Road Trippin' - Day Five

It is day five, and the last day of sightseeing before we being our journey home. We got up a bit later than we planned, but this time it was a concious decision. A decision clouded by a comfortable mattress and warm blankets, but a decision nonetheless.


Today was a beautiful day in Colorado Springs. I would imagine that the temperatures were in the low-to-mid 60's, and there was not a cloud in the sky. It was the perfect day for Pikes Peak and the Royal Gorge, the two things we planned to see.


Here is the view from our hotel room this morning:



We had breakfast (complimentary) in the restaurant at our hotel. It was a hot breakfast buffet, and it was pretty good. It saved us some money, so that was great.



Then we hit the road, headed for Pikes Peak.


This is a house, up on a mountain. Where do they go when threatened by a tornado? A flood? When they really, really want a cheeseburger, or PSL (that's for you, Audra)?

After about 40 minutes, we arrived at the entry gate of Pikes Peak.

You should all note that we took A LOT of pictures. Many of them look the same, so I have tried to pull only a small, representative sample.

This is a view of the mountains as you head up Pikes Peak Highway:

There was snow! We were surprised.

Us on the windy mountain side.

These are the breathtaking views looking down as we drove up.

In addition to mile markers (the climb is 19 miles total), there were also elevation markers. We were getting close to the top here -

And then we reached the summit!

And here are the spectacular views from the top.

Part of the road was paved, but even that part had a steep drop off. It was hard to capture with the camera, but you can see it a bit here. Both Bryan and the car handled the drive well.

The top of the peak was cold, they said 14 degrees, but it seemed a little warmer than that to me. It was VERY WINDY, and difficult to breathe, so we only stayed for a few minutes. The travel down the mountain was easier than we thought it would be. And it was faster. The whole trip was about 2.5 hours, and we had a great time.

Next we went to the Royal Gorge, which is the world's highest suspension bridge.

Here we are at the entrance to the Royal Gorge

The Bridge, as photpgraphed by Bryan, positioned at Inspiration Point.

We took an incline train down the Gorge. It was at a 45 degree incline. Seriously, straight down. It was awesome. Here is a view through the gated cage we stood in.

We also saw the gorge from a tram, which traveled six miles an hour from one side to the other. This is a view of the tram from the bottom of the Gorge. It made us a bit apprehensive about getting in line for the ride.

The Arkansas River runs through the Gorge, and it was rushing over the rocks today.

I am not sure what I was doing, perhaps thinking of a nap.

This is the bridge from the other side.

The warnings here (inside the tram car) gave me pause. So did the ladded stored in the car. It was like a 12 foot ladder. What would that do in the event of an emergency? Who knows.

After the tram ride we walked back toward the bridge through the "animal area."


It seems that the animals are not domesticated, as the warning indiciates they will "charge the fence." I would think that if a buffalo charged a chain link fence the person on the other side of the fence would die, and they would close this particular part of the attraction, but it seems this laminated sign in sufficient for avoiding tragedy.

You can see the tram from the animal area, kind of a cool shot.



A deer with antlers that look very much like the branches on the surrounding trees.

Here are the buffalo. A black one and a white one. I do not discriminate.

This big horn sheep was staring at me. Seriously, just staring. It was kind of crazy.

Here is a baby...

This is called Kennedy Mountain. If you look, it does kind of resemble Kennedy's face, if he were lying on his back. My thanks to Bryan for helping me see it.

A railroad, and the Arkansas River.

Here we are on the bridge. There was no one to take our picture, so I got our shadows. It is at least proof that we were in fact there.

I am not sure why the names of the states are on the bridge, but they are. Here is Bryan, feeling at home with Missouri.

The bridge itself is wood pieces, which did not make me very comfortable. There were some large gaps.

The cable car, ready to board the next group of passengers.

Walking back to the car we were exhausted. I thought about taking a picture of us as we practically crawled to the car, but I could not find the energy to push the button.

So, we returned to our hotel to call it a night.

And for those related to me, LOOK AT THE RESTAURANT NEXT TO OUR HOTEL. We ate at Denny's instead. I had a coupon.



Well, Bryan has fallen asleep next to me, sitting up as if her is still watching the basketball game, so I better go. We have an early morning. Time to head home.

(Disclaimer: I am too tired to re-read this for spelling or typographical errors, so please just ignore them.)