WinKing: September 2012

We have called the fawn "Ephraim" and he comes looking for us when he's around.

We attended the rodeo at the Colorado State Fair in Pueblo

All the events were treacherous!

But for our 38th Wedding Anniversary we went horseback riding anyway
at the Broadmore Stables, up in the mountains on Old Stage Road.
Here's Thom on "Gypsy."

We rode for an hour through the forested hills.

Both of us enjoyed the ride very much.

Our next ride, also arranged by Thom for our anniversay, was aboard the Manitour and

Pike's Peak Cog Wheel Railway, to the top of Pike's Peak. Although not Colorado's highest peak, Pike's Peak is famous and most visited because it is the first high peak of the Rocky Mountain range after miles and miles of prairie to the east. PS: the train is made in Switzerland

There are only three cog wheel raiways in the US, and this is the longest - the trip up is 11 miles. We go above the tree line and it is 40 degrees F at the top, compared to 85 in Manitou.

Do we ask this other couple to let us have our turn?

At over 14,000 feet, Pike's Peak is only the 33rd highest peak in Colorado. The state has the highest average altitude in the nation, and consequently is second in lightning strikes

(Florida has more!).

The altitude has been plaguing Thom with his biking and running, but here he is finishing the Colorado Springs half marathon in America the Beautiful Park; time 1 hour 54 minutes.

He got a nice medal for his efforts, and so we decided to visit the place

where medal seeking is paramount.

There is an Olympic Training Center here in Colorado Springs.

We enjoyed a film that included the London Olympics, and a tour of the different training centers: weight lifting, wrestling, swimming, men's gymnastics, etc. You have to be 16 years old to be selected to train at the Center, so there are no "women" gymnasts there!

We went shopping at Fort Carson, a huge Army post here,

and found they had a parking space there just for Thom.

No, we're not at Disney, but this old gold town is now a Casino town.

We're on our way to Rocky Mountain National Park.

We're here to see the mountains, but also the elk. This was our first glimpse.

This was our next sighting.

Then a bull and his herd arrived at our campground. He had 17 cows and their offspring.

A barking dog sent these young elk running.

We watched them until it was dark. The bull would "gather in" his ladies

so that they did not go too far away.

The park protects some of its treeed areas from the elk, they fence the trees in.

Thom's not worried about the elk, but he is concerned about the chipmunk

that we keep seeing jumping under the bottom of the car.

Our bull elk has tracked down the call of another bull and they are clashing in the woods while the other herd, much smaller, grazes on the hillside.

We are losing light, but the elk are outside our tent most of the night.

We can hear them munching on the grass, and hear the calls of the bulls.

We should have stayed at Stanley Hotel that second night - we were cold in the tent; in the 30s.

The altitude effected the temperature.

We took the Trail Ridge Road through the park; its highest point is 12,183 feet. Our Kelty tent is a Trail Ridge 6 but our sleeping bags are not as hardy.

The road goes above the tree line, and is kept open all year because it is an east/west through road.

As we ascend, we cross the Continental Divide.

On the way back to Colorado Springs, this cafe claims to be the original Hard Rock Cafe, but since it was closed at noon you can see why it is not rich and famous like its name sake.

We stop at Lookout Mountain, just west of Denver, to see the grave of Buffalo Bill or William F. Cody and his wife Louisa.

Apparently, the showman visited Lookout Mountain and said he wanted to be buried there. This is the view from his gravesite to the west.

This is Golden to the South East, with its two table mountains and the Coors plant in between.

This is Denver to the South West.

Our final stop of the trip is back in the northern part of Colorado Springs, the Air Force Academy. This is the cadet's chapel and their housing area.

These are their training fields. No, not military training, football training fields, including an indoor field in the building on the left. Sheila was not happy at this extravagence.

We are back in Colorado Springs and Thom is trimming trees over the garage,

which we have just helped to paint.

We visit the Shrine to Will Rogers on the hillside.

We take a tour of Colorado Spring's zoo.

We see the fossilized bases of huge redwood trees at

Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument east of CS.

Thom and Sheila at Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, Colorado

Can't resist visiting Victor (Sheila's dad's name), part of the Cripple Creek Historical Area

Then on to the Mollie Kathleen to descend 1,000 feet into a gold mine.

It's a good place to be on a rainy day! Jack Dempsey was dismissed from work in this mine and another in the area (he was raised in Victor) for not being able to keep pace with the other workers.

Thom wishes he was one of the 33 millionaires that Cripple Creek produced at the turn of the century - and when they churned out the gold, it was worth only $20 an ounce!

This was the mine that developed the bell signals that "talk" to the miners

and the system is used internationally today.

There is still gold ore in the mine, but it would cost $20 million to reopen the mine due to government restrictions, permits, etc. The mine closed because the ore processing plant shut down.