Seeing the Sights

Wednesday morning we were free of the trailer for a few days and decided to take in some sights. First stop was Garden of the Gods. You can drive or hike through these beautiful red rock formations which have been given lovely names such as “Kissing Camels” and “Cathedral Towers”. I even meet some people who were from Sacramento & out here visiting their daughter.

We also met these guys from Texas that were skydivers. Look at these funky shoes that one of them had on.

It was a beautiful day and the place was packed

Did some mountain climbing (hehe)

And watched a storm roll in

So we headed off to the Cliff Dwellings in Manitou Springs

 

Of course it says no climbing but there were kids crawling in everywhere and I’m the biggest kid of them all of course!

It looked much easier when the kids where doing it!

Well hell, now I have to get out of this hole after this photo op

 

So of course Kary did it too!

This was my 2nd time to the cliff dwellings. I just love them. I can’t imagine living inside those small spaces.

After the cliff dwellings we took a drive up to the Cavern of the Winds but decided not to go on the tour. Then we went to Manitou Springs and walked around for a bit.  Had some yummy Mango sorbet

Thursday we drove to Canon City to take the Royal Gorge train.  This is something I’d always wanted to do while living in Denver and never got around to. We got lost & missed our 12:30 reservations so we went to town for lunch and to walk around and look what we found. I mean, I’ve HEARD of these places but never actually saw one.

I wonder if this place has much to do with that huge high security prison down the road?

We were glad this guy wasn’t our driver!

But the old train did provide another photo op & look I’ve grown! I’m taller than Kary suddenly

Ok, as tall as, not taller.

The ticket lady took pity on us for getting really lost and gave us some great seats

We abandoned those seats shortly for the open air car

The view was incredible! Loved seeing the rafters coming down the gorge

There was a lot of talk about what this wooden pipeline was once used for. Some kind of aquaduct or for mining purposes.

We drove under the bridge and decided that it was probably more fun to see it from below than way up high! It was cool to see the tram going over but the people who were swinging out over the gorge got my vote for bravest & not the brightest! lol

Kary and I found new places to live!

The rain drove us inside for just a bit

And then the sun came out and warmed us up again

And you do some mountain hugging on the train

 

A couple of really great beautiful days.  The weather is awesome and the scenery beautiful. Makes me miss living here.

Check back to see my foray into Extreme Sports!

On the Road, Again

Well I always knew this was an adventure & I wasn’t wrong!

My trailer & car were packed to capacity, the house empty, goodbye’s & see-ya-laters said and Kary and I were on the road. We didn’t get very far before our first mishap. We’d just gone thru the traffic circle at Fredonia (maybe 30 mins from Indy) when a car flagged us down and told us to pull over.  Seems the trailer had come open & was dispersing my belongings along the highway. One of those bags contained my hair stuff & a pair of $600 shears!!! :0  A nice man in a truck towing a boat pulled over to say that he saw someone picking up my stuff from the road. A few minutes later that man drove by to say he’d put my stuff on the side of the road so Kary and I went back to pick it up after the boat guy gave us a bungee cord to keep the door on the trailer down.  Seems the lock I bought had to much slack in it & was allowing the door to slip up.  We barely got that door down so I was surprised it got up so easily!!!

The next bump came from my rising fuel cost. My car does NOT like towing a trailer. Rather my gas tank doesn’t like towing a trailer. So much for my great Toyota gas mileage! This is seriously impacting my financial status.

So we are trudging down the highway when we hear something dragging. At first we think it’s the chains to the trailer but then discover it’s my muffler pipe hanging dangerously low. By Dodge City it’s dragging pretty bad so we pull into a mechanics, he looks under the car and tells us to come back the next day at 8am. We find a motel, let the kitties out of the cage, eat & shower and settle in for the night. Did I mention Kansas is having a heat wave? Well we are.

The next morning we are off to Corky’s. Come to find out my muffler pipe has been dragging since we left pretty much and almost has a hole in it. Corky says he can fix it in an hour for $60 & we go to Boot Hill for a little sightseeing.

Car was fixed and we were on our way.  I can thank my UHaul guy for this little mishap as when he put my hitch on he took OFF the muffler pipe guard causing it to drag. Colorado Springs here we come! But not without some stops along the prairie & Santa Fe trail.

From the age of 4 until a couple of days after I finished 3rd grade we lived in Garden City, Ks. I’ve never been back until last week and low & behold our little house was still there right across the street from the high school football field like all those years ago. It looks EXACTLY the same!

Finally we hit the Colorado border.

Where the hay bales look like loaves of bread.

So 3 tanks of gas, a little car issue and we finally arrive safely to Kary’s brothers house & an awesome home cooked meal. We’re here for a few days and have been doing some sightseeing so I’ll be back to show you those pics later. I’m off to lunch with a fellow tweeter. Stay tuned…