On Saturday we decided to make the 2+ hour drive down to Colorado Springs.  We had heard that CSU in Boulder and Fort Collins were having their home comings over the weekend.  We decided we wanted to stay away from each of these areas.  The drive down to Colorado Springs was fine until we hit the Denver area.  The traffic was bumper to bumper for miles.  It is not the kind of traffic I would like to face on a daily basis.

We were both very impressed by Colorado Springs when we arrived.  It is an extremely beautiful area of Colorado and seems much less populated.  We both agreed this was worth a return visit with an extended stay in a future year.  The mountains are everywhere and there is plenty of sight seeing opportunities like Pikes Peak , the Air Force Academy and many more.

The Garden of the Gods was the reason we made the trip.  The property was donated to the city on the one stipulation that it remain free for all to visit.  The park is pretty compact and very scenic. It took us about 2-hours to walk through the main part of the park and take in the big rocks.  There is still more for us to explore here on a future visit. The red rocks remind me of Utah parks. The visitors center was definitely worth an extended stop.  It had many educational displays about the area.  A stop at the huge trading post inside the park is worth a stop as well.

On the return trip back to Loveland I got thinking about our time so far.  I have been off exactly as long as I would have for a 2-week vacation.  That is hard to believe.  In this time we have seen 3 national parks and several city and state parks.  The weather has been amazing!  We have seen just 1 day of rain since we left on October 1, and that was a driving day for us.

We have both decided that Sunday will be a “down day”.  We are going to relax, clean the camper and get ready to hit the road again tomorrow.  We have enjoyed our time in Colorado but we are ready to move on and explore new places west of here.

Picasa Web Album- Garden of the Gods

Red Rocks to climb on at Garden of the Gods

Garden of the Gods- beautiful compact city park- and it’s free