Colorful Colorado Springs

One of the places we hadn't visited in Colorado yet was Colorado Springs (or "The Springs" for the locals, I guess).  Well, when I say we I guess I only mean Cal and I, since Gregg has been there prior to our trip.  But we didn't want to leave him behind, so we all packed up the car and headed out on a quick little weekend adventure.  We left Friday (October 17th) afternoon and arrived in The Springs right in time for dinner at Rudy's BBQ, as recommended by our home teacher Jeremy (who happens to be from there).  Mmm-hmmm, our pulled pork and brisket sandwiches, sausage, and Rudy's beans, coleslaw and potato salad were deee-lish!  Of course we had to get the banana cream pie for dessert to top it all off.  :)  After dinner we found our Days Inn in Manitou Springs and got settled.  We took a quick dip in the pool (emphasis on the quick - I swear indoor pools used to be warmer than they are these days!) which Cal thought was just grand.  And then we turned in.  Well, Callie turned in while Gregg and I read and watched football.  Aaah, the life.

Since we really only had Saturday to do any site-seeing, and we had a mid-day naptime to work around, we picked two major things to do with our time.  First up: Garden of the Gods (with a bonus really great view of Pikes Peak).  Our motel was less than a mile from the entrance, so we loaded up the stroller with water bottles, snacks and the babe and headed out right after breakfast.  Not a bad morning walk, if you ask me!

The road had nice wide bike/walk lanes
all throughout the park.  It was perfect!

A peek at Pikes.

Wandering through the Central Garden.

Super cloud day!

I like them.

That clippy never lasts long!

This was called The Sentinel.

For the sign readers in the family (that would be me).

Lots of deer right on the path!

Contrail city!

For purple mountain's majesty!

Colorado's version of Balanced Rock.

Back to the hotel (after a pit stop at a park along the way for swinging and sliding and climbing) we went for lunch and a nap and reading.  When Callie woke up and had her fill of standing on the bed (it's her latest trick), we headed out for the second half of our Colorado Springs Adventure: The United States Air Force Academy.  What a beautiful campus!  We spent a little while looking around the visitor's center and then made the little walk down to the chapel for more exploring.

It's quite the work of architecture!

A different plane is parked at each corner of their grassy field area.

More signs for the sign readers.

I was so excited to see this window on the bottom part of the
church.  I recognized it right away as Dalle De Vere since my
Grandpa Thornley used to make colored glass for windows like this!

Inside the upper portion, the Protestant chapel.

Looking up.

Looking out.

What an organ!

The view from the front steps of the chapel - dorms.

Downstairs is the Catholic chapel.

Those Dalle de Verre glass windows look so awesome from
the inside!

A view from the back.

Back to the parking lot - this is what most of the campus
looks like.  I loved it!

After our visit to the Academy, we grabbed some dinner at Costa Vida.  (Yeah, not super special to the Springs, perhaps, but we were missing sweet pork something fierce!)  Back we went to the hotel for another dip in the pool before bed.  Sunday morning we headed out fairly early to make it to Denver for our Stake Conference, which was lovely.  Callie napped the entire way home (1 hour 45 minutes in the car - something totally unheard of!) and we were home before 2:00 pm (which is almost the same time we get home from a normal Sunday of church!).  It was a fun little trip to see somewhere new.  Next time we'll have to make time for feeding giraffes at the zoo!