Colorado Springs Weekend

We had the tile in our kitchen taken out and replaced with hardwood to match our entry way and hallway. As such, we had to be out of the house for two days while the wood was refinished. We took the opportunity to take a short trip down to Colorado Springs. We left Thursday evening and headed to the Denver temple.



On Friday, we headed to Garden of the Gods, which is really beautiful. We took a short hike to Siamese Twins, and then rode our bikes around the park.




Pikes Peak is in the background of a few of the pictures at Garden of the Gods. This is the most visited mountain in America and inspired the song, "America, the Beautiful". You can drive up to the top of the 14,110 ft peak (our first 14er!). The road gets really steep and if you look out the sides, you get that tingly feeling in your spine. There was a lot of use of 1st and 2nd gears. In fact, halfway down, there is a mandatory brake check where they take the temperature of your rotor to make sure it's under 300º (I was at 98º due to my excellent use of low gears, learned from my father after he set the brakes of our van on fire in the Appalachian mountains).



On the way down Pikes Peak, there was a fox on the side of the road. There was no traffic, so we stopped and lowered our windows and the fox came to middle of the road and sat down. Perhaps he was waiting for a handout, but Riley had a good time talking to it. We left and honked our horn so he would run off the road.



On Saturday, we met up with my mission president's wife (he was away visiting his new grandson) and went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. It was a really nice zoo with a good collection of animals and an awesome setting, built into the side of a mountain above the Broadmoor (more here and here). This zoo has the largest captive giraffe herd in the world. You can feed them and pet them. Becca loves giraffes, so she was excited about this exhibit. They also had a great grizzly bear exhibit. Of course, Riley was all about the gorillas (and all the other primates). She beat her chest like a silverback the minute she saw them. Asher was pretty mellow the whole time, except in the farm area, where he tried to grab a chicken.




It was a fun little trip. There was more in Colorado Springs that we didn't get to see. It's definitely a great place to take a long weekend. The Royal Gorge is nearby, the Olympic Training Center has a tour, the Air Force academy has a tour, and there are a few more places nearby to enjoy nature. You can also take a train up to Pikes Peak.

We're glad to be home and the floors look great. The counters and appliances are next!