Garden of the Gods

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

I cannot believe today is 4 full months since we have left home! Wow, did that go fast!  A little less than 2 more to go!

So, when I left off we just finished the Seven Falls where Kaitlyn scared the crap out of me. That was Sunday. Helen flew home on Monday and it was just me and Kait for the next 2 days. Tommy had several 'blue' jobs to do. (If I haven't told you, we have 'blue jobs' = outside boy stuff, like the sewer hook up, and 'pink jobs' - inside girlie jobs like setting up house and cleaning). It works well for us.

Monday we got up early and Kait and I went downtown Colorado Springs. It is very old and very interesting. We wanted to go to the farmers market and hang with the locals. We also wanted to go to the museum but it was closed. We walked around a while, played around in a Halloween store, grabbed something to eat and then toured some neighborhoods. I was still hoping I would fall in love with this place and possibly contact a realtor. It didn't happen. Flagstaff is looking better and better.

After we left downtown we headed toward Manitou Springs. This little town is just west of our RV Park. It is adorable. We walked around all the shops and pigged out on ice cream. They have hemp shops and pot shops and cobblestone streets, and alot of the guys walking around thinking they are Jimmy Hendrix with the dreadlocks and being stoned all day. Its quite entertaining. We had fun watching them try to skateboard.

That night we cooked dinner at home. Oh, let me tell you about this: I made Angel hair pasta - my favorite - with grilled chicken, sun dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, a parma sauce, and Pecorino/Romano cheese. Delicious right? Oh, and Garlic bread and a salad. Well, I completely forget to pack a strainer, so I used the lid to the pasta pot to drain the water and guess what? I now have 3rd degree burns on my left thumb. I would take a picture to show you but you would be grossed out. You can almost see my bone. Did I cry you ask?! NO!!! No one took me serious, they all thought I was over reacting when I was screaming for some ice. They, meaning Helen and Tommy, said just run it under cold water for a few minutes!!! No sympathy!!! (But dinner was really good!)

Tuesday, Kaitlyn's last day was chock full. We drove through the Garden of the Gods again because the first time around we didn't see it. We had to exit out of the park to get on the the horses, and the trails were on the same side of the park that we first drove through. I am so glad we went back. We walked a couple of trails and really enjoyed it. The rock formations are beautiful and if you look closely at one of the pictures you can see 'kissing camels'. Definitely a must if you visit this area.

After the drive through the park we headed back downtown. We knew the museum would be open and headed straight toward it. We spent almost 3 hours in there. It was great. They have this one 'changing' room on the bottom floor in which every 4 months they change the theme. This time it was all about WWII POW's. I didn't think  I would be interested in it at all, but Kaitlyn was, so I followed her in. We both ended up watching these short video clips from men who were there, in the concentration camps, and we both cried. It was so touching. The also had memorabilia from Japan.

After the museum we once again went to Manitou Springs. There was a Marilyn Monroe Pizza Place that Kaitlyn wanted to have lunch at. Great choice. We had Margarita Pizza.

On the way to  Woodlands, where they have a Dinosaur Museum, we saw a bunch of locals walking down a path on the side of the road which really didn't look like a path. Kait and I got out. We followed the river to underneath this bridge on the highway. There we found this incredible waterfall. At first I was put off by the graffiti, but then after looking around it wasn't graffiti, it was art. It was Urban America meets Mother Nature. Very, very cool place. We would have never found this secret little beach with such a beautiful waterfall if Kaitlyn didn't notice the kids walking with spray paint cans.

We then went on the Dinosaur Museum. I thought it was lame but Kaitlyn has never been to the Museum of Natural History and has never seen real or replicated dinosaurs so she was loving it.

Tommy had dinner for us when we got back and we all went to bed early. Kaitlyn's plane left at 6:40 am which meant we had to leave by 5am....not my favorite time of day!

Anyway, I had a wonderful time with Helen and Kaitlyn and miss them already. Right now we are set up in Gunnison Co and plan to stay here for at least 2 days. We are 25 miles south of Crested Butte and will explore there tomorrow. Thanks for reading, and I hope we are all caught up now!