Colorful Colorado

Garden of the Gods, Pike's Peak, and Cripple Creek
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More snowy mountains on the way to Colorado.
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We like their motto!
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Red rocks in Utah.
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Unique formations in Utah.
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Typical western scene. Broken fence, sagebrush, hills in the distance.
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Colorado at last!
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Garden of the Gods, is impressive even from the road.
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Dinosaur skull in the visitor center. Can you find the teeth?
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Garden of the Gods, we are ready to begin a day of sightseeing.
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Garden of the Gods and Pike's Peak. We'll visit both today.
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The unique rocks here gave the place its name.
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The nature center was a nice experience.
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A fine day is in store.
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Red and gray are different types of rock, but so close together.
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Look at how vertical these are, like towers.
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Rock forest.
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Look at the thin layers behind Hanhan. Each just came up from the Earth.
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Kissing Camels.
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It's getting hot out here and it's only 11:30.
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This used to be a chuckwagon dinner area.
The donor of the park.
Artists gather here to draw and paint the scenery.
Feeling the rock. No tasting though.
Coming out of the cave.
Having a beauty rest.
Basking in the sun.
A climber scaling the rock face.
These towers are 100s of feet tall.
The top is absolutely flat, a perfect photo on a perfect day.
More rock formations.
Hanhan can see four monkeys in the rock. I can't.
See the rocks holding each other in place?
Red desert, we're pretty sunburned by now.
Two more climbers.
Three layers of hard rock are all that's left after millions of years of erosion.
Checking out what's in the caverns using her binoculars.
You feel very small and alone amongst all this.
Taking a breather at 8600 feet.
Interesting pathway.
A lone tree sprouts from the rock.
We have no idea what this plant is, but it was really pretty.
See all the holes in the face of the rocks? They provide homes for birds like hawks and falcons.
The back of the garden.
This is Balancing Rock.
Weighs 700 tons, the rock, not me.
A postcard kind of day.
Trying to hide from the sun.
Run Hanhan, run! Earthquake!
Holding the rock in place.
Balancing Hanhan.
Why they call them the Rockies.
Hanhan may be crushed!
View from Ute Pass heading for Pike's Peak.
Bigfoot crossing ahead.
Crystal Lake Reservoir
You can see the road along the ridge above.
We arrived the the peak after only 70 minutes and 6,400 feet.
The last half of the road is all gravel, 10% grade, and no guard rail. I closed my eyes on the way down.
The cog railway is for sissys.
America the Beautiful was inspired by the view from the peak.
You can see for miles from up here.
Cog railbed, see the teeth in the middle?
The weather station at the peak. I'd guess the wind was about 50 MPH the day we visited.
Pike's Peak, of course, is part of the Continental Divide.
Near the edge. This is as close as I get!
We're far above the timberline.
Odd to look over and see clouds even with you.
I'm really ready to run to the car here.
Just a little further back dear!
Bigfoot is not so hard to find.
Nice kitty!
Hanhan and Mr. Moose.
Cripple Creek, Colorado from the hills above the town.
A working gold mine.
Abandoned gold mine, one of many in the area.
Cripple Creek has a great visitor's center. The entrance is like a gold mine.
Colonel Colt brought justice to the West.
The Gold Mining Stock Exchange building.
Icky ice cream inside. Cripple Creek nowdays is filled with casinos.
We rode the genuine steam train to the ghost town.
The train station.
The mining museum from the train.
Lots of old buildings and mining equipment here. This building survived the two fires that wiped out the rest of Cripple Creek.
These cabins are for sale. Nice fixer-upper.
This mine produce 11 million dollars of gold when the price was $20 an ounce.
Another abandoned mine. Each has a story, I just forgot them.
A sluice for a mine.
The blacksmith's shop in the ghost town.
This is how they would raise buckets of ore from the mines.
The remaining buildings in Anaconda, Colorado. Long abandoned when the gold ran out.
Cripple Creek. Named because animals and people were crippled when crossing it.
Downtown Cripple Creek.
Heading home, Kansas is ready to be conquered.