diner.  There were few hotels available so we drove all the way to Texline and slept like rocks in the Texline Inn. 

 

The next day, we visited Palo Duro Canyon.  Eager to get home, we didn't hike any trails.  Plus, when you've spent the majority of your traveling time in New Mexico, Utah and Colorado, Texan canyons don't seem quite as impressive as they did at the start of the trip.

 

 

 

 

Through Amarillo and Lubbock, we took a direct south route and made in home that night.

 

This was a super fun trip and we are definitely planning another road trip for next summer!

 

 

Road Trip 2012 Part Four - Boulder and Denver

Day 12, we drove to Boulder, CO, and spent the afternoon downtown, strolling down Pearl Street where Mary played in the water fountain and climbed the fake boulders, and I read The Lifeboat.

I hadn't really planned this leg of the trip so we didn't yet have a reservation for that night.  After an extended visit to the REI store, we headed to Aurora, Denver to find some place to stay. 

After checking in to our motel, we Yelped for a decent dinner joint and set off to enjoy some highly rated L&L's Hawaiian food.  Tired, we hung out at the neighboring Barnes and Noble for a while, reading books and drinking hot chocolate.

We spent the next day visiting the children's museum, walking around downtown, visiting parks (where I think Mary developed her first crush watching the very talented skate boarders), and generally getting a "feel" for Denver.  I liked the city but I found the traffic and infrastructure frustrating and the parks a little run down and creepy ("Mommy, why is that man drinking from a bag?").  However, I am not yet ready to cross Denver off the list of places I might one day like to live.

That night, as we lay sleeping, a shooter burst into the Batman screening at a cinema in Aurora, two streets down from our motel and a lot of people lost their lives or were injured. I am glad we didn't go to the movies that night, and I'm really saddened for the people affected. 

 

 

 

Mary plays street piano

Mary thought it funny that there was a sign warning drivers of slow children crossing the road.