We are now making our way towards South Dakota. There is a lot we need to get accomplished in the next month before we make our way East and we can’t be late! We have some very important dates to keep.
First stop, Manitou, CO just outside of Colorado Springs where we spent a couple of days at the Garden of the Gods Campground. The two attractions that led us to stop here: Garden of the Gods and Pike’s Peak.
Similar in concept to the City of Rocks, this “garden” is made up of BIG rocks. We took time to see the garden twice. Once in the RV (oops my bad! wrong turn and all) and once in the Jeep. I’m just thankful my mis-guidance didn’t turn into a major disaster with the RV!
The “bigness” is hard to convey in a picture, but it was amazing. Something you have to see if you ever get to Colorado. There are 20 miles of trails through and around the garden.
There were a lot of cool rock features and they all had names. Here is the Balanced Rock.
I love climbing on sandstone. It feels like sandpaper and your boots/shoes really stick to it, making climbing on the rocks eazy-peazy!
After we were done with the Garden of the Gods tour for the second time (again, my bad) it was time to go see Pike’s Peak, America’s Mountain. It is North America’s most visited mountain and with an altitude of 14,115 above see level and ranks 31st in elevation among Colorado’s 53 “Fourteeners”.
Oh My Gosh!!!!! What happened to the oxygen???!!??? We were both out of breath just walking around and I felt dizzy, like almost pass out dizzy.
After about 20 minutes we started feeling a little better and were able to enjoy the beautiful views from the top.
Ok, enough fun, I’m ready to breathe again. Time to head down. Look at the layers of snow that have accumulated. Pretty cool.
The trees are tall, but very skinny as you make your way between the different geological zones.
We stopped at the visitor center before leaving the Pikes Peak park (had to get our T-shirts) and found this little ground squirrel begging for handout. Of course I had to oblige him/her.
I know it looks like a PA chipmunk but it isn’t, it is a squirrel. This guy was about twice the size of a chipmunk.
Alas, we did not see any signs of Bigfoot in our visit. I heard he is kind of shy.
Well it is off to South Dakota. We will be staying just outside of Rapid City in a little town called Hermosa. Sounds like Mimosa….I’m feeling thirsty all of a sudden.
