Touristing Colorado

I thought I'd share a few photos from my travels while my mother was visiting. Since she'd only been to Colorado for a conference in Denver, we had plenty to see that wasn't too far from home. I think we could have spent another week and still would have had plenty to do without travelling very far!

Our longest travel day was a trip to Summit County. We drove over Loveland Pass, past Arapahoe Basin, to Keystone. We rode the gondola to the top to check out the view. Lots of bikers and hikers use the gondola (for your $12 pass, you can go up or down as many times as you want for the day).

I thought this was kind of interesting - it seems to be an enclosed moving walkway to transport kids up the bunny hill. (We've mostly skied smaller areas, so I'd never seen this before.)
What a good way to keep the little ones warm & happy while learning!

We passed through Frisco (with a quick stop at the fruit stand for some early peaches, plums, a cuke & zucchini - all very good. The plums could have been a little sweeter, but the organic peaches were wonderfully sweet & ready to eat). We had a nice scenic drive back through the South Park area, Hartsel and Woodland Park.

We visited the Cliff Dwellings Museum in Manitou Springs (just west of Colorado Springs). It's nowhere near the size of Mesa Verde in southwest Colorado but it was close to home and had a pretty interesting (and well detailed) museum.

Ready for a rare sight?
That's me at the Cliff Dwellings. I'm usually the one behind the camera, so there aren't so many pictures of me floating around out there. (When DH returns home, that may change since he has a camera of his own now.)

The museum had a pretty large collection of very old pottery that was in wonderful condition. I was actually pretty impressed with the museum. The displays were well explained and pretty detailed. It's not a huge museum, but we spent a lot more time in there than I would have anticipated.

We rode the Pike's Peak Cog Railway to the top of the mountain (elevation 14,110' ). It was in the 40's up at the top, chilly for July, but much warmer than the 18* when we went with another visitor in May)

After we got back home, I was on Facebook, and learned that a gal I knew from high school was visiting Colorado and had been to Pike's Peak. When I commented that I had been there too, she said she actually saw me! Our train was going up as her train was coming down. I think this is the craziest thing, considering I have not seen her for probably 19 years!! I might have thought it too coincidental, but she knew what time I was on the train!! Weird huh?


Of course, we made the trip to Garden of the Gods...

and we went to the Xeriscape Gardens. I really hoped to have more time (and photos) here, but there was quite a storm brewing that afternoon, and I had neglected to fully charge my camera battery. It was flashing red at me the entire time we were at the gardens.

I really really wanted to try lightning photos again. The view was great - gardens in the foreground, Garden of the Gods in the middle and lightning over Pike's Peak! The failing battery, lack of a tripod and danger of being struck by lightning put a real damper on that idea. Someday, I'll go back over there with a good battery, a tripod and clean car windows and try for that shot. Did you know the car only protects you from lightning if the windows are rolled up?? Lightning is a real danger here. There were actually 2 people injured by lightning from this storm coming over the mountain. They were leaning against one end of the car when the other end was hit. They were able to call for help and were taken to the hospital . (http://www.koaa.com/aaaa_top_stories/x1974618608/Hikers-near-car-struck-by-lightning)

Thanks for taking my little off-topic trip with me! I hope you enjoyed the detour!