Thursday August 5, 2010-Garden of the Gods Campground

Here are Cameron and Tyler all dressed up in their warm clothes, ready to climb Pikes Peak on the cog railway. This, to me, was the high point of the week, but the boys were a little less than enthusiastic because this was the second day in a row that they had to get our of their warm bed very early to take a trip.

This is a view of one of the rock slide areas that our conductor and guide referred to as Colorado sand. If you look behind the tree line, you can see that we are above the clouds, and probably at an altitude of well over 10,000 feet. The height of the mountain at the peak is 14,115 feet. I know that it makes me ill when we get to the top.

Here is a shot from the peak of the mountain. As I said before, I was ill as soon as I stood up on the railcar, so I didn't spend much time outside.

Here is another shot of the grandeur of the mountains. It is said that you can see all the way to Kansas here. The only time we have been in Kansas, all I saw was fields of grain and corn, and I can't see them from here. I'll just take our guide's word for it.

This is an interesting photo for me and my family. When we were much younger, our Dad took us to Manitou Springs every summer for several years and we always stayed in the same place. If you climb these stairs and then walk up a steeply inclined walkway, you will find a large group of tiny little houses, which used to be a motel, which is where we stayed. The boys and I climbed up to the old motel site, which is still there, and looked around. It appears that the old houses have either been sold or are rentals. Other than :Keep Out, Private Property" signs, there was nothing to tell us. I brought Stella up here in 1990 when we first came to Manitou Springs and there were signs posted that said that the property was student housing.

When we came back from the train ride, we all rested up a bit before we went into downtown Manitou to an arcade/shopping area which is in the same area where the above picture was taken. Stella and Patrice shopped in some of the small "tourist trap" shops and the boys went to the arcade to play. Mike and I stayed near the arcade,but we weren't there too long before one of the afternoon rainstorms came through and rained us out. We had ridden a city bus up here from our RV park because parking is very difficult, especially for large trucks, so we had to go find shelter from the rain while waiting for our bus.

There must be some kind of discourteousness test given to applicants for bus drivers here. Neither driver was helpful to us at all, but the ride-home driver was better than the first one. If it had not been for other bus passengers telling us where to get off, we might have missed our stop and had to walk in the rain back to the park. It is much more convenient to not have to find a parking space or pay $5.00 to park to ride the bus, but find out where you want to be let off before going on a bus ride in Manitou Springs Colorado.

It had stopped raining by the time we got home, so everyone was hungry and the boys wanted to eat at an oriental buffet. Stella and Patrice got on the internet and found one for us called the Ultimate Oriental Buffet. After a loooong drive, we found it and, believe me, it is the ultimate buffet! I think each of the boys went back three or four times, so we all left there stuffed! We made our way back home and all went in, since it was still wet outside from the rain. Another great day in Colorado.

So long.