Monsoon Season

Currently In: South Fork, CO
Up Next: Bayfield, CO and Antonito, CO before we head to New Mexico


Although it's been really warm in Colorado for most of the summer, late July begins the monsoon season - a little, sometimes heavy, rain every day.  Johnny and I checked the forecast for the day and headed into Colorado Springs where we thought we could fit in a hike to the Seven Falls before the heavy rain started falling.

The Falls experienced a washout in the 2013 flood.  It was bought by the Broadmoor Hotel and many improvements were made.  The 1/2 mile walk to the start of the Falls was really beautiful, like walking through a canyon.

There is a pavilion at the base of the Falls for people to enjoy the scenery.  You can see some of the Falls right from there.

We got to the base of the steps.

Then we turned the corner and oh no!  224 steps total.

But we were also rewarded with more beautiful views.

Made it to the top!

We hiked to the Midnight Falls and saw more vistas. So unusual.

Here are Midnight Falls and small cave next to it.

It was very crowded on the way down!

We stopped for lunch at "1858", the restaurant at the bottom.

When we got to our car, the sky already looked ominous.  And we had a 30 minute drive in front of us toward the dark sky.

It was hailing so hard on our way up the mountain we pulled over.  Many cars with Colorado license plates were pulled over so we figured we should, too.   I couldn't open my window to get this photo.

Once the hail stopped, we got back on the road but it was a long traffic back up.  I had time to open my window and snap these photos.  Almost like snow.  It was 47 degrees out, where 2 days prior it had been 97!

It took us 90 minutes to get back to our campground.  Mudslides covered the highway and construction trucks were clearing it so cars moved slowly.

We made it back to the campground safely.  Our car has a couple of small bumps from the hail that was about the size of a marble.  Apparently there was hail in Woodland Hills, too.  We saw one person's windshield that needed to be replaced.  We had some minor damage to the sewer hose, but we carry extra hoses so feel lucky that was the extent of any problems.  One neighbor told us they were ready to send the cavalry out after us!

We took in one last view of Pike's Peak before moving to the next adventure...

Craft Beer Crawl

Currently In: South Fork, CO
Headed to Bayfield (outside of Durango) and Antonito, CO next


Before we sampled the beer of the Pike's Peak area, we toured the Manitou Springs Cliff Dwellings.  The dwellings were inhabited by the Anasazi people who eventually became the Taos Pueblo Indians of New Mexico.  It reminded us of Montezuma's Castle which we toured in Camp Verde, AZ last April.
Native Americans danced for tourists and lived at these cliff dwellings until the mid 1980s.

We took a walk inside the Mesa Top structure.  It was built on top of the mesa so men could watch their summer crops.

This oven is made of adobe brick used for baking bread.   It could bake up to 30 loaves at one time.

Native Americans lived in the oldest part of the pueblo until 1984.  It was built in 1898.  Most of the pueblos were built with low doorways.

We were able to walk through several rooms including the room where food was stored as well as where the grain was ground into flour.

This room was called a Kiva and was a room for religious ceremonies.

Cross sections of the cliff dwellings allowed us to see how they were built.

The couple of museums they had allowed us see how the walls were constructed.
At this point we were ready for the first of the craft beer sampling.  We got back to our German roots and sampled some Wisconsin cheese!

We continued our beer tour with Keith Van Es, a former neighbor from Grayslake who has lived in Colorado for 25 years.  We met him for brunch in a historic Buena Vista building, about 70 miles from our RV Park.  I loved the brick arch.

We moved on to Eddyline, just a block away.  There was some live music at this one.

We took a walk around this historic town, and saw more historic train equipment.  The Depot was built in 1890 but the railroad closed in 1920.

The last place was really cool - the Jailhouse Craft Beer Bar.  It is located in a jailhouse built in 1880.  There were even some preserved, although illegible, scribblings from former inmates.

We and an interesting discussion with Keith regarding the deteriorating state of the pine trees in Colorado.  We saw many dead trees as well as hundreds of tree tepees in the National Parks.

A ranger told us that the winters were not cold enough to kill the beetles as Nature provides.  The trees have been taken down to protect tourists.  They will eventually be burned.

We had a very fun day with Keith and the craft tastings.  Needless to say, I drove back to the campground in Woodland Park!

One last note: you know I am an RV lover of Walmart now.  The nicest Walmart we have been to was in Woodland Park.  Even the exterior was inviting!

O Beautiful for Spacious Skies

Currently In: Woodland Park, CO
Left for South Fork, CO today.  Will be in Southern Colorado til the end of August!


Our campground in Woodland Park is really lovely.  Lots of trees and well laid out. We are in the back with a number of seasonal residents.  You can tell by the campsites.  The people are great, but they like outdoor decorations.

Isn't this one cute?  Where's Barbie?

I know I said I wasn't taking any more pictures of deer, but this mama and babies have been walking through the campground every morning.

Garden of the Gods is an extraordinary city park of red rocks.  The park was donated by Charles Perkins' children so the public could enjoy it.  Therefore, there is no admission charge.

The views of Pike's Peak from the Visitor Center are really special.  It was the view from Pike's Peak that prompted Katharine Lee Bates to write "America the Beautiful".

Although it was 97 degrees outside we walked around the main garden.  It's hard to describe how cool this natural phenomenon really is.

Gateway Rocks

Three Graces

Sentinel Rock

Cathedral Spires

Kissing Camels

Tower of Babel

To get to the next rock, Siamese Twins, we had to hike. Yes, hike in the hot sun!

But it was so worth it!

I took a photo of Pike's Peak through the opening in the rock.

Before we left Garden of the Gods, we did drive by Balanced Rock.  Nature can be crazy!

Next we took a drive through Manitou Springs.  Honestly, I was so tired from hiking in the heat and the sidewalks were very crowded, so we didn't get out of the car.  I did take a couple of pics of some buildings I thought were unique.   Below is the Barker House which is a historic hotel.  Naturally, I liked the Victorian architecture.

Miramont Castle was built in 1896 by a French priest.  It is made of Manitou greenstone which was quarried in the area from 1890 until 1940.  It was a hospital, and then an apartment building until it was restored to it's original state.  I stepped inside and walked around in the air conditioning!

Old Colorado City was right down the street, so we did head over there to check it out.  It was the first Capital of Colorado when it was just a territory.  Legistlators met in the building below only one time and then the capital was moved to Denver.

Old Colorado City was a Wild West town once gold was discovered nearby.  It had saloons and brothels where nearly Colorado Springs was more sophisticated.  There are no castles or beautiful historic hotels here; the houses in the neighborhood are not as well kept as other towns in the area.  Still, they are proud of their history and it is a fun town.  There are remnants of the gold rush all over town.

I thought this artwork was funny!

We stopped for ice cream at this establishment from the 60's.

This sign cracked me up - written just for me I think!