Heading South Today

This morning we are heading 2 hours south to Canon City. We will be boarding the Royal Gorge Train. It's a train ride and lunch through the Royal Gorge. Dad was offered a job on their Polar Express trains in December. I wonder why????

All aboard!

The train had an outdoor viewing car. 

Look up! Its' the bridge to no where. One quarter of a mile above the gorge. You can walk over it. 

We saw another big horned sheep on the side of the mountain from the train. It confirmed our guess from yesterday. We learned that the females are smaller and have shorter antlers. The males are what you expect to see when looking for big horn sheep. 

We had a wonderful trip on the train. We headed toward home with a stop at the Garden of the Gods. It is a beautiful place. There are many paths for walking, hiking, bike riding and horse back riding. Here are a few pictures. They don't do the park justice. It was cloudy and sprinkled. Garden of the Gods is a must see when coming to Colorado. Patrick and Erinn ride their bikes and walk the paths. They are so lucky. 

We arrived back to Patrick and Erinn's about 6:00 pm. It has been a full day but we were hungry. You would think 4+ hours of driving would have been enough. Wrong.....We headed out to the Breckenridge Brewery for dinner. Breckenridge Brewery is in Littleton. It was 20 minutes away. A drop in the bucket compared to the rest of the day. I have to say it was worth the drive! 

It was my turn to try something new. It was a chargrilled cauliflower and quinoa salad. It was very good! 

Looking forward to tomorrow. Erinn is taking the day off to join us on our next adventure. 

Day 2 - Destination Mount Evans

We are headed west today. Our first stop will be the town of Idaho Springs for lunch. Dad tried the Elk burger. 

It is a small quaint town surrounded by mountains.

You can leave your dog outside the front door. There are tie downs for your dog.

Next stop of the day was the summit of Mount Evans. It is the highest paved road in Colorado. It is a very narrow two lane road right on the edge of the mountain. NO GUARD RAILS! I was glad Patrick was driving. We ran into some light snow flurries on the way up! Two thirds up the mountain the trees stop growing because the air is to thin. We can believe it. It's a little hard to breathe at the top. Dad and I had blue lips, were light headed and our legs were a little shaky. Patrick even had a slight headache. It was worth it though. The temperature at the top was 54 degrees with a 40 degree wind chill. At the bottom of the mountain it was in the 80's.

While we were at the summit, we got to see some mountain goats up close. 

Look close for her baby. The sound the baby makes is do cute.

Some views from the top. Pictures do not do it any justice.

We saw some marmots and what we think were big horn sheep up close on the way down the mountain. They were so close to the car we could pet them. We did not! We were so excited! We were like little kids. 

Mom and her baby.

Summit Lake was about 10 miles up the mountain. We stopped on the way down to walk by the lake and take pictures. 

There's still snow on the mountain. 

Bonus today! We got to see and talk to the drivers of cars that were being tested. The cars were covered so you could not tell the make. The driver told us they can't tell anyone about the type of car or what they are testing. There are many monitors under the hood. They were driving up and down the mountain. 

Travel Day

It was an early day. We were at the airport shortly after 8:30. I was excited to zip through security with our TSA Pre-check. That line was closed. No short line for us today. Our TSA Pre-check did mean we didn't have to take off our shoes! Bonus!!

                                            Waiting to board.

The flight to Denver was smooth. It was nice to see the sun shining through the windows of the plane. After we landed and picked up the rental car (Toyota Rave 4), we headed to Aurora. First stop lunch. It was 2:00 here which means 4:00 at home. We were starving!!

                                           Lunch with a view.

 

Then it was off to see Patrick at work. Dad is a retired firefighter from a small station in Mentor Headlands. He was very excited to see Patrick on the job. The station he served in could have fit in the bay of Patrick's station. 

                            The largest emergency vehicle we have ever seen.

We ended our visit with Patrick quickly when they got dispatched to an auto accident with injuries. 

After checking into our hotel, we were off again. We went to Erinn and Patrick's apartment. Erinn cooked dinner for us. It was delicious! 

                                        Wyatt made a new friend!