Colorado Springs, June 2021
Colorado Springs, June 2021
Well, with our journey to the great Sand dunes national Monument being completed, it was time for us to move on to Colorado Springs, Colorado. Our daughter and son-in-law Alicia and Brandon live in Colorado Springs, giving us a great opportunity to go and visit them. Diane came up from Kansas and Elizabeth and Brian up from the Verde Valley area to join us in this adventure.
The drive from the great Sand Dunes National Monument to Colorado Springs turned out to be a gorgeous drive. The drive followed along a river, bringing us out by the royal gorge. We were able to observe people rafting in the river with rafting companies. As is typical of summer travel, there was plenty of road construction to deal with. We stopped at a rest area along our route which was right beside the river, which allowed us to hang out for 30 minutes or so, enjoying the rafters as they went by.
Our first destination upon our arrival in Colorado Springs was to the Golden Eagle RV park, where we will be staying during our adventure here. It's a nice RV park with lots of room in between sites, as well as a small fishing pond that they stock. Also, as part of the RV park there is the main museum which is a museum of insects. We have a nice spot at the East end of the park with not a lot of folks about us, allowing us a bit of privacy.
While here, I enjoyed taking Chloe for her multiple times a day constitutionally walks around the park and the pond. We had decent shade in the spot we were in, which allowed us to go to the kid's house without having to worry about Chloe getting to warm with the AC running. Made things simpler to leave here at the trailer while out on our excursions while we were in town. We spent time at the kid's house with the rest of the family, plus took an excursion day.
Excursion Day 1
This day started off sunny with our destination being Seven Falls. To get to the attraction, one drives to a large parking lot and gets in line for the shuttle. No charge for parking or shuttle separately, as those are paid in the fee to enter the park when you get there. So you jump on the shuttle when it's your turn and ride over to the park.
Upon disembarking from the shuttle on the park end, you walk along the path to the ticket booth to purchase your entrance pass. Once you have that pass in hand, you are free to go check out the park. The main attraction of the park is the staircase that you climb to the top alongside the waterfall. At the top of the waterfall if a person wishes to are 2 different trails that take you along the canyon edge and interior of the plateau.
Other attractions are a staircase or an elevator at the end of a tunnel that take you up to an observation deck and gift shop. The observation deck gives you a good view of the falls as well as the park. Also, from this same area you can zip line for a fee if that is something you are into. We did both the observation deck and the staircase by the falls. Cindy and Bryan stayed at the bottom of the waterfall staircase and babysat Alicia’s pup “Lily”.
We were able to get a lot of neat photos from here and had a really fun day.
Excursion Day 2
We started our adventures today at “The Garden Of The Gods”. A really nice park with an informative visitor center as well as a well appointed gift shop. We did the auto tour of the park, taking pictures along the way
Our next stop found us going to Manitou Springs and walking around the town. A very touristy place with shops selling a multitude of things, along with an old-fashioned arcade for playing games and decent places to eat.
From here traveled up to Cave of The Winds, just a short drive from Manitou Springs. This attraction has the cave which you can take a guided tour of as well as zip lining, an amusement area for climbing etc. and a large building with a restaurant, gift shop and deck for viewing the surrounding area.
These were the places we opted to go visit while we were here on this stay. Dining out one evening was a Mexican food truck with superb Mexican fare. If you have a chance to go to the Colorado Springs area, these are definitely must go to stops.
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