our stop in Colorado Springs

Before I start the story of our one day stop over in Co Sprgs important information must be shared with the blogging world.

The smell was a banana peel on the bottom of the trash can. I think.

After traveling straight through on the way to Utah we decided to break it up into smaller drives on the way home and see some sights. DH decided on Colorado Springs. He had been there as a boy and remembered some neat things he had done. The thing he was most excited about was Pike's Peak. Now, for the record, I was hestiant about it from the start. A long train ride to a high scenic view? I wasn't sure the kids would love it but he assured me they would and after a little discussion we decided to go for it.


We had to get up early and get up to the train station. I was having a little trouble with the altitude before we even started (which just goes to show me, I guess, that I really better start working out before my heart stops doing it's job all together.) We got to the train station and got our tickets and then we boarded. It was close quarters. For anyone who hasn't ridden the cog train up it's like the beginning of a roller coaster ride the chug, chug, chug part up to the first drop. We sat shoulder to shoulder with strangers for an hour and a half rideing up the track. As we ascended it got colder and colder. The air got thinner and thinner and G cried louder and louder. Then it hit, the need to pee, so badly. I have never needed to pee so bad, I actually wondered just how humilitating it would be to wet my pants. I made every effort not to but truthfully barely made it. The kids felt sick, I felt sick. G cried. The train stopped and we ran for the bathroom. Us and half the other passangers. It must have been something about the altitude because there were a lot of people marveling about the pressure on their bladders. Poor G was so dizzy she fell over when I put her down in the stall. We took a quick look out side then ran back in for shelter while we waited for our return train. DH and I also had a disagreement on the top about buying a sweatshirt. It was A LOT of fun.

Luckily G fell asleep on the way down and we started feeling better as we descended. All in all I would have to say NEVER take your kids to Pikes Peak. It was horrible. The scenery was lovely. The next day we read about how when visiting you shouldn't go above 6000 feet the first day and then work your way up a 1000 feet a day. That would have been good to know before.

After Pikes Peak we spent a couple minutes in Garden of the Gods, which was breath taking and then at the Manitou Cliff Dwellings. Also a lot of fun. There are so many neat things to do there we wished we had a couple more days and will definitely go back to visit again.

The kids also enjoyed swimming in the pool and eating in the restaurants.

We had planned to stop in Amarillo the next night but in route decided we had enough vacation and just headed for home.