I'm on Top of the World!!

Or at least I felt like I was today. One thing about this trip - come the end of the day, we are completely worn-out. I think the girls fall asleep in less than 5 minutes every night. I'm really looking forward to a few days in Steamboat where we can just chill and hang out for a few days. (Thanks, DeJuans!!)

Yesterday, we got up early and drove to Royal Gorge. We had looked at some brochures and decided that we may skip the actual park and do this Frontier Joe's western thing that had a little train that gave a good look at the gorge and then had a shootout and some other little rides. Well, let's just say I'm glad that we got to Frontier Joe's first because it looked like a literal ghost town that may or may not be in business next summer. DON'T go to Frontier Joe's.

We kept on driving to the actual Royal Gorge park and it was great. The girls rode an antique carousel that went about 20 mph. Then we went on what is billed as the world's steepest incline. It stayed at a 45* angle all the way down into the gorge. Someone said it dropped 1053 feet. You stand in these enclosed cars almost like an elevator and rode down really slow. At the bottom you pretty much just look at the river and try not to fall down from the wind. Going back up backward was interesting. I got the same feeling in my stomach that I did at the Eiffel Tower. Then the bridge - oh my goodness that bridge. A wooden plank, suspension bridge that cars and people can both go over, that sways in the wind and is who knows how far off the ground. Wow...But we all 4 made it over. Especially because the petting zoo that Maggie just had to visit was across the bridge. Oh, and did I mention that some of the boards have space between them where you can see all the way through them straight down?? Let's just say I kept my eyes forward. I couldn't even tell you what was below me. Once we got over to the other side, we hit the petting zoo, which Maggie said was "boring". Then she rode a burro (Parker was too tall), which she said was "boring". Then we saw a couple of cages with some bison and elk in them, which was also, you guessed it..."boring". We did see a dude riding a Longhorn bull. That was a first for me. He told us in his best cowboy voice that his name was Blizzard because he was born in a blizzard. Um - okay. I did draw the line on the aerial tram. I just can't do things where I'm dangling from a cable. And yes, I do know how a suspension bridge works.

Next we made our way to Garden of the Gods which is a big park of red rock formations. At first I didn't think it was all that, but then as we made about 4 laps around the park, we found the coolest one of all - Balancing Rock. There were all kinds of places where you could get out of your car and climb all over these rock formations. Some of them were pretty high and you could really see a lot from up there. We had a blast doing that and I discovered that Maggie has her Uncle Brian's no-fear mentality. She just took off running and wasn't worried about a thing. Parker did a good job climbing. I think she enjoyed that a lot. Actually we all did.

Today, we checked out in Colorado Springs and hit the Air Force Academy. That is a really cool place. That was a Robert stop, but I enjoyed seeing it, too. Then we made the trek to Manitou Springs en route to the cog railway to Pikes Peak. I had no idea what to expect on that, but man, what an experience. I don't know if I'd want to do it again, but I'm glad I did. The train up took about 1 1/2 hours. It's enclosed, but it does have windows that come down. To give you an idea of where we were, Manitou Springs is around 6800 feet elevation. Pikes Peak is at 14,110. Down in the town, it was around 80 degrees and we were sweating. On Pikes Peak, it was snowing and we froze. Crazy. We all 4 felt the difference in the oxygen level. Parker really felt dizzy and I just felt winded and "not right". I was afraid Maggie's ears would bother her, but she said they just popped a few times. Coming down was a lot better. It was pretty scenery along the way, but nothing like the Silverton ride. However, the view at the top was A...MA...ZING. Definitely worth doing once in your life.

Now we are in Loveland, Colorado, about 30 miles from Rocky Mountain National Park. That's our stop tomorrow. Although I realized that the Anheuser-Busch brewery is about 10 minutes away, along with the Clydesdales!! How awesome would that be? Parker asked if she could ride them, and I told her probably not. We'll see what we get done. This is a neat area and an awesome hotel. Probably one of the nicest I've ever stayed in. Guess I'm becoming a diva, too.