Saturday in Colorado Springs, Colorado
Saturday was spent in the company of my husband’s sister, Dawn, and her family. We spent the day seeing some of the scenic sites in Colorado Springs, having a picnic, and going to the zoo.
We started our adventures for the day going to the Helen Hunt Falls. This is a part of the same complex of waterfalls known as Seven Falls. However, this portion of the falls is free to see, unlike Seven Falls, that you have to pay for. We drove up the canyon, and then parked, and walked over the edge of the parking lot, down to the stream. We decided to go ahead and have our lunch, as there were thunderstorms in the area, so we would wait before we hiked up to the top of the falls. As we ate our lunch, and enjoyed the sounds of the stream, a Stellar’s Jay flew in to see if we had anything to share. Knowing that most corvids that frequent camping and picnicking areas love cheetos, I threw some out. True to form, he happily helped himself to them. It was rather shady by the spring, so my pictures did not come out very good, but I’ll post them anyway. It was fun to watch this bird, as I’ve never seen a Stellar’s Jay before, it being a Western bird. After the storm, we walked the trail up to the top of the falls, and enjoyed the view. It was a nice hike, despite the fact that the high altitude, and my lack of physical fitness, made the hike up a little difficult. My calves are sore today from the hike!
After our trip to the falls, we went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. This zoo is situated on the mountainside, so required further walking up and down the slopes. It was quite a workout hanging out with Dawn’s family. We checked out all the exhibits. They did have a new baby giraffe, born the previous day. It was quite cute! They also have an arrangement where you can feed the other adult giraffes. So I along with everyone in our group gave special crackers to the giraffes. There is also a special visiting exhibit, a white lion. However, he is paired up with his brother, a normal lion, and both were snoozing on a rock in the middle of their exhibit, and all you could see was the normal lion. But I did get a good picture of the normal one!
We went back to their home, and had a really nice cookout. The night was finished off by playing a word game with the entire family. Lots of fun! At the end of the evening we took our leave of their family, as we had decided to spend an evening in a hotel. We did have to drive a distance from Colorado Springs to find a hotel that had vacancies, as there must have been some kind of event going on in the city. We eventually found a nice place in Pueblo.
The next two days are to be spent with Joan and Jerry, and then we head home. I’m told that we might take a scenic drive into another set of mountains on Monday. If we do, I’ll take pictures, and write about it.
We started our adventures for the day going to the Helen Hunt Falls. This is a part of the same complex of waterfalls known as Seven Falls. However, this portion of the falls is free to see, unlike Seven Falls, that you have to pay for. We drove up the canyon, and then parked, and walked over the edge of the parking lot, down to the stream. We decided to go ahead and have our lunch, as there were thunderstorms in the area, so we would wait before we hiked up to the top of the falls. As we ate our lunch, and enjoyed the sounds of the stream, a Stellar’s Jay flew in to see if we had anything to share. Knowing that most corvids that frequent camping and picnicking areas love cheetos, I threw some out. True to form, he happily helped himself to them. It was rather shady by the spring, so my pictures did not come out very good, but I’ll post them anyway. It was fun to watch this bird, as I’ve never seen a Stellar’s Jay before, it being a Western bird. After the storm, we walked the trail up to the top of the falls, and enjoyed the view. It was a nice hike, despite the fact that the high altitude, and my lack of physical fitness, made the hike up a little difficult. My calves are sore today from the hike!
After our trip to the falls, we went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. This zoo is situated on the mountainside, so required further walking up and down the slopes. It was quite a workout hanging out with Dawn’s family. We checked out all the exhibits. They did have a new baby giraffe, born the previous day. It was quite cute! They also have an arrangement where you can feed the other adult giraffes. So I along with everyone in our group gave special crackers to the giraffes. There is also a special visiting exhibit, a white lion. However, he is paired up with his brother, a normal lion, and both were snoozing on a rock in the middle of their exhibit, and all you could see was the normal lion. But I did get a good picture of the normal one!
We went back to their home, and had a really nice cookout. The night was finished off by playing a word game with the entire family. Lots of fun! At the end of the evening we took our leave of their family, as we had decided to spend an evening in a hotel. We did have to drive a distance from Colorado Springs to find a hotel that had vacancies, as there must have been some kind of event going on in the city. We eventually found a nice place in Pueblo.
The next two days are to be spent with Joan and Jerry, and then we head home. I’m told that we might take a scenic drive into another set of mountains on Monday. If we do, I’ll take pictures, and write about it.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home