First stop in Colorado Springs was shopping, actually. So nice being in a town that has shops for our hobbies again!! For example, both Zach and I needed to be fitted for new running shoes, but our closest running store at home is in Austin, about an hour away. So we made sure to stop by one of the (4!!) running stores in Colorado Springs. Still can't believe that we don't have a running store, with the base right there and so many people running regularly for PT. But no, all we've got are big-box sports stores. The type of place where "Well, the more expensive pair is supposed to be pretty good." Yeah, need a little more than that when training for half and full marathons...
Funnily enough, we ended up being fitted for the same shoe! Of course, my shoe size is almost half as small as his, so our identical shoe boxes looked more like a full-size and a mini-sized pair of something. Was pretty funny, sitting there on the counter for checkout, actually.
For the first touristing bit, we hit up the Garden of the Gods. It's a National Natural Landmark centered about some very scenic red rock outcrops. There's about 15 miles of trails through the park, and it's a pretty popular place for hikers and trail runners and, on the easier trails, families with their kids.
It's a really lovely little hiking spot. Not strenuous trails, but absolutely gorgeous, and right in town. I mean, it was only about 20 minutes from our friends' place, from downtown, etc. That's one of the great things about Colorado Springs - within 20-30 minutes, you go from shopping and restaurants and museums to absolutely stunning mountains and parks and trails. Everything you could want, so convenient!
The photos below are from a spot in the park not to be missed. The rock columns behind me are the Siamese Twins. According to the park website, "SIAMESE TWINS TRAIL is an easy 1
mile roundtrip, with less than a 150 foot rise. There is a unique view
of Pikes Peak through the natural window of the twins." It is a very pretty view. The reddish rocks, the bright blue sky, and the snow on Pike's Peak make for a really lovely photo. Definitely worth the walk up there, if you're ever in the area.
And for a bit of fun, did you know Garden of the Gods has been a pretty, scenic little tourist spot since the late 1800s? At Balanced Rock, another one of the landmarks in the park, a photographer and his son would take pictures for the tourists coming through, at $0.25 a person. Those same photos would probably be $25 a person nowadays! So, we got pictures in front the same rock as a hundred years of hikers before us, though of course we took ours ourselves :)
And a little bit of venting to wrap up this post - Murphy's Law is alive and well. First real trip in months, first day touristing on the first real trip, and my camera dies. We were hiking, and I was taking pictures. We stop, I take pictures, camera goes back in its case, we keep walking, and the next time I pull it out to take pictures, it's dead. The screen looks like a washed out red watercolor, or one of the stylized drug trip/hallucination/dream sequence sort of special effects from a cheap movie. Not the screen itself broken, since I could scroll back and see the pictures from earlier that morning nice and clearly. But anything from there on out... red and blurred. Bah!! This camera is only 6 months old!!! Thankfully it's still under warranty, so as soon as we got back, it got mailed in, and I'm hoping it can be fixed. But, dangit Murphy, why must your law be so freakin' effective??
No comments:
Post a Comment