GARDEN OF THE GODS
Sunday we drove down the mountain and visited Garden of the Gods. The kids absolutely love this place and so do we. It is FREE and you can spend all day hiking on well maintained trails. Some want a leisurely stroll and use the paved paths, others rent equipment and repel down the rocks. This family is just slightly more difficult than the paved paths. Collin and Landon love to collect rocks as we walk so they were outfitted with a fanny pack.
I love the twisted trees and contrast of colors throughout the park. My camera doesn’t do the look justice. We were also experiencing very high winds during our trip, so the air was a little hazy.
My husband had the back pack with some snacks and drinks – and of course the camera.
More hiking.
At the Visitors Center you can learn about the native animals and of course get your share of souvenirs.
We hiked up to the Siamese Twins and took pictures.
Kathryn did a great job and only occasionally needed help from Shae or I.
DINOSAUR RESEARCH CENTER
We visited the Dinosaur Research Center in nearby Woodland Park, CO. We actually stopped for Collin because dinos are his fav, but I think Landon really enjoyed it more.
Of course we had to play in the gift shop!!
If you are interested in visiting that museum I want to let you know it is smaller than I expected. The information is good, but of course I will have to explain some areas to your children if you lean on the side of creationist/intelligent design.
CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN ZOO
There is always that one period of time or excursion when you are on vacation where you all get, well, CRANKY! The Cheyenne Mountain Zoo was that time.
It started when we arrived in the morning and I discovered that Kathryn had not put any underwear on. Now I know your next question will be: “Why didn’t you put any on her that morning?” Kathryn is very independent. In the morning she will take her diaper off by herself, potty and get dressed with the clothes in her “play clothes drawer.” (The bottom drawer of her dresser.) This morning as we were leaving the cabin I asked her if she had underwear on. She said yes, so I assumed she did. She was wearing a dress, so when we got out of the car I noticed she didn’t have any on. Since she was going to be riding in a rented stroller Shae insisted she wear some. So we bought a $19.99 onsie in the gift shop. It didn’t even fit, so it’s now at the Full Circle Thrift Store. That whole scenario set the tone for the trip to the zoo.
The giraffes were the highlight. We got to feed them up close. Each piece of Romaine lettuce was $1!
If you notice in this picture, the lettuce is falling to the ground. It is in front of the stroller. Collin was trying to feed the giraffe, but wouldn’t let the giraffe take it.
He kept trying to drop it on his tongue.
He finally succeeded!
Kathryn enjoyed feeding them.
Then we were off to see other animals.
And of course we couldn’t leave the zoo without taking pictures and making slightly inappropriate comments about the Naked Mole Rats. Ahhhh, good times.
CAR RIDE UP PIKES PEAK
Thankfully Pikes Peak provided what our family loves most: beautiful mountains, informative signs about science, wildlife and history, and, of course, BIGFOOT.
The kids relaxed as we began our way up the mountain.
We had to stop at the bigfoot sign and look around.
We only went up 1/2 way. I suffered from some altitude issues the entire time we were there, and the kids always get kind of weird at the summit anyway. We went to the mile 13 gift shop.
We found snow there.
We also let the kids “pan for gold”. They LOVED it. Why is it that every time we go into a gift shop they want a bag of rocks?
We hiked around the area some.
Please, feel free to enjoy the view.
Did I mention we love this stuff: (We are huge nerds this way!)
And we finally found Bigfoot!
Next post: Our day trip to Denver.
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