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Colorado Springs

Garden of the Gods

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Garden of the Gods Colorado

Some of you know that we traveled to Denver, Colorado, last year for a small wedding. I already posted photos from the Royal Gorge, Red Rocks Amphitheater, and Manitou Cliff Dwellings, but I have just one more excursion to share. Have any of you been to Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs?

We parked in the big parking lot and hiked on a stroller friendly trail through the main part of the park. The rocks were beautiful! There were quite a few people there, but everyone did a great job keeping away from each other. There was plenty of open space. It was a sunny day, and the temperature was absolutely perfect.

Garden of the Gods Colorado

We saw a few folks climbing with ropes and harnesses up some of the rock faces. I have climbed on an actual rock face, but it was exponentially shorter. I certainly wouldn’t have been able to bring myself to do what these people were doing. Unfortunately, one of them was having a difficult time and looked sort of stuck. It gave me anxiety just to watch them.

We didn’t snap too many pictures during our hike, but I wanted to share the few that we took. This one is of the famous “kissing camels.”

Everywhere we turned, there was another beautiful view. Mr. Handsome wants to paint some of the scenes.

Royal Gorge

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Royal Gorge Canon City Colorado

Last year, I posted about our quick trip to Colorado, but I didn’t quite get around to sharing all my pictures. Mr. Handsome spent a day fishing in the mountains with his friend who had just gotten married (Mr. Handsome was the best man). Little Buddy and I weren’t about to waste a day of vacation, so we went on an adventure of our own. Has anyone been to Royal Gorge Bridge?

Royal Gorge Canon City Colorado

Located about 90 minutes from Colorado Springs, it’s an expansive gorge with water and a train running along the bottom. The gorge is more than 1,200 feet deep in some places.

Royal Gorge Canon City Colorado

You can take a gondola across to the other side and walk back on a giant suspension bridge, built in 1929.

Royal Gorge Canon City Colorado

There is even a playground area on the other side. Every group got their own gondola, and there weren’t many people at the attraction in general.

Royal Gorge Canon City Colorado
Royal Gorge Canon City Colorado

Little Buddy wasn’t a huge fan of the bridge. He made me carry him the whole way across and didn’t even want to sit in the stroller. I think he was able to sense the danger.

Royal Gorge Canon City Colorado

You may have heard about the wildfire that impacted the area in June of 2013. While most of the other structures in the park were destroyed, the bridge itself only suffered damage to 100 of its boards.

Royal Gorge Canon City Colorado

We had a great time! Little Buddy loved having my undivided attention for the whole day. It felt very relaxing to not have anything that I had to accomplish. 

Royal Gorge Canon City Colorado

Manitou Cliff Dwellings

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The day after our friends’ wedding near Denver, we drove down to Colorado Springs to enjoy the beautiful scenery. We would have loved to visit Rocky Mountain National Park, but we had heard about how busy it was, and we didn’t want to throw ourselves into huge crowds of people and be exposed to a bunch of germs. 

We made a quick stop at the Manitou Cliff Dwellings, where we were able to walk into cliff homes that were inhabited by Native Americans 800 to 1,000 years ago.

The cliff dwellings were originally located in southwestern Colorado and were moved to Colorado Springs and reassembled between 1904 and 1907. The moving process included transport by oxen, horse, and railroad.