Our Excursion: 20230919: Colorado Trip Day 10 – Colorado Springs
(Part of trip: )
Date of our excursion: 2023-09-19
Location: Pikes Peak, Garden of the Gods, Glen Eyrie
Mileage: 2.72
Our Planned Itinerary:
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Travelers on this Excursion: |
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We hit some cool places.
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Continents: North America |
Some featured areas we visited: |
Some points of interest we hit: |
Tuesday, September 19, 2023
Moms day
The day started early. Had to beat Denver traffic. Up before 5AM. It was dark. Left at 6:10. Took 1 hour to get to the other side of Denver. 1 more hour to get to Colorado Springs. Drove to the COG railway station to check it out. Parking guy said go away. Come back when your train is ready to leave.
We then drove to Garden of the Gods. Saw a big rock that looked like it should fall over. It did not. Went to the gift shop and made use of the rest rooms. Very clean. After hiking in the woods, we appreciate flush toilets and running water. The place is deserted. It is after all only 8AM. We continue through the park and stop for a walk through the red rocks. We find people. Lots of locals out for walks. The locals are wearing athletic clothes. The tourists are older even than us, have loose fitting clothes, and look well fed. Summary of Garden of the Gods, lots of big red rocks sticking up in the air. One of us was very concerned about not missing the train ride to Pikes Peak. The watch alarm went off multiple times. So we left and returned to the train station.
Had plenty of time so walked over the the Manitou Incline. 2768 steps up the side of a mountain. We are ascending this on Thursday. Walked up the first 10 steps, saw the staircase disappearing way up at the top of the mountain, and wondered about the wisdom of doing this.
Today’s problem is not missing the train so we left for the train station across the street. First visit the bathrooms. Next wait for the train to be ready to load. We boarded and sat next the the conductor. He looked about 16 years old. I am not saying he was bored, but he started taking to us. He was a local and was on the track team when he was in high school. If the team did poorly in a meet the coach made them run up the Manitou Incline. Many of the team quit because of that so the next year that punishment was stopped. Nice views on the way up. One of us fell asleep.
At the top of Pikes Peak it was 22F. Luckily not much wind, Made a snowman. Did not buy the $3 donut. Saw snow showers in the distance that became snow fall on our heads. Talked to a chicken farmer from Alabama. Took a lot of pictures for people and asked them to take pictures of us. No chance of us becoming friendly, just needed someone to push the button on the phone because our arms are not long enough and we are not selfie people.
Same seats on the train downhill. Luckily the lady next to Diane talked onto her the entire 60 minutes of the downhill ride so she did not become sick. Would have been messy as the train was packed and we had no bucket. At the bottom of the train ride it was raining. Ran to the car dodging raindrops as it was Kristin’s clean new car.
Since it was raining, we decided to try and check in early at the hotel. Glen Eyrie. Glad we had GPS. Else we would have to talk to people to ask directions. Got the to the gate and met a nice lady. Her job was to make sure only guests came onto the property. She talked to us for 5 or 10 minutes, warned us about the 2 mama bears and their 5 cubs that were roaming the property, and wished us good luck. We must have passed inspection. We found later there was a mama cougar with 3 cubs. The property is very very nice. The lady who checked us in recommended a few hikes and pointed us in the general direction of our rooms. There is only one castle on the property so general directions were enough. We did notice half a dozen long horn sheep grazing on the lawn and next to them the same number of wild turkeys.
As we entered the castle door, we were met by a very nice man. Nice but persistent. No one comes in if they are not paying guests. He took up to our room. If I described it you would not believe me. Look at the pictures. He took the rope barrier down because the tour group had just come through. Our room looks like a museum exhibit. We have a sitting room that is as big as the bedroom. The bath room has claw foot tub with an add on shower from the last century. Has been described as looking like a torture chamber. Will try it in the morning. As long as I am convinced the curtains work. There is a wall of windows in the bathroom with a window seat. Darkness outside with lights on in the inside causes concerns. Some places have heated seating in the bathrooms. This bathroom has heated floors. One of is is bothered that the pictures on the walls are not of flowers, animals, or scenery. It is portraits of the General that built the castle during the 18t century. Seems odd to have them staring at you. Once the lights are off it is better.
Since it is still light we went for a walk on the grounds. First up to the grave site of the guy who bought the house in 1900, started the Navigators, and gave the property to the Navigators organization. Navigators are a Christian group dedicated to spreading the gospel. We walked through the grounds to the trail which went up to a high spot on a cliff overlooking the grounds. More practice for the climb up the 2768 stairs on Thursday. It was a very nice location but I would not have wanted to be one of the pall bearers. We continued the walk to Echo canyon. Big tall red rocks with trails on the top and between them. More stairs. Lots of great spots for pictures but many were close to the edge of the 100 foot cliffs. No Kristin so Diane was in charge of taking 400 pictures.
Back to the room to wash up and go eat. Met another nice lady who asked us if we wanted suggestion on where to eat. We said it had to be better than a hotdog with free drink and ice cream at Costco. She did not see the humor and took pity on us. She gave several high brow options German, Italian,.. But her husband showed up and said go to Rudys a BAR-B-Q place. We took the husband’s advice. The lady was friendly, the husband practical. Rudys is a place designed for Dan. They serve barbecued meat. You pick the meat, you pick the amount and they weight it out in front of you. The meat is served on a piece of paper, no plates. Did you notice vegetables were not mentioned? The closest thing to vegetables were beans, corn, potatoes, sweet tea, pudding, and pie.