Day 55: Colorado Springs Tourism

I hear Ashlynne's alarm going off at 7:30. Good she is nice enough to get up to shower first so I can go back to sleep!  Unfortunately, all too soon I hear, "Anna, the shower is yours." I make some sort of "I am not happy about being up right now" noise and get up. I shower and wake up kind of. We go downstairs and get breakfast. It is complimentary and actually pretty darned good. It is an actual full breakfast!

We have a long list of things to see in the two days that we are in Colorado Springs. First on that list is to go to the top of Pike's Peak. I had gotten some directions the night before and have a general idea of where it is. I am actually quite impressed with myself because I do not use my GPS at all today and we only end up minimally lost. Anyway, I follow the directions to the place and end up at the rail road station that will take you to the top instead of the road. The train would be cool except it is not running today. We end up asking the guy working there for directions to the road. We are soon on our way.

We spend the next hour or so driving up a mountain and taking pictures. It is pretty scenic. The road to the top is closed due to snow. The mountain is over 14, 000 feet tall and we can only go up 11,000 feet. It is supposed to snow tonight and tomorrow so it is not going to get any more passable. We take some cool pictures and wander around the gift shop at 11,000 feet. The guy working there is very friendly and talks to us for a long time. Eventually, he gives us some information about Seven Falls, another place we wanted to see. We can take a quarter mile hike and see it from above for free instead of going to the visitor center and paying to see it. I like the sound of that!

Nice View!

Of course, a truck picture! Pike's Peak in the background

We head back down the mountain. Uhhh, what is next??  I am hungry so lunch is next. We stop at a local pizza place for lunch before following the guy's directions to the trail. The trail is rather snow in many spots and icy in a few. This makes it more challenging. As we hike, the weather goes from sunny to cloudy. There is supposed to be a some snow blowing in sometime today/tonight. After hiking for more than 20 minutes and way more than a quarter of a mile, we see no water fall. What is going on? Is this the right trail? There was a sign with the name the guy had told us on the trail head.... We walk a bit further and finally see it!  Way off in the distance. It is frozen. Kinda a bummer. Oh well, the views are great!

Enjoying the scenery!

Can you spot the frozen waterfall?

We head back to the truck along the treacherous ice. It is a bit worse going downhill. Everyone makes it to the truck in one piece though! I check the weatherstripping that I had installed on my truck yesterday. The passenger side one is not sticking well at all. Ugh, this cold is not helping. I am going to have to take a blow dryer to it later! I mess with it and get it kind of secured. We drive down the road to our next sightseeing adventure when I look back and notice it is missing. We backtrack and find it laying in the middle of the road. I park and run out and grab it. It is a little scuffed up but at least it landed sticky side up! I throw it in my bed. Okkk. Let's try this again.

We make it to the Manitou Cliff Dwellings without further ado. It is frikin expensive to get in here! $10 a person and they do not take my national park pass since they are privately owned. Major bummer. The dwellings are really nicely preserved. We wander through them all. They are big too! Information on their origin is difficult to find. They were built by the Anizasi but that is about all the information they volunteer. We wander to a hugeeee gift shop and look at stuff. I ask a lady there how old the cliff dwellings are. Turns out that they were transported here from various sites around the southeast. They are really cool but that is kind of disappointing. None of them are untouched. It is cool to see but the whole place is really touristic.

Cliff Dwellings

After the cliff dwellings, we head a mile down the road to Garden of the Gods. This place is just full of awesome rock formations. There is a road through most of it and various hiking trails. Unfortunately, it has started to snow and is pretty windy. Hiking is not pleasant and the visibility could be better. The rock formations are awesome but would be so much better if the weather would cooperate! Oh well. Ya can't control the weather. I miss the Arizona sunshine every day. Perfect for my explorations!

Back to the rocks. They were really cool. A combination of sedimentary and igneous rock. It looks like the faulting has turned some of the strata nearly 90 degrees. I have never seen rocks that have turned so much!

Balance Rock

That's a biggg rock!

I love these formations!

As we leave the Garden of the Gods, I again start to complain that I am hungry. We have seen most of the things that we are going to be able to see today. Things generally close at 5 or 6 and it is past 6. We head back to the hotel to figure out what we are doing and fix my truck. I conclude that truck fixing is critical since the snow is starting to come in.

I grab my blow dryer and head outside. Diana and Ashlynne offer to help. Sure, I will take help! I try plugging my dryer into my plug in my bed. (super cool feature!) Unfortunately, it blows the breaker. Bummer. I can use it on the super low setting but there is just not enough juice to do what I need. Diana and Ashlynne find a plug on the side of the building. I drive my truck over and start blowdrying away at the bedside. The adhesive starts to heat up and stick. Score!  About 30 minutes later we have it more or less secure. Score! I feel super cool out in the parking lot yet again trying to get my truck together. Oh well. Such is life. At least I have some company this time!

Truck awesomness

Once the truck is better, it is time for dinner. We head to Red Robin. I get a cheeseburger. It is pretty awesome!!! We then head out for our last stop for today: the Broadmore Hotel. Apparently it is super fancy and has cool lights to walk around and look at. It turns out to indeed be super fancy and have white Christmas lights covering all of the trees. They also have free valet parking for everyone! Pretty spiffy. I don't really want to let someone else have my truck but ok..... We spend a bit of time walking around looking at the fanciness. There is a lake in the back and we check that out before heading back to our hotel.

We decide that the hot tub needs to be visited. We head downstairs and get in. A little bit later, it starts to snow. Perfect! This is the best time to use the hot tub! It is always a good time to watch the snow fall from the warmth and comfort of a hot tub! We watch the snow for a while before deciding that it is too hot and time to get ready to sleep!