Friday Five #23 - Colorado Springs

We had a great time on vacation!  Colorado is gorgeous!  Get ready for a ton of photos!

Day 1 - We drove across Kansas thinking that once we hit Colorado we'd start seeing mountains.  It isn't until you are closer to Colorado Springs that they appear. We checked in to our hotel around 4ish.  The first room we had stunk of cigarettes and the hallway stunk of marijuana.  This is a non-smoking hotel.  They moved us down to the first floor.  That room was worse!  It smelled like an old basement that had flooded and they never replaced the carpet.  

But Colorado is beautiful!  We went to dinner and for a walk.  The first place we tried wasn't open to the public.  Ooopsie!  We drove past Garden of the Gods and grabbed this photo.  


Then we headed to a park called Ute Valley and got our walk in.  


Can you see the mule deer?  


Cactus! 





Day 2 -  We were up early for our first day.  We decided to go to the Garden of the Gods Market and Deli for breakfast.  It was THE best breakfast ever.  I paid $7 for orange juice but it was the freshest, most delicious OJ I have ever had.  I had Banana Bread french toast and it was great!

During breakfast, we decided that the hotel was so sketchy and so stinky we couldn't stay there any longer.   I can't recommend the Days Inn Garden of the Gods.  The staff was very gracious and they gave us a refund for the rest of the reservation.  We found another motel and moved over there before our adventures.

We went to Garden of the Gods and hiked Balance Rock.




It was getting late in the morning and there was no parking near the next trail we wanted so we drove to the Broadmoor Hotel.  It's super pretty!




Then we went to Seven Falls.







After this we went back to our room and took a little nap walked and shopped Old Colorado City.  We had dinner at a bar and grill.  


Day 3 - We got up early and went back to Garden of the Gods to walk the Garden Trail.  Amazing!!  It's free, all of Garden of the Gods is free to the public.   It was so very cool!  We only did the garden trail today.  We started to take the Siamese Twins trail and realized halfway there we had done it the day before when we went to Balanced Rock.

This is called Kissing Camels.

We saw a bunch of climbers on the trip.





That's Pike's Peak over my shoulder.


Next up were the Manitou Cliff Dwellings.  We got to go in and walk through these dwellings.



Then we went into Manitou Springs and walked around there.  They have lots of shops and restaurants.  We had lunch and did some shopping.  One of the shops was called the Leprechaun.  It was all Irish goods.  I got a little teary in there because Joey would have loved it!  There was a lot in Manitou we didn't do that we would like to go back to do.  

Then went back to our room for a nap.  We went to dinner and drove around.  We found some ice cream for dessert.  This is a twist cone dipped in birthday cake shell!  I love a dipped cone!  I've never had that flavor and it was worth it!

I didn't have my phone on me entire time but I'll take 10,000+ steps.


Day 4 - My first 9 holes of golf!  We played with two ladies one was 75 and the other was 80.  They were both pretty good golfers and so patient with me.  I played the junior tees.  I am not good yet!  But it was so much fun!  I really would like to take more lessons. 




We had lunch at the clubhouse and went back to the motel for a rest.  We went to a couple shops in Old Colorado City we had missed like the British Store.  We bought a bunch of British candy to snack on.   We had dinner and went to Red Rocks Open Canyon Space.  WOW!  The pictures won't do it justice.






I was climbing some rocks on a trail and heard two loud huffs.  It was this guy!


The stairs to the quarry are part of one of the trails.   We were only going to do the easy trails since we had walked the golf course and carried our clubs.  We were pretty tired but there were so many cool spots that we ended up doing more intermediate trails that involved climbing and rocky ground. 


After we hiked Red Rocks Open Canyon I said I was exhausted but exhilarated.  It felt so good to be able to move and climb and explore such a beautiful place with Matt.


Day 5 -   We found the Denver Biscuit Company for breakfast and had biscuits the size of my face!  They were really good and I was glad I only ordered a biscuit and not one of the crazy fun sandwiches.  Then we headed east towards home.  It is a long drive but worth it. 


Overall, we loved Colorado Springs.  The weather was amazing!  They were having a heat wave but the humidity is so low that we weren't bothered by the heat at all.  The elevation did make us feel a bit more winded than normal, especially the first full day of hiking.  We stayed plenty hydrated with water and electrolytes.  We loved how many amazing trails there were and how active we could be.  I really like hiking!  But my favorite exercise is to go for a long walk so it's no surprise I liked hiking.  We had really good food at every place we stopped.  They also had some really good local beer.  

Our second motel was really nice.  It was a cheap motel, but well kept and smelled good.  They just got a new owner who has been taking good care of the place. Sadly, I think one of the other staff stole my diamond ring.  They searched for it.  The owner said he tore the room apart.  I had hoped that it some how fell out of my bag.  It was zipped up behind 4 zippers so I didn't really think that could be it but I hoped.  After they called back to say they didn't find it, I told the owner my suspicions.   He said that no one went in our room because we signed off on Tuesday and had the Do Not Disturb on Wednesday.  I told him that was true but someone still tried to enter our room Wednesday while we were napping, even with the sign on the door.  They'll keep looking and in the meantime I filed a police report and called a pawn shop nearby.  There is a law that they can't resell items for 30 days if it's pawned for money.  If it's pawned for a loan, they have to wait 60 days.  The guy at the pawn shop told me the process all pawn shops are supposed to adhere to and what the police department does, so if it goes as he said they do, maybe it will be found.  I'm just devastated.  There's no way to replace it, they don't even cut diamonds like that anymore and the diamonds are at least 100 years old.   I'm the 4th generation to have it and I was going to pass it on to one of Johnny's girls.  Probably Evalyn since she's the oldest.  I'm still praying that it will turn up in the laundry or something even though I've searched all of our pockets, shook everything, and done that over and over.  I've looked in all the bags more than once and searched the floors and car.  Matt has done the same.  I'd love it if it turned up and I had to cancel the police report.  I'd happily call all the motel staff and apologize for even thinking they stole it. 







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