Stairway to Heaven

More driving across the eastern part of Colorado and the terrain is mere hills and sand and rocks like a desert. There are cattle grazing and farms with crops growing. We are headed to Colorado Springs where we'll see the Garden of the Gods and take the cog railway up Pike's Peak.

Colorado Springs is south of Denver and the home of the Air Force Academy. It's a big city, but we didn't get to see much of it. We headed directly to Garden of the Gods which is a city park with the most incredible red rock formations. It is many acres that were left to the city and best of all it is FREE! We drove around and saw some of the formations and also took a short hike where we got close to the rocks and saw a few rock climbers.

We drove about a half hour towards Pike's Peak and had lunch in the little town of Manitou which is cute and full of arty stores and galleries. We got to the Cog Railway Depot and spent some time in the gift shops before our boarding time. At 2:40pm we boarded the train and headed uphill. The ride is an hour and a half each way and chock full of scenery and incredible views. The summit is over 14,000' and it got really cold as we made the ascent.

At the top we looked out, but it was cloudy and drizzly so not too much to see. Most of the time was spent in the Summit House eating and shopping. They have "famous" donuts and we sampled them. Drank some hot chocolate and Gatorade too as we were pretty light headed from the altitude.

Got down to ground level and took off to the east. Spent the night in a rest area just across the state border in Kansas. Jeff, Ziggy and I snuggled in bed without putting the out since we were in a parking lot. Pretty close quarters and it was hot, but we are happy.