Colorado Springs, CO

Colorado Springs has lots of things to do. Only about 1 hour south of Denver, we decided to spend some there.

The Garden of the Gods is a national natural landmark full of big red rocks. The park has many hiking trails, mountain biking trails and horseback riding. The photo of the two big rocks with Delton are called the Siamese Twins. Many of the rocks have names depicting what they look like.

While at the Siamese Twins, we had a beautiful view of Pikes Peak. See Joni standing in front of the small hole between the Twins. That's where you get an interesting view of Pikes Peak in the background.

Many people enjoy rock climbing in this park. We saw quite a few of them. See the photo of the rock climber. He is a tiny speck in the middle of a big rock. Rock climbing is definitely not a sport we want to participate in.

Rock climbing is very dangerous and there have been fatal accidents in this park. Technical climbing is permitted with proper climbing equipment but you must register at the Visitors Center.

Another place we enjoyed visiting is called Seven Falls.. It's a group of seven small water falls that cascade down a beautiful mountain side. There are 224 steep steps to climb up to the top. Joni was a little uncomforable climbing up, but looking down is worse. She doesn't like heights. But she made it.


Also in the area are the Manitou Cliff Dwellings at the foot of Pikes Peak.
They were built more than 700 years ago. Alcoves in the rocks provided shelter from wind, rain and snow for the Anasazi American Indians.

You can walk through the "rooms" and travel through time and "feel" how these native Americans lived.

One evening we visited the Flying W Ranch and had a chuckwagon supper and way a western stage show. Pictured are the Flying W Wranglers performing their music and humor for all to enjoy. They are supposed to be the 2nd oldest cowboy band in the world.

In the past, we have gone to the Bar D Ranch in Durango which is also a chuckwagon supper and musical show. It is very similar. As a mater of fact, they sing a lot of the same songs with the same humor.

We've enjoyed our stay in Colorado Springs. Colorado is a state that has a lot of natural wonders and things to do and see. If you're trying to decide where you want to go on your next vacation, consider Colorado.

With Ken in Denver

Ken, Joni's son, moved to Denver last year. We've enjoyed being able to see him more often, since we spend most of our summers in Colorado.

Since Ken knows the area real well now, we totally depended on his expertise for what to do and where to go. He took us first to Boulder, just a stones throw from Denver, for a hike. And what a hike it was..... very verticle. It was a challenge for Joni, but she felt it was well worth it! See Ken at the top of our hike. What a spectacular view. Joni didn't go to the edge like Ken did, but she was close. Thanks Ken, for a wonderful day!

On another day, we went to Breckenridge, a very popular ski area in the winter. We picked the wrong day, as it was rainy and cool. Our whole time in Denver, the weather was beautiful, except the day we went to Breckenridge.

We still enjoyed our time there. See the photo of the summer time ski slopes. They look like stripes coming down the mountain.

We passed a restaurant that had a beautiful display of flowers and Joni couldn't pass up the photo opportunity. Aren't the flowers colorful?

We stayed at the Dakota Ridge RV park in Golden, which is about 12 miles west of Denver. Little did we know that we were right at the beginning of Ken's construction job. He was working just a few miles from where we were staying. He's working on a joint venture to contruct a lite rail system which runs from Golden to Denver. It made it very easy to visit with him, often!

One afternoon, the three of us took a bike ride into downtown Golden and rode our bikes past a section of Ken's job where a new parking lot is in the process of being built for the rail system. See the photo.

We had a great time with Ken in Denver and know we'll be there again next summer. Delton gave Ken a few golf lessons because ken bought himself a new set of clubs, so next summer there will be a golf game in the works. I tried to take a video of Ken's swing while he was getting pointers from Delton, but I got the record and stop buttons mixed up. I got a lot of video my feet!!!!!!!! Sorry Ken. We'll try it again.