Friday, June 20, 2008

Day 9: Heading for the Wild, Wild West

Sunday, June 15

Fast Facts:

Starting: Kansas
Ending: Colorado
Today's Mileage/Total Mileage: 193 mi (311 km)/2301 mi (3703 km)

Our drive today was relatively short, so we took our time packing up and getting ready.

We weren't sure what to really expect as we drove into Colorado. At first, it looked a lot like Kansas, only brown instead of green.



Eventually, the terrain started to look a little more treacherous. (Watch out for that shrubbery! It's sneaky.)



Off in the distance, if you squint... a mountain appears.



Then, what we really thought Colorado looked like.



At the end of our drive, we settled into the Garden of the Gods campground in Colorado Springs. I know, a really weird name, but if you ever have a chance to visit the actual park, it's BEAUTIFUL. Don't ask why I don't have pictures. (Okay, it might have been because we were spending too much time trying to figure out why we couldn't find the campground in the park. We had the wrong address. And in this case, when I say We, I mean Husband.)

Setting up camp turned out to be an amusing venture. Once we found our site, I took the kids off to the pool so that Husband could peacefully set up the tent without any "helpers." Except that, when he tried to stake it in the ground, the stakes bent in half. At the time, we figured it was our wimpy Florida tent vs. the tough Colorado ground; later we figured out they'd put us in an RV site where tents were never meant to be placed.

Anyhow, that night in a cabin in Kansas was awfully nice, and since there was no way our tent was going up in an RV site, we ended up in a cabin here as well. They weren't as nice as the KOA cabins (I think it was built in 1982 & hasn't been touched since), but they were quite sufficient (within 5 minutes of everything we wanted to do in Colorado Springs), and it was a lot less work for Husband.

Giddy with the extra time on our hands, we went into nearby Manitou Springs to treat ourselves to dinner. We ended up at PJ's Bistro - a cute little sandwich shop that is the restaurant part of an Inn. (it's the white building with the green trim.)



After dinner we just wandered around town a bit. Those Manitou-ians have quite the sense of humor.



They also have a lot of sculptures that we just didn't understand.


Anyhow, we didn't stay too long as we had a pretty big day planned for tomorrow.

What were they thinking building a top bunk with no rail?!  After she fell asleep we lined the edge with Husband's luggage; that kept her safely corralled.

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