Garden of the Gods, Manitou Springs, Pikes Peak

Treasure here. I got to go on another mountaintop adventure. Mom and her friend, Chris, took Stanley and me to Manitou Springs for the weekend. We only went overnight, but we got to see and do a lot!

We started out at the Garden of the Gods. This place has some of the most amazing rock formations you'll ever see. Stanley and I had a great time climbing rocks, hiding in trees, and seeing all the wonder scenery. There are walking paths all over the place. Many of the walking paths are wheelchair accessible. We only got to see a small portion of the park, but what we saw was incredible. Take a look.


When we arrived at the park, we saw an historical ranch right next to it - Rock Ledge Ranch. We decided to leave time to go to the ranch too. The ranch was having a festival with a pumpkin patch, a barn dance, house tours, musicians, and lots of other activities.


After the ranch closed, we still had some time before it got dark so we went up to Cave of the Winds. We didn't have enough time to tour the caves, but we did get some great pictures. The entrance is high up a cliff side and has quite the view.


Before going to the hotel, we decided to stop in town for a drink. We went to the Townhouse Lounge They had an outdoor area with beutiful flowers everywhere. They also have some cats that pretty much live there. Anyplace with cats hanging around was ok by us.

We stayed at the Towne Place Suites off Garden of the Gods road. The room was nice and clean. It had good amenities, in fact, more than we needed for just overnight. Rosemary was the person on duty. She recommended a great restaurant for dinner, and it turned out to be one Mom had eaten at 25 years ago with her sister! She didn't know it was still in business and was thrilled to find it again. The restaurant was The Mason Jar and the food was just as good as Mom remembered. Rosemary also recommended a place for breakfast - The Peak Grill. Mom had pancakes with her breakfast and they were very light and fluffy.

Our Sunday adventure was to take the cog railway to the top of Pikes Peak. But before we got on the train, we stopped to take pictures of Miramont Castle. It wasn't open yet, so we just pictures from the outside. Other people were taking pictures, too. One of them started asking Mom and Chris about Stanley and me. She thought the fact that we go on adventures with Mom and Chris was so interesting, that she was taking pictures of us, too, and taped Mom and Chris talking about our adventures. She was also interested in Pumpkin's blog. I'm sorry we didn't get her name. Ma'am, if you're this hello, and it was lovely to meet you.


Pikes Peak is another one of those places where there's no air. I don't know why Mom and Chris keep going to these places. I'm glad I don't need air cause there just isn't any at that altitude! The train ride up was lots of fun. The conductor told us about the history of Pikes Peak and the cog railway. Most people know Pikes Peak was named for Zebulon Pike. What most people don't know is that is was the same guy that started Simmons mattresses that built the cog railway! A trip on the Pikes Peak cog railway also inspired Katherine Lee Bates to write 'America the Beautiful'. After taking the trip I can understand why. You can see for hundreds of miles in every direction and truly see the beauty of the surrounding landscape. It's always amazing to go above treeline and watch the trees get shorter and shorter until they disappear all together.

We got to see lots of fall color on the ride up and down. I saw a marmot, but it hid before Mom could get a picture. We saw some of the old water tanks from the days of steam engines. On second thought, I do know why Mom and Chris keep going to the places they do. It's always interesting and always beautiful. The more places I see in Colorado, the more I'm glad I live here.


I know this post is a little long, but we did a lot of different things on this trip. Until the next trip, this is Treasure saying Happy Travels!