First things first. We are very sorry to those who were wanting an update yesterday. We got in very late and decided to go to sleep. Please forgive the error in our ways.
We woke around 7:30 and proceeded to get ready to take on the challenges of the day.
By 8:15 we had ate our "Super 8 - Super Start Breakfast (which consisted of your choice of 3 cereals, toast, or a stale doughnut.)"
Our trip to the Royal Gorge was fairly interesting with a few oddities here and there but for the most part rather calm.
We passed at least 3 prison/jail facilities going. Makes me wonder what Colorado's crime rate is...
The Royal Gorge was a very nice place with one big shock…it cost money to go see it($14 per person because we got there before 10am and $24 per person if you are after). I think we were both expecting to come across an interstate bridge. Turns out this bridge was built in 1929 with one lane and wooden planks. It reminded me of "Galloping Gurdy" at the Tacoma Narrows. The bridge would begin swaying every time a gust of wind would come through or when a car would drive by. Interesting attraction? Yeah. Worth it? Probably not for anyone other then people interested in buildings.
Different views of the Royal Gorge Bridge...I focused more on the structure due to what classes I am taking.
Notice the number of strands of wire that make up the main support cables.
Looking down from the bridge decking.
Looking up from the bridge decking.
A video showing the movement of the bridge due to wind alone.
Afterward, we began heading towards Cripple Creek to go to a gold mine. We set the gps unit to lead the way. (During this trip Matt and I had been calling the unit different names. Matt has been calling her Susan since we left. About half way through the first day of travels though we changed her voice. The new voice was that of a British girl. Her name was Jill. So I began calling her Jill and Matt continued to call her Susan. He claimed that "Jill is not a British name". I agreed so we decided that we simply must change her name. Finally a name of Elizabeth was thrown out and was accepted by both parties but later shortened to Lizzy.) On our way to Cripple Creek Lizzy was leading us well when it all went wrong. She was telling us to go one way while Colorado state signs were telling us to go another. We decided to go with the locals. Once this happened Lizzy totally flipped out on us. Telling us to turn around and then later just turning to a white screen with a picture of a car on it. She was not much help to us for the next couple hours as she was totally lost. Once we arrived to Cripple Creek, we found a town that reminded me much of down town Van Buren. Old brick streets, and buildings that looked as if they had not changed since 1890. We estimated that the towns main income came from casino’s (since there was one on almost every corner) and speeding tickets (since the speed limit was 25 through the whole town(yes the 5 lane roads included)).
We went to a mine overlooking the city that was in the around 10’000 above sea level. From here we were dropped 1000 feet into the mountain via elevator. The elevator measured probably 4’ x 5’. We managed to cram six people inside for the ride down. Our crazy, uni-browed, scruffy haired, 4th generation miner, with meth-hungry eyes led us on a guided tour of the mine. He showed us how the miners worked from the 1800’s to the present day along with all of the accompanying sounds of the tools as well. Afterward, he gave us a rock to remind us of the tour and proceeded to stuff us back into the sardine can of an elevator. The tour over all was enjoyable and worth the money. I did happen to break a stalactite off accidentally. I found out that they are very fragile and just a light touch caused it to come crashing to the floor.
Salt deposits that develop in the mine over time.
An example of the stelagtite that I broke off accidentally.
We left the gold mine and began heading for Pike’s Peak. Lizzy still had no clue where we were. Matt and I had a relatively good idea though so we headed off. We came into the Pike’s Peak area from the west. Apparently only locals come in from the west as there little to no signage telling us where to turn. Because of this we passed our exit accidentally. After back tracking to park gate, we found out, that only the lower 80% of the mountain was open and they still wanted us to pay $20. We told them no way and left. While driving through the speed trap town of Manitou Springs we saw an advertisement for “Indian Cliff Dwellings and museum”. We proceeded to head to the cliff dwellings site. Once at the gate we found out admission was once again going to be $20. We again turned around and left (some what planning on seeing them in Arizona or something). Alexandria had urged us to go to the Garden of the Gods. So with time to spare we decided to take up this adventure. I must say this side trip turned out to be well worth it. The Garden of the Gods was absolutely beautiful. Only pictures can describe it with any bit of accuracy. Side note: Matt was really wanting to go to the “Cave of 7 Winds”. We were unable to find this cave. We also determined that during this time, Colorado HATES signs. With they few signs that are posted, tend to lack the full word, such as Colorado Springs being represented by “Colo Spgs”. Also every sign in the state that welcomes you to a city does so telling you the elevation. They refuse to tell you the populations of these cities sadly.
First shot of us going into the Garden of the Gods.
Matt at the Garden of the Gods.
Shot with a polarizing filter.
With out a polarizing filter.
After the adventure near Colorado Springs we began heading to Denver. Alexandria and Morgan graciously let us stay in their house for the night. We drove in to Denver and met them at their house. From there we carpooled to towards Coor’s Stadium where the Rockies and the Astros were playing. The game went well with the Rockies leading 11-1 in the bottom of the 8th when we left. We were lucky enough to see 3 home runs plus a grand slam. Alexandria also got hit with a foul ball at the game. We were all not paying attention and talking when a line drive was hit directly at us. She was hit in the shoulder while Morgan in her own words stated that she "jumped in my lap". The foul ball ended up going to a kid and the the Rockies' ushers gave Alexandria another game ball in a attempt to keep her from sueing them or something.
A picture from our seats at the Colorado Rockies Game.
A picture of our wonderful hosts - Morgan on the left and Alexandria on the right.
At this point, we went to a restaurant and then back to their house where we went to sleep. It was about 1:30am.
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