Day Five....Early rise....late to bed

ECHO CANYON WHITE WATER RAFTING

We got up early and drove back to Canon City to catch our 9:00 am departure to raft the most dangerous body of water in the United States, the Arkansas River. The water this late in the year was actually running at a moderate level and most of the rapids were III and IV's. The trip started above the Royal Gorge was about 8 miles long. Words can not describe the magnificent view from rafting through the Royal Gorge. Drake and Dad started in the front position of the raft for the first half of the trip. Logan and Janie took over and ended the trip in the front of the raft. We got out of our raft a couple of times and enjoyed the nice, cold water!! We have a lot more pictures to load from our raft trip so check back later...






DRIVE HOME

We stopped in Salina to see Grandma Lee and to let her know we all survived our trip. After a short visit, we made a quick stop at Taco Bell and arrived home right at midnight. We spotted a total of 43 license plates throughout our trip. Drake drove 2 hours, Logan 1 hour, Janie 2-1/2 hours and Dad the balance on the way home. We traveled 1886 miles and this was truly a trip to remember.

Note: We still have more pictures to add and will post all pictures on flickr..watch for details!

Day Four...are we ready??

ROYAL GORGE

With a hour and half drive to Royal Gorge, we entered the beautiful park. We decided to take the tram to the bottom of the gorge before walking across the bridge. The boys were a little unnerved as we descended over 1050 feet to the bottom in a cage type ride. After getting back to the top of the gorge we took off walking across the bridge. The wind was really blowing hard and was very scary looking down into the gorge. The bridge had a flag from every state of the union from one side of the bridge to the other. Drake and Janie wanted to ride the Skycoaster that was on the west side of the gorge but couldn't get Dad or Logan to join us. It was a very scary ride but exhilarating and great photos of the ride. We then took the tram back across the gorge and had lunch.

WHITE WATER RAFTING

We arrived at Echo Canyon Rafting company and signed in and gathered all gear required for this raft trip. After our name wasn't called, we were instructed to go back into the office where we were informed we had missed our trip. We had booked our trip with another outfitter and miscommunication between them and us. There was nothing that could be done except for book another trip for first thing the next morning, Sunday.

HELICOPTER RIDE

Well, they say things happen for a reason. We all took the disappointment in stride and we then went to work on plan B. Our first stop was at the Heliport to check out a hellicopter ride. Dad and Janie had taken this ride 10 years ago and it was the most amazing helicopter rider you can image. The boys really wanted to do this so we all signed up for the third option...the most thrills and of course the most expensive. This ride was around the outer edge of the gorge with many banks, turns, dives and zero gravity. At the end of the ride, we banked hard and went down into the gorge right by the bridge and at many times you would swear we were going to crash into the gorge. Janie took a movie the whole time to capture boys expressions and views from the ride. Janie got sick after filming and riding backward in the helicopter and it took several hours for her to recover.

MT. PRINCETON

Since we still had several hours left in the day and of course we weren't about to go back to our room until we were totally exhausted, Dad headed towards Buena Vista and Mt. Princeton to a hot springs spa. We first went into the stream that had a very hot spring running into it so the boys quickly started building a rock pool to contain the hot water. The boys braved the center of the stream a couple of times but the water was extremely cold and they didn't stay too long in the center. Drake went up and check one of the two upper pools and one was feed and warmed by the hot springs. Janie relaxed and the boys did alot of swimming, dunking and playing in the pool Back to the stream and after a couple of hours, we were starving and ready to head back to Colorado Springs. It was the most beautiful drive with the sun setting in the background and meadows were so green with all of the spring rain.

Day Three--early morning rise

HOT AIR BALLOON RIDE

ugh....alarm (Dad) woke us up at 4:45 a.m. for our 5:15 departure for our hot air balloon ride. We met the crew at 5:30 and then headed to our meeting point. Greg was our pilot checked the direction of the wind with a helium balloon so we knew which why to go to our actual launch point. It only took about 20 minutes once we arrived at our launch site before we lifted off. We stayed fairly close to the ground for quite a while and we got above 1000 feet high for our ride.

It was so peaceful and beautiful below with the mountains in the background. We had to land a little sooner than Greg wanted but the wind changed and we were going to end up in a 50,000 ranch with no accessibility for a pick up by the chase crew. We were prepared for the landing after the first touch down, we bumped about 3 or 4 more times until we stopped. It was really cool seeing the balloon collaspe. The balloon was 100 feet high including the basket and 80 feet wide. After we landed, Greg told us the story of the first hot air balloon including the celebration of champagne and this celebration is still continued. A spread of chocolate, fruit, cheese, champagne, orange juice and rolls were serve to all after a toast. What a WONDERFUL life time experience this was to enjoy!!!




SEVEN FALLS

We took the elevator up to see a view of Seven Falls and then walked down 185 steps back to the base. Then, we hiked up 225 steps to almost the top of the falls, a breath taking view to say the least. A few more steps up and we were at the top. Of course, it was time to take a hike. We decided to take the one hour hike instead of the 20 minute hiken. Again, the view was amazing and unbelievable.






















PIKES PEAK

We boarded the 4:00 Cog Railway line to go up to the top of Pikes Peak. The scenery was amazing and fun to see a few areas where we had hiked the day before on Barr Trail. The cog ride was about 1-1/2 hours each way. At the top, we quickly got some very hot chocolate and GREAT hot donuts as the weather was very cold at the top. The boys took of hiking out on the ridge. We checked out Barr trail to see what the end of that trail looked like for a possible trip out next year so we can hike from the bottom of Pikes Peak to the 14,000 ft top. They say it takes about 8 hours at a pretty good pace to hike the 13 miles up the mountain. An option would be to camp at the 7 mile marker and do the trip in 2 days.
























M

MARILYN'S PIZZA AND GREAT ICE CREAM

We decided we wanted to eat in Manitou Springs, areally quaint area with a lot of shops and restaurants. After a short walk, we all agreed pizza would be great and boy, was it ever great. We all had our own 10" personal pizza and the boys ate every last crumb of theirs and Dad and Janie just left a little crust. Ice Cream followed and we turned in for another great day with total of 40 license plates being spotted.

Day Two....totally exhausted

AIR FORCE ACADEMY

After the usual Embassy Suite breakfast buffett, we headed out to the Air Force Academy. We first watched a movie explaining cadet life and thanks to Dad for asking a question concerning commitment after graduating from the Academy, we all received a very nice ink pen and a key ring. We then tourned the Academy Chapel and really enjoyed the beauty of the chapel and found it very interesting to say the least. The chapel was constructed so you could see the mountains outside with the inside looking like airplane wings. And Drake spotted Alaska and Hawaii license plates which brought the total to 31 states for the trip.

























OLYMPIC TRAINING FACILITY

A quick walk through visitor center and then down a nice walk showing all the venues the Olympics offer. Of course, we had to stop at the soccer display. We didn't spend much time here at this facility as the boys were antsy to go rock climbing.
















GARDEN OF THE GODS

We stopped briefly at the vistor center and then off for a nice hike around the amazingly beautiful, red sandstone rock formations. We watched several rock climbers and found it amazing how they could climb in some areas straight up.



























BARR TRAIL

We tried to get on the Pikes Peak Cog Rail but it was sold out for the day. We put in our reservations for tomorrow. We stopped for a few bottles of cold water and Janie came out with directions to hike Pikes Peak. Barr Trail is right at the base of where the Pikes Peak Cog Rail leaves and off we headed on the trail. It was a really, really beautiful hike up and so interesting. We came to a fork in the trail and we took the left trail and it took us back down but to a nice stream with a cave. The water was very cold according to Dad and Logan. The trail to the water wasn't that far out of the way and glad we took the left turn. We hiked up about an hour and half and it took almost an hour to come back down. The views were absolutely beautiful. On our way down, we kept seeing many runners, yes runners, running UP Pikes Peak. Can you imagine?? Finally Janie asked and they said they were training for the Pikes Peak marathon coming up next month. The path is full of rocks, tree roots, loose gravel and how anyone would even consider running on this for the 13 miles up and 13 miles down, you would have to say they are crazy to say the least!!! Off to dinner at Black Eyed Pea which was very good. We are all so exhausted and ready for showers and bed.

Driving, driving, driving.....

Janie picked up the boys at 8:30 and guess what, they were hungry!! Our first stop was at Zipz for Krispy Kreme donuts and chocolate milk, yum. We then headed west and stopped to see Grandma Lee at her new apartment at Drury Place in Salina, KS. Grandma was waiting for us at the front door and was so pleased to see her very tall and handsome grandsons. We had lunch with her and as she said, it was her third worst meal since moving there 5 weeks ago. We had spaghetti with meat sauce, salad, pineapple desssert and really great breadsticks. Logan and Janie liked the spaghetti, but Grandma and Drake, not so much..

We stayed an hour and half and then hit I-70 for a staight shot to the Denver International Airport to pick up Dad. Logan drove over 3 hours and got some really good driving experience on the wide open interestate in the beautiful state of Kansas....ok, flat wide open state of Kansas. Actually the rolling hills are really beautiful and with all the rain, pastures were nice and green. Drake took over and drove 2 hours and then Janie finished the last hour or so and we arrived at the airport. We figured out we had to head back south about 5 miles to find a place for dinner. We ate at Village Inn and it was just okay...nothing to right home about. We then filled up the truck and Dad said he had arrived. We picked him up with hugs and kisses and he then took over the wheel and drove us to Colorado Springs. We checked into the Embassy Suites and called it a night.