Adventures in Colorado Springs

On Wednesday we spent a lot of time in the car but we managed to hit most of the big “touristy” spots around the Colorado Springs area. It was a day full of adventures.

Our first stop was at the Royal Gorge. As we got out of our car we were disappointed to see that we didn’t really have a very good view of the bridge. There were several structures that had been strategically built to block the view of from the parking area. It became very clear to us why this was so when we got to the booth to buy our tickets. That’s right . . . you have to buy tickets to go on the bridge and to see the bridge and they are not cheap ($28 per person). We kind of thought this seemed like a waste of money, as did most of the other people arriving around that time, so we headed back to the car to go to our next stop on the itinerary. Luckily as we were leaving the parking lot I spotted a viewing area hidden in the trees and we managed to get a few photos. This made me feel like the trip hadn’t been a total waste of time.

Next we went to Manitou Springs to see the Manitou Cliff Dwellings. They were built more than 700 years ago by the Anasazi indians and have been preserved. Grant really enjoyed walking around and going inside the cliff dwellings. I think it will be something he remembers and will be helpful when he begins learning more about native americans in school.

Our last adventure of the day involved more time in the car. We headed to the summit of Pikes Peak.

*** Before I tell you the whole story I think it’s important to add that my mom and dad had called me the night before to remind me that if I had to do any of the driving coming down the mountain to remember to drive in a low gear and not ride my brakes. Obviously they could already foresee what was going to happen.

We took off up the scenic 19 mile, 2 lane mountain road with Grant riding shotgun in the front seat and me in the back. We reached the halfway point without any trouble. Eventually though it started raining, the roads turned into gravel and the guard rails slowly disappeared. With every turn in the road we were climbing higher and higher and it looked like we were going to just drive right up into the clouds. It is definitely an odd feeling. I could see from the back seat that Jeff was breathing quite a bit harder than usual and I started to get a little stressed out thinking that I might have to take over the driving duty. A few miles farther (at about mile marker 15) there was a place to pull over and that’s just what we did. Jeff said he couldn’t go any further. He is extremely afraid of heights and he wasn’t feeling well so much to my dismay I got behind the wheel and started driving. I probably need to add that Jeff didn’t even get out of the car. He just climbed over the seat and got in the back and closed his eyes. Very manly, huh????

So, I began our slow creep to the top and could tell that Grant was getting quieter and quieter the farther I drove. There’s something about seeing your dad scared that has an effect on a child. At mile marker 17 there was a huge viewing area so we stopped there and got out to take some photos. Grant begged me to turn around and go back down because he said he was feeling sick. Really, I think he was just worried about Jeff.

This is the part of the story where admit that I started to feel sick. Drving down the mountain seemed so much worse to me than I imagined. I don’t think I have ever driven on such steep narrow roads that plummet into caverns 2000 feet below me. Not to mention on every sharp turn meet another car all while trying to drive in 1st gear and not use my brakes. It was truly a horrible experience and I was the one to blame because I had talked about going to the top of Pikes Peak ever since we started planning our trip. I knew all about Jeff’s fear of heights but for some reason I really thought he would be ok. It was much worse than I remembered as a child.

We stopped again at the halfway point to let our brakes cool down. Jeff must have been feeling better because he actually got out of the car!!! He and Grant panned for gold . . .

then he got back behind the wheel and finished the drive. I’m still little sad that we didn’t make it to the summit. I was hoping to get a picture of all of us around the sign at the top of the mountain but considering how stressed out everyone was I think it’s a good thing that we stopped when we did and headed back down to lower ground.