SuperCopa in the Mile High City- Before soccer there was Garden of the Gods- Day 2
We had at least one day when we didn't have any soccer games. I say at least because if we didn't make it to the semi finals and/ or final game, we'd have all day Sunday with no games. But, we had no idea if we'd make it to the semi finals or finals.
On Wednesday, Alyssa's team had a training session at 4:00 pm. We had the entire day before then to do as we pleased. Since we were still on Ohio time, we woke up quite early Colorado time. That gave us a few hours to explore a little bit of the beauty around us before 4:00 pm. However, I didn't want Alyssa to get too over exerted so a hike in, say, Rocky Mountain National Park was out of the question.
We decided to drive to Colorado Springs and more specifically to the Garden of the Gods park. I'd been to this park once before when I was in Colorado; inexplicably, I don't remember much of it. I read online that you can drive through the park which sounded ideal. Beholding the beauty was what we wanted for the day.
We stopped at the Visitor's Center before we entered the park and I'm grateful that we did. I talked to a volunteer who showed me a map and told me about a short one mile (or so) hike on a paved surface. This would take us to some of the most popular rock formations and, not being in the car, we'd be much closer to them. I thought a mile walk sounded ideal. The woman I talked to cautioned that the parking lot to go on the mile walk fills up quickly (and without a parking spot in the designated lot, there was no way to do the walk. We weren't in a town where we could just park one or two streets away and walk a little further). I'd read the same thing when I read about the park online. As soon as I was finished talking to the lady, I found Donnie and the girls and said, "We need to leave the Visitor's Center now to get a parking spot in the park."
We did find a spot, thankfully, but there weren't too many left when we arrived at the parking lot.
Captured entering 'Do Springs, otherwise known as Colorado Springs.
Saw this football stadium from a distance while driving- I think it's where the Air Force Academy plays football
This was our first glimpse (from the car, of course) of one of the rock formations in the Garden of the Gods.
Getting closer...
When I took this picture, we were standing outside our car. We parked first in the Visitor's Center which was across the street from the park. This happened to be our view as we got out of our car. Of course a picture with my very own "natural beauties" was in order.
One of the girls took this picture of Donnie and me with my cell phone. The taking of the picture with my cell phone is why the quality isn't as great but you do get to see a little more of the surroundings.
I couldn't believe we were going to be able to walk around in this beauty!!
The next several pictures were from our walk.
Yep, we'll stay on the trail...
This kind of cracked us up: was it necessary for this sign to be affixed to one of the rocks? I mean, it was fantastic of the children of Charles Elliot Perkins to make the park free and accessible to all. Still, it seemed a little inapropas with regard to the beauty of the place to affix a metal sign on one of the rocks.
One can climb the rocks, if one has a permit and proper equipment. Pictured below is a man near the top of this rock. There was a small area we encountered near the end of the trail where people could climb (somewhat) and kind of play in and around the rocks. But regular visitors were prohibited from really climbing the rocks.
Here was the "playground" sort of area. Kids and kids at heart were able to climb in and around the rocks. It was a popular spot. We could have spent a lot more time here than we did.
The rock formations had names- here they are labeled on a map.
Here we were almost done with the walking trail that we did (there were other trails that we could have done). We're back to where we started- the rock with the placard highlighting the magnanimity of the Perkin kids.
Here is balancing rock. I tried to get a picture with as few of people as I could in it. This was as good as it got.
People took turns posing holding the rock up with their hands.
We enjoyed our visit to the park. With beautiful weather and scenery, we felt fortunate that we were able to visit this amazing place.
On Wednesday, Alyssa's team had a training session at 4:00 pm. We had the entire day before then to do as we pleased. Since we were still on Ohio time, we woke up quite early Colorado time. That gave us a few hours to explore a little bit of the beauty around us before 4:00 pm. However, I didn't want Alyssa to get too over exerted so a hike in, say, Rocky Mountain National Park was out of the question.
We decided to drive to Colorado Springs and more specifically to the Garden of the Gods park. I'd been to this park once before when I was in Colorado; inexplicably, I don't remember much of it. I read online that you can drive through the park which sounded ideal. Beholding the beauty was what we wanted for the day.
We stopped at the Visitor's Center before we entered the park and I'm grateful that we did. I talked to a volunteer who showed me a map and told me about a short one mile (or so) hike on a paved surface. This would take us to some of the most popular rock formations and, not being in the car, we'd be much closer to them. I thought a mile walk sounded ideal. The woman I talked to cautioned that the parking lot to go on the mile walk fills up quickly (and without a parking spot in the designated lot, there was no way to do the walk. We weren't in a town where we could just park one or two streets away and walk a little further). I'd read the same thing when I read about the park online. As soon as I was finished talking to the lady, I found Donnie and the girls and said, "We need to leave the Visitor's Center now to get a parking spot in the park."
We did find a spot, thankfully, but there weren't too many left when we arrived at the parking lot.
Taking pictures out the car window on the way to Colorado Springs- things you do when you've lived 45 years in states with flat terrains and are smitten with mountain vistas :).
Captured entering 'Do Springs, otherwise known as Colorado Springs.
Getting closer...
When I took this picture, we were standing outside our car. We parked first in the Visitor's Center which was across the street from the park. This happened to be our view as we got out of our car. Of course a picture with my very own "natural beauties" was in order.
The next several pictures were from our walk.
Yep, we'll stay on the trail...
One can climb the rocks, if one has a permit and proper equipment. Pictured below is a man near the top of this rock. There was a small area we encountered near the end of the trail where people could climb (somewhat) and kind of play in and around the rocks. But regular visitors were prohibited from really climbing the rocks.
Here was the "playground" sort of area. Kids and kids at heart were able to climb in and around the rocks. It was a popular spot. We could have spent a lot more time here than we did.
We got back in our car and drove around the park. We made one more stop- we parked and got out of the car to see the popular Balancing Rock.
People took turns posing holding the rock up with their hands.
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