The Springs Day 3/4

Saturday 10/17

After a little bit of sleeping in we headed to The Garden of the Gods.
FREE open public space! If you enjoy rocks, like we do, then this is such a fun place!
It was also super crowded with very little parking areas so we didn't get to do as much hiking as we wanted to.

Hey, it was match day.

Then we came across an underpass with this interesting art installment.

A little snack from Amy's Doughnuts. 

The Incline at Manitou Springs. 

I didn't get very far since Derek had plans to go shooting with his friend.

Guess that just means that we'll have to make another trip!

Sunday 10/18

This is how far we got onto base because we had all of Derek's weapons in the car...

I've been to the academy before and I thought it'd be fun to catch some kind of service at the Chapel.

Since these plans bottomed out, we took a detour in downtown Denver to look at some art.

Turned into a drive by viewing of said art because due to the insane amount of marathon runners and some weird "occupy movement" people. 

Oh well.  Guess that just means we get back to Ragnar faster!

The Springs Day 2

Friday 10/16:

Cog Rail Ride to Pike's Peak.

Since we've both been to the Peak before, and we wanted to save our engine and brakes, and Derek didn't think that the biking adventure of the Peak would be worth it, so we rode the train! (Maybe next time we go I can talk him into biking the Peak!)

 Going up!

 We passed by a herd of Big Horned Sheep.  All but one, could care less about us, but that one.. that one starred down the train the entire pass (on the way back down too).

 At the top!

 A lovely view of The Black Forest...

 Time to go back down...

Our Conductor was awesome! He had such corny jokes but made the trip up and down that much more fun and the history stories that much more interesting!

After a long lunch, we headed to Seven Waterfalls!

 I enjoyed this tree's roots...

 You could ride the elevator to the overlook...

 But we climbed the stairs instead!

 View of the falls from the overlook...

 And their names...

 Now to climb more stairs!

 Time to hike some at the top!

 The Zip-line...

 And the trail was closed.  Super Lame Sauce. 

 Seven Falls was fun, but it's more of a "one and done" adventure...

Then it was dinner at The Airplane Restaurant!

A legit USAF KC-97 from the Texas National Guard

 Derek LOVED playing in the cockpit, I had to pull him away since our food was ready.

 The food wasn't the best (the sweet potato fries were AMAZING however, but Derek said playing in the plane made up for the food).

An adventure filled day that was also rather lazy and relaxing!

The Springs Day 1

This year UEA paired up nicely with Derek's off week (Derek switched back to swings from graveyards), so to celebrate actually getting to be able to spend quality time together and the #4, we went to Colorado Springs!

Thursday 10/15:

Dropped the puppy off at the folks and we drove off!

 Somewhat after crossing state lines (Wyoming was rather boring and counting antelope can only entertain so much), we decided to take a pit stop at this little abbey.

 The sign says "Gentle Cattle on Road"

 I moo'd at them for Shaunee. 

 Of course with our timing, we hit Denver rush hour traffic.  NB side was far worse but still.

Quick dinner was had at Fazoli's. I don't think I've even seen a Fazoli's since the one in St. George closed and became a Five Guys.

Checked into the hotel room...

and had to re-make the bed. Let's just say that the hotel is sending me a certificate for a 2-night stay to make up for this. And the fact that Derek had to clean out their hot tub so we could use it.

Pretty non-exciting first day!