One-day getaway

Last weekend we decided to escape...for just one night.  It was mostly prompted by the notice we found on our front door that stated the house next to us would be hosting a wedding that Saturday night in their backyard.  It would entail 60 guests, including all the cars parked on our street for said guests, and music being played until 10pm.  It was quite a respectful note honestly, as it provided phone numbers to contact someone at any time prior to, during or after the event with any concerns.  However, we realized that having a baby, whose bedroom was on the side of the house nearest the wedding site, whose bedtime is 8pm, and who seems to easily wake up to loud traffic or car doors slamming sometimes, we decided we should just get out of town for the night instead.  It was a great excuse to take a mini-family vacation that we hadn't gotten around to planning yet.

So we decided to head south to Colorado Springs for the night, in order for John to see the Air Force Academy (AFA), for us to drive to the top of Pikes Peak, and visit Garden of the Gods.  That was our plan at least, but as we've learned in our first year of parenthood, things don't always go to plan.  We didn't hit the road early enough Saturday to get to the AFA visitor center before it closed, so just got some dinner and went to the hotel for the night instead.  And even though we thought our escape would be to prevent Evan from having a disrupted night of sleep, a soccer team staying at our hotel was playing at the pool (just outside our window) at his bedtime.  And boy could they scream and scream and scream.  To top that off, Evan was just scared in this totally unfamiliar place and didn't go to sleep until 9pm, after John had to hold him and rock him to sleep in his arms!  However, after falling asleep he did sleep good for the rest of the night.

The next morning we headed up to Pikes Peak.  It's listed to be a two-hour roundtrip drive, not including stops.  I guess we must have stopped a lot, because we ended up spending about five hours on the mountain!  Thus, the time we had planned to spend in Garden of the Gods, was cut short.  However, I think it would have been anyway, given how busy it was.  There were barely any places to park, so we just drove through quickly and headed on our way back home.  One of the reasons it was so busy in the area that weekend was because the Pikes Peak marathon was going on.  We found out about this at the top of the mountain, which may have then also explained why there was such a long line of cars at the toll station (family meeting their runners at the top).

Anyway, we got some nice photos, so the rest of details of our trip will be told in pictures. :)

How Evan spent the whole drive up the mountain.

Keep your eyes open!

Crystal Creek Reservoir

Getting pretty high! (notice the dirt road overlook...we didn't attempt it)

Winding roads!

A view of how the road looks from the car

Looking back down...how far we've come!

Finally at the top...taking in the sights from the overlook.  Note the railroad tracks in the picture...there is a train option to get to the top also (the Manitou and Pikes Peak cog railway)

Evan found a new friend in the gift shop

Evan and Scout hanging out before heading back down.

Someone posed for a picture by the sign...

Scars from the forest fire in the Woodland Park area as seen from the Ute Pass overlook...

This house looks like the fire was in its backyard!

Garden of the Gods