Pikes Peak

We had started heading east towards home, when we decided to take a little detour up to Colorado Springs and drive to the top of Pikes Peak.

Pikes Peak, also known as America's Mountain, is the highest summit of the southern Front Range of the Rocky Mountains.  Pikes Peak (14,115 feet to the summit) is located 12 miles west of downtown Colorado Springs.

The road to the top is a toll road.  Every car passes through this entrance after paying the fee.  It is $15.00 per person.   Well worth the money!

It is 20 miles to the top of the mountain with several places to stop and enjoy the scenery. 

Between mile markers 3 and 4, we spotted this sign.  

This was the view of Pikes Peak from the Crystal Reservoir Visitor Center at mile maker 6.

The Pikes Peak ski area was in operation from 1939 to 1984.  Poor snow conditions and financial issues forced the area to close.  

The historic Glen Cove ski lodge remains, but is now a gift shop. 

The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, also known as The Race to the Clouds, is an annual automobile hill climb to the summit.  We stopped at the place where they block off the road when the race is being held.  Not sure when that was, but the signs were still by the barricades.

Some of the views on the ride up.....Wow!

I'm glad that I am not the one on this tractor coming down the mountain!

Several switchbacks and steep turns to go!

What is he thinking?

Looks like it just goes over the edge.....

I have to admit that I was getting a little nervous at this point.  I didn't even want to think what the ride down would be like.

  It just drops off!

You can spot the road you were just on a long way down the mountain.

I was surprised at the amount of snow and slush as we were pulling into the parking lot at the top.  The building to the left in this picture is the gift shop/snack bar area.

We made it!

It was 38 degrees when we got out of the car. 

It only took a few minutes at 14,000 + feet to feel the thin air!  I was feeling very strange and woozy.  

If you don't care to drive yourself up to the top, you can take the cog train.  We had discussed going up on the train also, but about halfway to the top, I told Alan he could absolutely forget about me going up this mountain on the cog train.

The passengers headed for the gift shop and snack bar where you can purchase, among other things, their famous cake donuts.  We didn't know they were famous, but the smell was amazing!  Yes, we tried them and they were very good.

After the train left, you can see where it stops.

Bottom pictures shows the tracks going down over the edge and out of sight!

Headed back down and I have to say the trip back down the mountain was not as scary for me as the trip going up!

But this "flat lander" was glad to be back down the mountain.

                   

This picture shows the road (zig-zag line) up to the summit.  You can follow the road on the right side of  the picture to the top.

We saw "Santa's Workshop" on the way that morning before we got to the toll plaza for the Pikes Peak drive.  On the way back, we decided to drive through and see what it was.  I thought it was just a big Santa's Workshop Gift shop. Turns out it is.....but so much more.  There is also a big amusement area for kids of all ages to the left of the building.  We could only see a little bit of it from the parking lot.  Looked like a big time for the kiddies!

Ya'll know by now that I love nature.  

 So here you go....I loved these wildflowers......

and these pine trees.

This little fellow was begging for food.  When I would reach down, he thought I had food and he would stand up.

We had a great day driving Pikes Peak!

Grand Canyon

On our drive to the Grand Canyon, we stopped at the Glen Canyon Dam visitor center in Page, AZ.  We parked the motorhome in the designated lot and walked down to the center.  This is a concrete arch-gravity dam on the Colorado River that forms Lake Powell.

It is a very large recreational area.

This is the bridge that we drove the motorhome over that crosses the Colorado River. 

On the road to the canyon we kept passing empty stalls (like a produce type stand).  We finally saw where the Indians living in the area would set up their jewelry, etc. to sell to tourists on their way to the canyon.

The first dozen we passed had nothing in them......yet.  As the morning got later and the traffic picked up, we realized the Indian jewelry stands were becoming more occupied.

The sign on the road said "Your first glimpse of the Grand Canyon is just around the corner".  And it was!  This was my first glimpse of the Grand Canyon.   Since Alan had his eyes on the road, he didn't get to see this.  Buy it really was just a teaser.  The views became greater and greater!

We got to the campground and got settled in.  We decided to drive around the "village" that evening to get the lay of the land.  We had decided to take the car to the "viewpoints" that we passed coming in that morning.  This park also depends on shuttles to get the visitors to various places.  There are many parking lots around the visitor center and when we drove past them coming in, they all seemed to be full.   Busy place!

When we got up the next morning we were surprised to see what I thought were deer all around  the campground area.  Later found  out that they were young elk.  I thought the "mama" deer looked bigger than normal!

"Young ones"

"Mama"

While driving around the village, we spotted the Mule pens.  These are the mules that take visitors down to the bottom of the canyon.

We got up the next morning and started our tour of the canyon.  Our first stop was as Navajo Point.  I'll be honest.....we viewed so much canyon that day, I can't tell for sure what point I am looking at from all the pictures that we took!  I know a few and one was the "Desert View" area.  We could see the Desert View Watchtower from Navajo Point.

Desert View is a small settlement on the South Rim.

The historic watchtower was designed by Mary Colter. 

Inside was a gift shop and on the other side of this round building was this Indian lady selling jewelry. 

You can climb up the stairs to view the canyon below.  They say on a clear day you can see for 100 miles.

Mather Point which is located at the visitor center.  This is the view of the viewing area you can walk out to.  It's amazing!

Mather Point viewing center.

View of the canyon from Mather Point.

There are many trails for hikers in the area.  You can see one of them in the picture below.

In this picture you can see people either going into or coming out of the tunnel.

Alan......always the funny man!

Hmmmmmm....

More canyon!

You can see the river from this view.

It's truly hard to capture the Grand Canyon in pictures!

Our last evening at the canyon.  

We decided to have dinner at the El Tovar lodge restaurant in the heart of the village.  It is circa 1920's.  It is a beautiful lodge with a wonderful dining experience!

Alan had the pork chops with apple/jalapeno chutney. 

I had a wonderful chicken dish with angel hair pasta and mushroom sherry sauce. 

The meal was outstanding!

When we got up the next morning we opened the front window drapes in the motorhome and saw this.........

The ravens in this area are huge!  We were told at check in NOT to leave any trash out because of them.  I think these poor people came in after the office had closed and they didn't get the same warning!

On a more pleasant note.....saw this butterfly on these wildflowers!