Friday August 6, 2010-Garden of the Gods Campground

Here are the boys, Cameron and Tyler, ready to explore the Cave of the Winds. They are standing at the main display as you enter the park. You will see where the water that flows behind them goes in a few pictures.

Looking down into the valley below the observation platform. I forgot to check the altitude of this location, but it's pretty high. The thing about Colorado is that there is so much beauty here, almost every step is a different view and for sure, every turn is another photo op.

A view down the valley with the mountains in the background.

Here is the whole crew panning for gemstones. There were several large "rocks" and stones found, and everyone had a good time panning.

Looking straight down from the observation platform to the valley below. As I said before, I don't know how far down it is, but looking straight down like this, it looks like a mile.

This is the road leading to the cliff dwellings that are located below the cave. We didn't tour this attraction and the boys didn't seem too interested in doing so at another time, so we'll hold this one for next time we come.

Cam made a new friend as we were leaving. Actually, we did see a live bear when we were going to Pikes Peak. It had apparently come down into the residential area from the mountain and couldn't find it's way out. It looked very frightened, but of course, by the time we went up and down the mountain it was gone.

The three boys made the tour of the cave while the adults hung out in the waiting area. Patrice found some very nice jackets in the gift shop and both she and Mike got one. Stella bought me a shirt but other than that, nothing else was bought.

While the boys were in the cave, our regular afternoon shower came in. It rained very hard and even small hail fell. The thunder in the mountains is awesome! It is much louder than what we experience along the coast. The lightning seems closer, but the thunder is unbelievable.

We came back home and fixed hamburgers on Mike's new grill. We had a nice meal and sat around outside until about 9:30 when the bugs started to bite and we all turned in. Our time with Mike and Patrice is nearing a close as they have to return to Texas on Sunday. Patrice has to go back to work....ugh! That nasty word.

So long.

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.

Wednesday August 4, 2010-Garden of the Gods Campground

Here is Cameron and Tyler standing in front of one of the old trains on display at the train ride through the Royal Gorge. You can't tell it from this picture, but I think they're pretty excited about it.

Here you see Mike, Patrice, Ryan with his head turned, Tyler and Cameron sitting at a table while we wait to board the train.

Here you can see how sheer the cliff walls are down to the river. Up high in the photo is the Royal Gorge bridge over the canyon. The gorge is approximately 50 feet wide at the bottom and a few hundred feet wide at the top. The gorge is approximately 1250 feet deep. I believe that it is still illegal to fish from the bridge...

There is a helicopter that takes patrons for a ride over the gorge and frequently buzzes down into the gorge. It looks like a very exciting ride but we didn't have time to take the flight.

You can see how rough and muddy the water was today. The recent rains have stirred up a lot of dirt in the river.

Its kind of difficult to see, but if you look closely, you can see the remnants of the old water line into Canon City. I'm not certain when the line was put in but it was used up until the 1970's.

Here is a group of rafters that are jumping into a deep spot in the river. They climb up on the rocks and jump into the river.

Here are some rafters floating down the river. Mike and Patrice agreed to take all three boys on this float this afternoon. We all went to eat at the White Water Bar and Grill before they had to change and get ready for the raft float. The food was terrible and I can't recommend it to anyone. The meat was tasteless and even though they furnished condiments, the whole sandwich was dry and hard to eat.

Stella and I drove back to Colorado Springs and rested for the afternoon. We started out to come back through Victor, which is a sister city to Cripple Creek but doesn't have the gambling and is reportedly almost a ghost town, but the road we started out on turned into a gravel road and we decided not to go that way. We came on back on a back road instead of the freeway we had gone up on and found it a prettier drive but longer in time.

Stella fixed some of her goulash for supper for everyone and we sat around visiting, listening to the rain. It has rained every night since we've been here, but it cools things off and makes it nice. It was 59 degrees this morning, so its a welcome change from the Houston area. We're going to enjoy it as long as we can.

So long.

Tuesday August 3, 2010-Garden of the Gods Campground

Here we are, getting ready to leave on another narrow-gauge railroad ride around the Cripple Creek Colorado area. As soon as this man, the conductor, gets aboard, we will leave.

The town of Cripple Creek. We were told that less than 2000 live here now, but around the turn of the 20th century, Cripple Creek was one of the largest cities in Colorado and only lost the vote to become the state's capitol by 4 votes to Denver. Imagine that, the Cripple Creek Broncos. The Colorado Rockies baseball team playing in Coors field in Cripple Creek. The city came very close to becoming a ghost town in the 1970's and 1980's however the state allowed gambling to come into Cripple Creek, which has increased the population and caused new buildings to be built as well as remodeling many of the old buildings.

A view up into the hills above Cripple Creek showing some of the old mines and tailings from the mines. The ride was very interesting with the history of Cripple Creek and the mines. The original name for the area was Poverty Gulch. It was renamed Cripple Creek by one of the cattlemen of the area when he lost some of his animals due to broken legs trying to cross the creek. A miner named Bob Womack made the first gold find in the Cripple Creek area and his claim started the last of the gold rushes in Colorado. Old Bob loved to drink and it is told that he went on a three day drinking binge and when he woke, he learned that he had sold his claim for $500 and a case of whiskey. About five million dollars worth of gold was removed from that claim, so he didn't do too well in the sale. Ol' Bob died penniless.

Approximately $500,000,000 in gold ore was removed from the hills and valley around Cripple Creek, and this figure was at the going rate of gold at the time of $20-25 per ounce. Gold now sells for about $1,200 per ounce.

I knew I should have bought some land there...

This is Echo Canyon near Cripple Creek. The railroad train engineer demonstrated it by blowing his horn a few times and letting us listen to the echo. It was a very impressive display.

This is the old blacksmith shop that remains standing. Most of the old town burned down in the late 1890's, but this and a few other buildings remain.

The road is laid on the old rail lines. Behind the road are more old mines and buildings that remain there. The land now belongs to a new company that has been strip mining for gold.

We are on the siding, waiting for this train to go by so we can back into the station. Our ride is almost over.

Here is our happy group, Patrice, Tyler, Cameron and Ryan. Mike's arm can be seen taking a photo on the left side of the picture.

Here is little smarty Cameron, standing just inside the doorway to one of the casinos, in violation of the law of no one under the age of 21 being allowed to enter a casino. Actually, I told him he could do this, so don't get mad at Cameron for being a lawbreaker. His PePaw put him up to it.

After our trip to Cripple Creek, we returned to town, intending to go to the Cave of the Winds today. We stopped off at Wal Mart to pick up a few items, and while there, the afternoon rains came, so we decided not to go to the cave today. We will do that one later in the week when the weather cooperates better.

We all came back home and watched the rain for the afternoon. We have big plans for the next two days, so check back here for more fun.

So long.

Monday August 2, 2010-Garden of the Gods Campground

We started off our first full day here in Colorado Springs to cool temperatures, about 60 degrees. Its very nice to be able to sleep without the air conditioner, although the fan makes a good white noise to drown out any other sounds.

We ate breakfast here in the trailer of biscuits and sausage. The boys haven't been drinking as much coffee as they usually do when they stay with us, but they need the vitamins in the milk they drink.

We left to go to the Garden of the Gods park, following Mike in his new Ford truck. It is very pretty, but I am still a bit leery of any new motor in the first year of service. Once a lot of people get one and put lots of miles on them, we'll see what the reports are. I will be in the market for a new truck soon, but I am still leaning toward another GM truck, either a GMC or Chevy.

The Garden of the Gods is a beautiful park with a lot of rock formations. We only saw some of them, but it was very hot and crowded in the park, so we left and promised ourselves that we will return before we leave to see the rest of the park.

We came back home and rested for awhile before Mike fired up his grill and cooked hamburgers. It was threatening rain with thunder and a smattering of rain drops, but the rain held off until after we had eaten and sat outside for awhile. It is so pleasant here but this park doesn't seem as friendly as many we have been in.

It started raining about 9 o'clock but we were already in for the night so it didn't matter to us. I was kind of restless and didn't go to bed until well after 10, which is pretty late for me. Cam came in again and laid down in bed with me and we talked about the day and what a fun time we have had. He is having a good time and looking forward to the rest of our time here.

So long.

Sunday August 1, 2010-Travel day-Las Vegas KOA to Garden of the Gods Campground

We woke this morning and Stella called Jana so they could come over and drink their coffee with us. Since they are staying in one of the cabins, they don't have any way to make or drink coffee, so we invited them over. I set out four of our chairs and we all sat around in the cool morning drinking coffee and talking about our travels. They are going to Roswell today and are thinking about spending the night in Carlsbad, especially if they can make it in time to go to the caverns.

We pulled out about 9:15, which was later than we had wanted, but all right considering we had a nice visit with Chad and Jana. Almost as soon as we hit the freeway on our way to Colorado the dang low coolant light came on. Stella had forgotten to stow the clock in the bedroom, so when I stopped to let her check on that, I turned the motor off on the truck trying to reset the light. It didn't work because the light came right back on. I just continued to monitor the temperature, which was working perfectly, so we just motored on. The boys went to sleep but we woke them when we went through Raton Pass, a very pretty area. We had scheduled a stop at a rest area around Trinidad CO where we transferred fuel and got our business done. that seemed to open the gates for the boys and they wanted to stop at every rest stop we came to. I did stop for them twice but we passed the third stop without stopping. It was only a few more miles to our destination, so I figured they could wait until we got there.

After arriving, we got checked in but I was disappointed to see the back-in spaces. They are straight-in sites which are very difficult to get into. The guy that was sent to escort us to our site wasn't much help. He kept getting behind the trailer, where I couldn't see him. After what seemed like 2 hours, we finally got parked and started setting up. After the boys and got all the utilities set up and ready, Stella discovered that we wouldn't have room for the porch and steps, sitting where we were. We took everything down or loosened it and I backed the trailer up and we got everything done again. Finally, we're here in Colorado and all set up! Hallelujah!!

We sat around the site, cooling off and chatting with Mike. He pointed out the damage on his trailer where he hit a pipe at a gas station where they had stopped. He later put some RTV over the damage and covered and sealed it for the rest of the trip.

We had supper here in the park. They have a barbecue supper every Sunday, and it was pretty good. We came back to our site to eat, and we sat around chatting for the rest of the evening. The boys played outside and actually met some other kids from Dickinson. Wow, small world.
They turned in and went to sleep early tonight and slept all night long. It's good to be here and we're going to have some fun.

So long.

Saturday July 31, 2010-Travel day-Carlsbad RV Park to Las Vegas NM KOA

We made the long and most-times boring drive from Carlsbad to Las Vegas New Mexico today. Our day began with coffee for Stella and I in the trailer, but we changed somewhat on our departure. We packed up almost everything and took down the utilities leaving only the rooms slid out and the electricity on to keep Cassie comfortable while we went back to Happy's restaurant for breakfast. We decided that it would be better to eat a big breakfast, which is, by the way, the most important meal, and get on the road and then skip lunch. It worked out very well, and we got on the road at 10:30. There is only one town between Carlsbad and Roswell, so there wasn't much of a slow-down. North of Roswell is nothing but rolling lands and mesas in the distance. It was boring but the road is wide and smooth and we made good time.

Just before we got to Vaughn NM, where we made our first turn, our old nemesis returned. Yep, the low coolant light came back on but I had not seen any elevation of the temperature gauge. The gauge was still not showing to be hot, so we continued on into Vaughn and I stopped at a truck stop/convenience store and bought a gallon of coolant/water mix and added it to the overflow tank. I watched the gauges all the way into the new park that is actually about four miles out of Las Vegas NM and we got here with no other problems.

The people here at the KOA are very nice and friendly and after getting set up, I spoke with the manager and her husband about a mechanic that they know here. I called him up as they suggested, but his phone was out of order, so I guess we'll continue on tomorrow with he watching the gauges all the way to Colorado Springs.

I learned that Las Vegas is a very historic little town. The road that we came in on, Hwy. 219, is a part of the historic Route 66 and that prior to 1937, Route 66 ran right through the site of this very park. Butch Cassidy once tended bar in town. (was that Paul Newman or Robert Redford?) Tom Mix brought early Hollywood to town and made several movies here. Movies made in and around Las Vegas were: Tom Mix movies: The Rancher's Daughter, Never Again, Local Color, The Country Drugstore. Also The Evil, Red Dawn (Wolverines!!), Wyatt Earp, Buffalo Girls, Speechless, Miracle in the Wilderness, Hi Lo, All the Pretty Horses, Blind Horizon and No Country For Old Men.

Later in the evening, Stella got a call from her niece Jana. She had been to Denver for a convention and had brought her family with her on the trip. They were leaving Colorado and had decided to stop off in Las Vegas for the night. Stella suggested that they stay here in one of the cabins, so Jana called the park and made their arrangements, and they got here about 8:30. We had a nice visit with them at the cabin until about 10 o'clock when we all turned in. They are coming over for coffee in the morning and we may all eat breakfast here in the park before we take off. We will be going on to Colorado Springs and they will be going to Roswell and Carlsbad. It seem ironic to have both been traveling and run into each other this way.

We have also been talking to Mike and Patrice, who are also coming to Colorado Springs from Dickinson. We may be able to hook up with them today and drive on into CS together. Mike is an old mechanic and may be able to figure out whats wrong with my truck. He'll be moral support for sure. You'll have to check back to see if we can find them along the road somewhere between here and CS.

So long.