Colorado -- Post #4

Friday, 8-19-16

After our wonderful trip to Garden of the Gods, we stopped at the apartment to pick up our jackets and then had time for a little window of time to grab a quick lunch. We didn't think a restaurant would give us enough time, so we stopped at Patsy's for junk food like soft pretzels, nachos, chili dogs, and fries! It was really quite tasty!!

Then we started our walk to the Pikes Peak Cog Train...on the map it didn't look
that far away...and it really wasn't. BUT. It was all up hill. And it was HOT. So it ended
up being quite a trek. We were on a time frame to catch our 2:40 train, so up we went. I took the lead and it was head down and solid concentration :) I got to the top and turned around, and this was my view...Chris a few steps back, and Blaise and Kiki down near that house! But, we made it!!

The Cog Train was so quaint! Very Americana...we looked around,
got our tickets, and waited on our train to arrive!

Once we found our assigned seats on the train, we started our trek up to the top of
Pikes Peak -- an hour and a half journey! We had an amazing conductor guide who told
us a lot of fun facts and boy, was she full of the puns! She made our trip very enjoyable,
the sites were incredible!! Traveling farther and farther up the mountain, it was so cool to
see how the terrain changed. It was very rocky with big boulders at the bottom, then it was trees, and then at the very top, once we were too high for the trees to grow, it was solid rock.

There were a lot of aspen trees on the mountain...one interesting fact that we
learned is that every single aspen tree there shared ONE root system --
so technically, it was all one tree! I had no idea!

Blaise and Kiki near the top of the summit -- it started to get really chilly
at this point and we all started to bundle up!

When we finally made it to the top, we had about 40 minutes to spend taking
in the view. Oh the view!! The photos just don't do it any justice. It was phenomenal
how far you can see. And how glorious the site is!

Our train guide mentioned that the Pikes Peak gift shop is well known for their
famous doughnuts! So, while we were all doing our own sight seeing up top,
Chris bought a doughnut for us each to try on the ride back down! We agreed -- not the best doughnut we've ever had! It had an interesting spice -- maybe clove?? One was enough :)

I captured this gorgeous cloudscape on top of Pikes Peak - it was breathtaking!!!

When we got back on our train to head back down, this cute couple had joined our train.
They were not there on the ride up so we were intrigued! It turns out they hiked up
the mountain over two days and camped along the way! Then they paid a fee to hop on the
train for the ride down. They were a lot of fun to talk to! Apparently they had heard rumors
of bear sightings, but they themselves didn't see any.

Our foursome on the journey down the mountain...what an experience! It was
definitely worth the money. I'll never forget that view!!

If you ever have the change to go to the top of Pikes Peak, you should definitely do so! Go go!!