Day 8 - Manitou Springs and Pike's Peak

Today was a fabulous day!  Despite our problems with our campsite (and finding out the pancakes weren't free at this campsite), we were up early to head to Pike's Peak for our 9:20 ascent.  It was Erin's birthday, so we wanted to have some fun doing something she wouldn't normally get to do.  So, we drove into Manitou Springs which is a quaint mountain village with several peak tourist destinations (Daniel likened it to Black Mountain, NC).




First we parked the car, got our tickets, and prepared to ride a cog-wheeled train from 7,000 ft in Manitou Springs to 14,100 ft. at the top of Pike's Peak.  Along the trip we heard all sorts of stories about how people had traveled to the top before the train (mules, cars, etc.).  Then we heard about how the cog-wheel train was invented in Switzerland (where they need such things regularly) and then how they were imported into the US.  So, it was a very interesting trip.  We didn't get to see Bighorn Sheep (David really wanted to see them), but we did get to see a few yellow-bellied marmuts (looks like the cross between a groundhog and a squirrel).





We got some neat pictures on the way up and boy could we tell the difference in altitude when we got out of the train!  I've been in high mountains before, but it was my first time above 14,000 ft.  My parent's house is only at 3,500 ft. elevation and their lodge is at something like 8,000 ft., so this was much higher than I was used to.  Of course, the highest point in Alabama is something like 2,500 ft., so it was way above anything David had experienced.

The kids had fun shopping and getting t-shirts at the little store at the top.  They also make fresh cake doughnuts up there (covered with fudge), so we had to get some of those for the trip down as well.  The kids fought to stay awake on the ride down, but they had to keep a tight grip on everything because there is one section of track where the top car is 3 stories higher than the lower car.  At one point Bow dropped her water bottle and it rolled all the way to the end of the car before someone picked it up and passed it back up to her.

After we arrived back in the station, a sudden thunderstorm let loose.  It was the first rain we had really had on the trip (otherwise, the weather has been great!).  We were very glad we put the rain fly on the tent so all of our stuff didn't get wet.  So, we decided to get lunch while it was raining and picked a local Mediterranean cafe at which to eat called the Sahara Cafe.  The food was more Moroccan than Greek and it was a great meal.  David had some sage tea (which he had to buy some of the ingredients for so he could make it at home).  I really liked it, but it didn't taste like tea to me (because it has cinnamon and sugar in it).  All of the boys got the combination plate which had several different types of meat in it, Bow got chicken, and Erin and I split chicken and beef kabobs.  Fresh out of the oven baklava was dessert for all but me (I later got an orange dreamsicle cupcake, so I was happy).

After lunch it wasn't raining, so we wandered around downtown some and did a bit more shopping.  Then we went over to the Manitou Cliff Dwellings.  Although it is a bit reconstructed and somewhat of a tourist trap, it was still fun to wander around inside of all the cliff dwellings to see how people lived thousands of years ago.  They also had a really good gift shop and David bought me a really pretty bracelet!

Cathedral Rock

Then we drove over the Garden of the Gods park.  It is a free park with really pretty red, white, and grey rocks throughout the park.  It was fun to drive through and take pictures, although we didn't have time to hike at all in the park because it was nearly dark.

Kissing Camels

Kids on Balanced Rock

After Garden of the Gods, we decided to eat German food in Colorado Springs.  We are always on the hunt for good German restaurants because there are very few in the South (especially in Alabama).  We found a restaurant called Edelweiss which was in a terrible neighborhood, but you could tell it was a very popular restaurant (they had three parking lots and two were full).  David had a combination platter which had bratwurst, rouladen, and spiessbraten.  Daniel had another combination platter that had chicken cordon bleu (yes, that is French, not German!), wienerschnitzel, sauerbraten with red cabbage and fried potatoes.  I had another combination platter which had veal cordon bleu, jaegerschnitzel, and something else with an overcooked piece of filet.  Erin got fruit with a piece of grilled chicken (she wasn't very hungry).  Bow got some other form of schnitzel (with a tomato, onion, mushroom sauce), and Jaeyong got wienerschnitzel.  David also got some nice wheat beer (Konig Ludwig, which had a fruity flavor -- totally up his alley!)

So, the day was a hit!