Finally! We had our first weekend with no work/travel/church obligations, NO SNOW, nice weather, and a long list of things to do and places to see. We headed about 40 minutes south down to Colorado Springs to check out the Garden of the Gods. In the 1800's this unique land was privately owned and operated by a local rancher. In the early 1900's upon his death he donated it to the city of Colorado Springs under the stipulation that it must always remain free to the public. My kind of guy!
And what a gorgeous place it is! With a snow-capped Pike's Peak in the background, amazing red-rock formations galore, and plenty of easy scenic hikes, we were in for Mother Nature's treat.
My little hikers eager to get started. I think the fact that this Colorado wonderland is free, combined with a sunny and 75 degree Saturday, made every red-blooded nature-loving Coloradan turn out in force. It was PACKED. Every parking lot was full, with about 10+ cars ready to pounce on the next available spot. We ended up parking here at the Visitor's Center and then walking about a mile in.
Baby Elizabeth was a champ and napped in the front pack most of the afternoon. There were signs posted along the way to stay on the trail and watch out for rattle snakes! Every little movement in the grass had Leah and Zach totally freaked out-- and then we saw a couple completely off the trail taking engagement pictures and Zach was so worried for them! He kept asking, "Shouldn't we tell them about the signs we saw?" I think I feel a future FHE lesson coming together...
Leah was sporting her black glitter high tops and kept calling them her "hiker girl" shoes. They must have been, because she pretty much walked the entire thing by herself!
The White Wall. With the sun full on, it just glowed amidst all the other red rock formations.
The "Kissing Camels." Can you see them?
Lots of hikers and walkers and rock climbers to share the trail with. I hate how pictures never seem to do justice to the scenery! The colors were so vivid!
If you look closely you can see someone rock climbing about halfway up-- right on the middle of the rock. Jon was fascinated. I think we may have a new hobby to deal with living here in Colorado!
Zach and Leah were inspired by all the rock climbers and decided to get in on the action. They had a blast checking out all these crazy rock formations.
The main trail is about 1.5 miles roundtrip and loops around the backside of the rock formations. It's totally flat and was just perfect for my kids to do. I'm sure we'll be back many more times!
On the opposite end of the park is Balanced Rock. Literally, this huge rock is sitting on top of a little tiny rock underneath-- maybe the size of a tennis ball. This picture doesn't do it justice-- but it looks like it could topple over at any second but has probably been like that for thousands of years!
On our hike back to the Visitor's Center we ran into a herd of about 8 deer. You can't even see them hiding in the brush in this picture they are so well camouflaged! We decided Heavenly Father was pretty amazing.
After all that hiking we'd worked up a pretty good appetite. Jon had heard about this little hamburger joint from a patient who lives in Colorado Springs. Apparently it's a new hamburger franchise opened by the chef of In 'N Out burgers.
YUM!! The burgers were amazing with the Chef's special sauce, and we'd been told we HAD to try the boysenberry milkshake, which was also very good. Such a fun way to spend a Saturday and much better than shoveling snow, ha ha!
