Colorado Trip

We had the most amazing time in Colorado!  It was about a 12 hour drive so we arrived in Denver Friday evening.  We hung out at the hotel, which was nice enough to upgrade us t a suite free throughout our vacation!   The next day we headed out to the mountains to go panning for gold and see the ghost town of St. Elmo.  It was really cool to see an original gold mine.  Unfortunately we didn't strike it rich but I was amazed to see how much gold dust there is in the mountain stream where they have mined for gold.  The town of St. Elmo is one of the best preserved ghost towns in the U.S. and it is located on the most beautiful mountain!  It was fun just to hike and explore and the kids had a blast hand feeding the thousands of chipmunks that live in the mountains!

We spend the next few days in Colorado Springs.  The first day there we visited the Royal Gorge which was one of the highlights of the trip.  This place is so super cool!  If you ever get the chance to visit, it is really worth your while.  It is a 1400 foot deep gorge in the mountains carved from the Colorado River and SCARY AS HECK!!!  There is a suspension bridge over the gorge that you can either walk or drive across.  I opted to run like hell with my eyes closed to the other side!  We rode a vertical rail to the bottom (SCARY) and rode an air tram across. (SCARY)  Sam and BJ, being the daredevils that they are, rode Skycoaster.  It is a bungee swing type ride that is 100 foot high above the gorge and swings you out over the gorge.  They also went on an hour and a half trail ride that took them to the edge of the gorge.... yes, they are insane!  (I will post a video later)

We took the drive to the top of Pike's Peak.  There was a lake about half way up.  This is probably the most beautiful view I saw in the entire state and is where the family picture is taken.  As we continued our ascent up the curvy mountain road, I descended to the floorboard to lay in fetal position and cry.  This was the scariest thing I've ever done!  The road is super narrow with straight drop offs down the mountain.  At about 12,000 feet we stopped in a parking lot where I begged BJ to leave me until they returned from the top but he swore I would freeze to death waiting on them.  I don't think I have ever been so mad at him but now I am glad he made me do it because the view from the top is breathtaking!  You can see for miles and miles an are actually so high up that you look down on the clouds!  It's crazy how it can be 80 degrees at the bottom of the mountain but by the time we reached the summit it was 30 degrees and snowing!

Some of the other activities that we did was see the ancient cliff dwellings, go to Garden of the Gods and Seven Falls.  We also visited the coolest little town I have ever stepped foot in called Manitou Springs.  Its their super cool little hippie town with a European flare.  It has natural carbonated springs and there are fountains all over the town to drink from.  (tastes like crap, but cool.)

This was by far the best vacation yet!

Family Pic at the Lake on Pike's Peak

At the summit of Pike's Peak

The view from the summit of Pike's Peak

Sam hugging the "Lucky Bucket" at the Gold Mine!

Alex and BJ trying to strike it rich!

The mountains are covered in these chipmunks that will eat from your hand!

Sam and BJ coming back fro their trail ride on the rim of the gorge!

Sam nearly peed her pants when the mules took them to the rim of the gorge!

Skycoaster... going up!

100 feet above the 1400 foot deep gorge... waiting to free fall!

In flight... Sam screaming like someone is trying to kill her!

Tram ride over the gorge

Vertical rail ride to the bottom of the gorge.

This was pure luck! As we were walking through Garden of the Gods, I overheard some photographers talking about how they have a computer program that tracks the phases of the moon and have been waiting until the timing was perfect to get this shot.  Apparently photographers travel from all over for this shot and we were lucky enough to capture it.  Too bad I don't have better photography skills, this might be worth something!