Wednesday, May 18- Manitou Springs, Pikes Peak (not) and Garden of the Gods

Got up a little early this morning, coffeed up, and we decided today to try for Florissant Fossil Beds NM, Pikes Peak,and  Manitou Springs.  Wound up not going to the top of Pikes Peak, due to Bette's altitude adjustment problems, and added Garden of the Gods as an additional stop. 

Weather was in the high 50's most of the day, and overcast, with occasional rain drops... 

Got to Florissant Fossil Beds park first, about a 50 mile drive, very scenic route, around Pikes Peak on a good road, US 24.  We watched a 15 minute movie that explained how the park came to be, seems this area was a very active volcano field 34 million years ago, and filled with giant redwoods... the lava flow petrified the redwood stumps, and then captured many thousands of creatures as fossils.  Got a pin from the visit. 

From there, we thought we would stop in the town of Manitou Springs, and check out the reservations for the Cog Railway to the mountain top, or maybe just drive up to the top- but Bette was having a struggle with the altitude, so we settled for a visit to the gift shop for a pin and a hat.  No worries, its been really cloudy, so it wouldn't have been too scenic anyway...  Saved almost 70 dollars in fares too! 

Next, we went down the hill and shopped for a couple of hours in the neat town of Manitou Springs-  its sort of an artsy expensive town, and we found a couple of gifts.. and had a totally delicious lunch at a place called the European Cafe-

Since we were just a couple of miles away, we decided to go to the "Garden of the Gods", which is a beautiful natural area west of the city of Colorado Springs... Just as you drive in, you discover the "balancing rock", which is awesome,

Below is another of the natural rock formations in the park... some guys were climbing one of the spires, gutsy!

Got back home just ahead of a big rain shower.. 

When we got back, we extended our stay here though next Thursday-  we were going to do 3 days up at Rocky Mountain National Park, but couldn't get in except on a first come first served basis, so we decided to just stay here for free, and drive the 50 miles or so to the Metro Denver area to see what we wanted to see.. we can also use the rest, and I can get the oil changed in the car, and some other minutia, and plan some other trip days in June and July. 

Also got our confusion sorted out with our membership in RPI, seems they thought I was expired... But we are not, and able to make reservations through that system....  All is good. 

Not sure what to do tomorrow.. we need laundry done for one thing...
We made a stop at Wal Mart this morning to get a replacement drill- and I got some more sox, but we forgot to get tea.....