Climbing to new heights.

This was the view from our hotel room this morning in Colorado Springs.....



What you're seeing is Pike's Peak. You can walk(13.9 mile long trail can get quite steep in parts), jog(same disclaimer), or drive your own vehicle to the top. Or you can take the COG train.



So with tickets in hand, water in our backpack(1 liter per person, very important to prevent dehydration and altitude sickness), we read and learned about the train that would take us to the top.




This is not the top.





This is not the top either. Interestingly enough, this is a naturally occuring lake on the way to Pike's Peak.






Still not the top. Bear with me, it took 1 hour and 20 minutes to reach the top.






This is still not the top. But, this is a really large plateau area. Now you might ask yourself(or maybe not), why are there trees on some part of the land but not all. Well, the trees stop because we are above the tree line!!!




Almost there. A nice curve provides us with a glimpse of where the track leads.






And finally, the top, pinnacle, zenith, summit - AMAZING!!!





You'll notice the boys are wearing jackets. Despite being in the mid-eighties at the base, it is a balmy 42 degrees at the top. Luckily, the sun was out and doing a good job or warming everything.





After descending(which took and just over an hour) we went to the north side of Colorado Springs to visit the Air Force Academy.






We walked through the visitors center and then walked the trail over to the Chapel. Another amazing site, this time man made.



The inside is even more breathtaking. The different colored glow is due to all of the stained glass in the ceiling.



And here's a close-up of the alter.


Gorgeous doesn't properly describe the things we have seen today, either God or man made. There is so much more to do in the Colorado Springs area that we will have to come back at some point. As it was, we didn't have this stop scheduled, but oh, was it worth it!

We're staying in Denver tonight and not to diminish this city, but...
I've always heard "Denver, the mile high city". But, since driving from mid-Kansas, and seeing Colorado Springs, the rep that Denver has for mile-high is slightly paled. Mid-Kansas is about 2,000 feet above sea level and there is a gradual incline until you get to the foot of the mountains(the land goes from flat, to steep grade up, literally). Colorado Springs sits anywhere from 6,000 to 7,200 feet above sea level. But I will say, the mountains to the west of the city are impresive, just the same.

One other thing we saw, have you heard of the wild fires in Boulder? Well, Boulder is just to the north of Denver. We saw the smoke coming from the wild fires and saw how it is just stretched across the sky going east. I won't say that was neat, but it was interesting to see.