the road to colorado springs
We headed south along the mountains for a day trip to Colorado Springs.
The mountains form a steady range all the way. They are really breath-takingly beautiful.
Little yellow airplanes flying through the mountains.
See the paragliders? To me that looks incredibly fun.
Paragliders coming in for a landing…wheeeeeee!
And then, boom. The mountains themselves come in for a landing. Just like that, they end.
And I think there must be a pot of gold in there, somewhere.
Actually, we didn’t go just to see the mountains. We went to see the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, a little zoo nestled up on the side of a mountain.
We also went to visit The Wall, a prayer room staffed partly by some of our friends from KC. It was small, but awesome to be there for a bit. As of right now, they are open from 6am to 6pm on weekdays.
Unfortunately, my camera quit less than halfway through the zoo, but here are a few shots.
The man-eater.
The court jester…
…and his castle.
Not really. Actually I have no idea what this castle is all about. I zoomed in from below; it’s on the top of the mountain above the zoo.
Giraffes (see the castle on the upper left?)…
and real giraffes.
It really is a cool place, very kid-friendly. Colorado as a whole seems very pro-kids. Zia is definitely having the time of her life. I think her 2 favorite parts of the zoo were the grizzlies and the open-air carousel. No pictures, though. Arrgh.
This is the view from up on the side of the mountain. That’s the little petting zoo and garden down there, and above you can see the skyride, which we graciously opted out of. We took the open staircase, but there’s also an elevator for the faint of heart.
At the end of the day, we hopped in our Jeep and rolled back along the mountains to Denver, to our own home sweet home.
Adios, Colorado Springs…till next time.
Hi, Mia. I’m Susan Simon’s sister-in-law, and I live in a little town just west of Colorado Springs (based on your comments, I bet you would love where we live!). Anyway, the “castle” you took a picture of is actually a shrine for Will Rogers. It was built in the 1930’s by Spencer Penrose (a close friend of Will’s and one of the major developers of the Springs). I haven’t been to it, but admission is actually included in your zoo admission.
Brandi,
Wow, I never would’ve guessed that is a shrine to Will Rogers! How funny! Anyway, thanks for the info…maybe next time we visit the zoo we’ll hit the castle too!
Ha! So fun to see you and Brandi talking. And all of the animal pictures, of course. Eliana is just now starting to notice animals, so I’m sure by the time she’s Zia’s age she’ll love trips to the zoo. What good parents you are!
Yeah, Eliana will be a zoo junkie before you know it! And I think the best thing about being a parent is that you get to relive your childhood all over…and do the fun stuff again….and again and again and again until you never want to see another zoo in your life! (But we haven’t reached that point YET.)
hi honeee………….beautiful pix and bebee 🙂 I checked out your “meditation clock”….and THANX for sending me to AOL radio……i must have spent 4 hours the other day look for free Christmas music/radio..(yup 4 hours, not all in one sitting:)) and THERE IT WAS…..I love the country christmas songs (Hard Candy Christmas – Dolly Parton & Christmas Makes me Blue – Randy Travis) luv u/MOM (can’t WAIT til tomorrow:))
Mom,
Haha we have Christmas tunes ringing in our ears too…a certain little someone CANNOT stop singing Jingle Bells…see you tomorrow!!!