Highlights

 

I won't bore you with all the details but thought I would show you a few pictures from our recent Spring Break trip. On the drive out to Colorado Springs, we stopped in Victoria, Kansas to stretch our legs and to walk through the "Cathedral of the Plains" known formally as the Basilica of St. Fidelis. I always enjoy the opportunity to look at fantastic architecture while getting blood circulation in my lower extremities flowing again.

Before stopping for the night, we visited perhaps the biggest Van Gogh painting and easel in the world in a small part in Goodland, Kansas. You can see my car parked behind it to the left. 

Due to the heavy winds I wrote about previously and the poor driving conditions, we didn't do much on Sunday after we checked into our AirBnB other than do so shopping for breakfast making supplies. The following day we of course drove down to Florence to visit the salvage shop and pick up the Clara Kuck related items. Little did we know Florence is the location of the Antique Capital of the World and indeed, nearly all the shops on Main Street sold antiques. On a related sidenote, it is also the home of the Unabomber in the federal prison on the outskirts of town.

After that and since we were in the area, we went to visit the Royal Gorge. Rather than spend $35 each for the privilege of driving across the highest bridge in the world until 2001 with hordes of tourists, we instead drove up the gorge to a completely empty parking lot and hiked out to Point Alta Vista overlooking the same gorge and with the entire point to ourselves. It seemed like we got the better end of the bargain.

We also drove on this one-way road called Skyline Drive along a knife edged ridge west of Canon City, Colorado not to far away. It was quite exposed and I wished I could have videoed it in somewhat but my eyes were focused on staying centered on the very exposed roadway. The above picture was taken at the pullout before the very steepest parts were driven. 

On the way back to our AirBnB we stopped at AdAmAn Alley which is know for it's murals and celebration of those five guys featured in the foreground above Pikes Peak in the background. Evidently five people from a local hiking group take it upon themselves to hike to the top of Pikes Peak on New Year's Eve and set off some fireworks. 

The following day we spent the morning hiking in the Garden of the Gods which felted like a bit of SW Utah slipped into SE Colorado. It was a neat place to spend some time but fairly crowded.

In the afternoon, we spent a less crowded time touring the Olympic Museum there and I got to see one of the above drums that was used in my favorite opening ceremony during the Beijing Olympics back in 2008.

On our last day, we drove to the summit of that peak you see in the background from Garden of the Gods where I was when this photo was taken. Pikes Peak.

We drove up this road you see above and it was quite nerve racking on me the driver at times. At the top, the altitude was affecting all of us lowlanders so we didn't linger long. We took a few pictures of the landscape we saw below us, at a couple donuts and made our way back down. Immediately we were all feeling much better when we got back to lower altitudes. 

The following day, wanting to make the 12 hour drive without stopping for the night, we got an early start and were treated to a beautiful sunset in eastern Colorado as we made our way east towards Kansas and the grass fires I wrote about previously. The traveling went smoothly and we made it home by 6:30 in the evening.