So this happened...

Every so often, I get to experience something that reminds me I definitely live in Hawaii.  Sometimes it's a local/cultural thing.  And sometimes it's something like this.

I was running on Saturday on a trail near where I work.  The trail loops around a series of saltwater marsh ponds, and (though sometimes smelly at low tide) makes for a rather calming run, away from roads and still convenient to my daily routines.  Anyhoo, I came around a bend and saw this in the water:

Hadn't seen anything like this before in the ponds, and these bumps were only a few of the ones I saw breaking the surface.  Being a good little Southern girl, my first thought was "Gators?" followed immediately with "But they don't have gators in Hawaii, do they?"  Dismissing it from my mind as mud sticking up at low tide or probably something I didn't want to consider poking out of the water, I kept on my run.  Until I rounded the next bend and saw a face breaking the water.

 

 

These are sea turtles!!  There were a couple dozen of them just hanging out in the ponds!

Needless to say, my run got put on pause!  Sometimes you saw their fins breaking the surface of the water first, often in parallel, like a butterflyer's stroke.  More often you just saw their faces coming up to get some air.  The sound they made as their faces broke the surface sounded like a whale spouting or a diver's noise on surfacing and clearing water from their snorkel - kinda a wet puff-and-splash sort of noise.  The trail is set back from the roads at this point, so there wasn't a lot of background noise, other than birds and bugs.  I hung out for probably a good ten minutes taking pictures and listening to them swim, just me and the turtles.

This particular one was hanging out right underneath a footbridge on the trail, so I was able to get a few good pictures as he floated about.  He was with another one, a little guy, whose shell was only the size of a dinner serving tray maybe?  Much smaller than the other ones I was seeing.  So cute!!

 

Growing up on the East coast, I've seen sea turtles before.  I've seen them both in the wild and in aquaria.  I've never seen this many at once though!  Apparently it's a thing they do from time to time,.  A friend (who's lived here on O'ahu a lot longer than I) said that they are also often seen at a couple other saltwater ponds and estuaries through the islands.  First time for me, though, so extra exciting :)

As I finally broke myself away and got back to my run, I passed two families heading in on the trail.  The parents in each had seen the turtles and were bringing their kids back to see too :)

Vocab lesson:
honu = Hawaiian word for the green sea turtle (don't know if these were greens, as we have a couple species around here, but the greens are the most common)
bale = a group of turtles (yes, same word as hay bale)

I did take a video too.  It's over on Flickr.  You can hear me narrating and trying to not squeal!

I'm actually gushing about a Red Heart yarn!

I definitely have yarn preferences, like any knitter or crocheter does.  I'm not a true-blue yarn snob, but I do prefer nicer ones over total acrylics or big box yarns.  My preferences tend to be texture-related though.  There are expensive boucles that I hate working with because my dry hands will snag on every little thread and curl in that yarn.  And there are big-box acrylics which are perfectly comfortable to work with.  Like I said above, texture comes first for me.  With that being said, typically expensive yarns with the nicer fibers tend to have nicer texture.  Red Heart Super Saver tends to be looked down on by a lot of "yarnies" but it definitely has its place too.  Wears forever, machine washable, no fading, cheap, etc.  It's a good yarn for stuff for charity or for kids or that will get a lot of hard use.  A good staple yarn, and yarn company, and I've definitely used it more than once, but not a brand that I typically get gushy about.

And then they released this one.

The Yarn

Red Heart Reflective.

 

Yes, reflective!  I've been looking for a reflective yarn for YEARS!  It's perfect for knitting gifts for runners, and as you might imagine, I have a few running friends.  But you couldn't find a reflective yarn.  You can buy spools of silver threads to use as a carry-along with your yarn, but they are very hard to find and tend to be a little expensive and still not exactly what you're looking for when you're looking for reflective yarn.  This is an acrylic yarn with a silver reflective thread wrapped in.  It comes in neons, bright purple, peacock, black and grey.  I chose grey for Zach and bright neon green for me (it contrasts nicely with my neon, safety-yellow running shirts). 

And it's really reflective!  Check out the pictures!!

As a yarn, it's pretty nice to work with, actually.  The silver thread is a little stiffer and a touch rougher than the rest of the yarn, but nothing off-putting.  And like with a lot of acrylics, different colors have different softnesses.  In this case, the green was noticeably softer than the grey.  The grey wasn't bad; the green was just softer.  It knits up nice and soft and squishy, even at a tighter gauge, like in hat pattern.  Not bad!

I really liked it.  I made the two hats for me and Zach.  Then I made wristwarmers for me.  And then I made two more hats for Mom and her running buddy (a close family friend since I was about 9) to celebrate them completing their first marathon at the beginning of December. So proud of them!  For those two hats, I made one in the bright green (again) and one in peacock blue-green.  They need something warm to wear as Mom trains for her second marathon in March!

   

The Pattern

Well, patternS this time.  I had several pieces I wanted to make with this.  So I did :)

As I've said, Zach and I each got a hat, and then I made two more.  All were the Man Hat by Haven Leavitt, available on her blog Knit Alone Together.  It's a nice, simple, broken rib ski cap.  Knits up very fast - I think I finished Zach's hat in about 2 days!  Chunky yarn, even at a tighter gauge, knits up very quickly, and doing the pattern more than once... the hats just flew along.

 

Despite being named the Man Hat, only one of my hat recipients is actually a man.  But for a running hat, these are perfect. I like my running hats to be basic ski or skill caps, not girly slouchy hats or berets or cloches.  Simple ski caps for me.  Or hats shaped like penguins :)  

 

I know that mine totally covers all my hair, now that my hair is so short.  Might as well be a knit swim cap, for all the hair showing.  Still, means that my ears will be warm on winter runs!  And they are very comfy hats.  Zach wears his quite a lot during the winter.  Makes me smile.

Here we are modeling them at last year's Turkey Trot 5K. 

Also made with the yarn was a set of handwarmers (fingerless mitts) for me.  My ears and hands, that's what gets cold on runs. I was wearing the mitts at the Turkey Trot as well as the hat.  You just can't see my hands in the pictures, so you'll have to take my word for it.

The pattern is the Ribbed Fingerless Gloves, a free download from Yarn + Co. 

This is a nice, basic ribbed fingerless mitt pattern.  The directions are nice and clear, and they knit up very quickly in bulky/chunky yarn.  A yarn weight which also means they are nice and squishy and warm.  Not much really more to say, I guess.

 

The hats are raveled here, here, here, and here.  The mitts are raveled here.

Notes, Alterations, Etc.

The caps are the same pattern, and most are exactly according to the pattern.  Zach's has only one minor alteration. His head is a little smaller than mine, so I only knit 6 inches before starting the decreases, instead of 7 inches, like the pattern calls for.

For my fingerless mitts,  I added stripes.  There were about 8 yards of grey left over from Zach’s hat.  I cut them into two even pieces, and then used them to evenly make stripes on the two mitts.  I had enough for 3 stripes on each mitt, 2 rounds per stripe (which you can see in the pictures).

I also followed the directions for the mitts as they were written, but knit them on smaller needles (US 8 instead of 10).  I've small hands, so that made the mitts a little smaller, to actually fit.  And it also produced a little bit denser knit, so a little warmer too.  The only thing I'd add to that is that I'd cast on with larger needles next time, if I'm using the same smaller-needles strategy.  It would give the cuff a little more stretch.

And here we are, modeling 3 of the 4 hats, over the unseasonably warm Christmas holidays this year.  I made them put on the hats so I could take the picture :)

Oh So Pinteresting Wednesday: I have joined the ranks of the tutu-ed runners!

There was a Halloween-themed race in our area on Saturday last, with a separate costume contest for the Little Monsters, of course.  The bigger monsters were also encouraged to come in costume - so I did!  I've done other runs in costume, but hadn't done a tutu yet.  But they are getting really popular, so I thought, why not?

The tutu itself is incredibly simple and offers a lot of variation for costumes, theme runs, and similar silliness.  The craziest part?  People will charge $30 or more to make them, when they are SO simple to make yourself!!  So (being the cheap, crafty type that I am) I set about doing some research (Pinterest, of course) and buying some tulle :)

What you will need:

• Tulle - you'll need 2-8 yds of tulle.  Comes in tons of colors, as well as shiny and glittered varieties.  I used 2yds each of 3 colors (black, purple, shiny orange).

• It's an inexact science to figure out how much you need, but rule of thumb: More tulle = Fluffier tutu.
• You probably want the finer mesh tulle - less scratching as you're running.  But, personal preferences and all that.
• ALTERNATIVE: tulle ribbon.  These are found in the wedding/floral sections of the craft stores.  Probably need about 4 spools, judging from other instructions I found out on the Internet.  I just used tulle off the bolt - required more cutting, but cheaper and had the colors I wanted.

•  Ribbon - long enough to go around your waist and tie securely.

• ALTERNATIVE: elastic.  1/2 to 1 inch wide elastic works just fine.  Don't really want to go narrower than that - you are running in it after all, and want it to be at least a little sturdy. If you're using elastic, you'll also need needle and thread.

• Scissors 

What you do next:

1.          Cut your tulle into strips about 4 inches wide.  The strips are attached to the skirt band doubled over, so you'll want the strip lengths to be twice what you want the skirt length to be (i.e., if you want a tutu 9 inches long from the waist, cut 18 inch long strips). 

• If you are using tulle-on-a-spool, that's easy - it's already at the width you want, so you'll just cut it to the length you want.  Remember - 2x the length of the skirt.
• If you are using tulle from the bolt, fold the piece of fabric so that it is length you want, and then cut into strips.  

2.          I cut all my strips, and kept them grouped into piles by color.  I held one strip of each color in each bundle that I attached to the ribbon.  Other variations I saw made their skirts striped, so each bundle is one color only, alternating colors around the band.  All in your preference.

3.          To attach the bundles of tulle, you tie it on using your choice of knots.  Some instructions just tied on the tulle with an overhand knot, but most used the Lark's Head knot (even if they didn't know what it was called).  The Lark's Head is the 'up, over, and pull-through' knot, about as simple a knot as you can get.  Yay for learning this stuff in Girl Scouts!  I'm not going to explain it any more, because there are tons of clearer directions out there with videos and diagrams and all (including in one set of the instructions below), so I'm sure you can find one that is clear to you. 

4.          Since I was doing a no-sew version, I was attaching my tulle to a length of ribbon, long enough to go around my hips and tie.  I started attaching my tulle in the middle of the ribbon and worked out from there, adding bundles on each side.  The more tightly squeezed in your knots are, the more tulle your skirt will have, and the puffier it will be. 

5.         Keep adding tulle until you run out of space or of tulle.  I had ended up not cutting my strips evenly, so I had more orange and black than purple.  I added a few bundles of black and orange (and even just a few orange-only), but they blend right in.  There's so much color and movement in the skirt anyway, that a little unevenness like that won't show :)

6.         Ta-da!  You're done!  Go tie it on and have some fun :)

Other references I used (there are 1,000,001 different instructions for tutus out there; these are a few I looked at for research, in no particular order):

• Idiot Runner Girl 
• Sparkling Fashion 
• The Hair Bow Company
• Hyvaa Paivaa Textiles (don't worry, it's in English)
• My Happiness Redefined
• Cut Out and Keep
• Healthful MD - very good description of the Lark's Head knot too, if you're unfamiliar with it.

And then the race itself!  

The skirt was the final piece in my costume which also included striped knee-high Halloween socks and a hairband with a tiny witch's hat.  So cute, and only $1 at Target!

 

If anyone asks, I chose the ribbon with the apples because witches and poison apples and the whole deal.  But really, it was the first one I grabbed out of my stash that didn't clash completely :)

Thoughts?

• Fun, ridiculously silly, ridiculously easy - win win win!
• There are tons of ways to customize these suckers.  As I said above, you can make them striped or color-blocked, depending on how you arrange the colors.  You can add ribbon to add some contrasting color, or use strips of fabric or wide ribbon instead of the tulle to make a different kind of skirt altogether (swishy, rather than poofy).  And just playing with the colors of tulle, there are tons of options: I've seen ones with different holiday color schemes, ones for each of the Disney princesses, red ones with large white spots as part of a Minnie Mouse costume, blue ones with large stars as part of a Wonder Woman costume, lots of pink and purple ones for fairies, green ones for Tinkerbell... the list goes on and on.
• I don't know if I'd be able to run longer than a 5K in the costume I used on Saturday.  I was pretty pleased with my race time and I like the skirt, but the tulle can get bunched between your legs as you run.  I did have to walk a few moments during the last mile to rearrange my skirt.  In the future, I'd either need to make it shorter, so that it sticks out more than it drapes, or wear running tights - which it was definitely too warm for on Saturday... yay Texas :(
• All in all, though, a fun project and a fun race!

Oh So Pinteresting Wednesdays: Race Medal Displays - The Projects

So, after all this, allow me to show you what I turned out for myself.

I made one for myself, and have supplies for a second very (well, fundamentally) similar one.  It's a basic shelf with a few picture frames slots and a flat surface below where I can add hooks to hang medals.  I was really searching hard for something like this, because I wanted a chance to show off pictures (I've got some great ones of me or me and friends/family at races or other runs) and I wanted the shelf for my (2!) trophies.  This one I found in Ross, of all places. 

 

I sanded it down a little, primed and painted.  My craft room has a lot of that teal color, but I wanted to be able to hang this wherever, not just in that one room.  I removed the hooks it came with and used mug hooks instead, measuring out staggered rows to fit in as many hooks as I could.  In some of the instructions I've seen, the writer painted the cup hooks first, but I liked the brass with the dark paint, so one less step for me.  I did have to use the drill to get the holes started, but after that, I could just twist in the hooks by hand.

 

Altogether, my supplies looked like:

• Primer (in stash)
  
• Paint - Rubbed Bronze (in stash)
• Mug hooks (Home Depot)
  
• Picture shelf (Ross)
• Lots of sandpaper

So, after lots of sanding and painting and drying time, the hooks are on the shelves, the shelves are on the wall, and the medals are on the hooks.  Look nice, don't they?  And it costs way less than one of the purchased ones, leaving me extra proud of myself :)

 

You can see better in the second picture the actual size of it all, more of the wall to put it in context.  There's a little wall at the landing at the top of our stairs which is the perfect size for this.  Oh, and Zach's medals are up there as well as mine - he's got bragging rights too!

Oh So Pinteresting Wednesday: Race Medal Displays - The Research

This week, my Pinteresting project involves my race medals.  Race swag accumulates like no one's business.  Bibs, medals, assorted other paraphernalia... little mementos of these events.  And of course, you want to show off the important ones.  I've always simply pinned my medals into the wall, stacked neatly in a column down a thin section of wall (like at a doorway or something similar).  But I've been thinking more about a neater way to do it.  More transportable (we do move a good bit, after all) and fewer holes in the wall.  And yes, maybe a little easier to add new medals to, since I'm kinda particular about how neatly things are hanging.  

So, after a bit of research via Google, etsy, and Pinterest, I found some ideas for DIY medal and bib number hangers.

At airplanes and treadmills (now Janelle Runs), she put together a joint bib/medal display.  I really like the paint effect, but I'm not big on the chalkboard paint.  I'm just not big on chalkboard paint in general, though.  It's one of those things sooooo-very-common on Pinterest that I just don't do.  Like burlap and mason jars.  Still, she gives very clear directions, which I definitely like.

Pavement Runner has directions for basic bib and medal displays (separate pieces, not a combination one like above).  She stenciled her displays, instead of the reverse stenciling (is that the right term?) like at airplanes and treadmills.

The girls at Southern Color have directions for a simple display - one number and a medal or two.  Seems like it would feel cluttered with more, but for displaying goodies from one particular race, I think it'd be a nice option.

Jenny over at Love Eat Run gave her directions for a photo display medal hanger.  I really liked this one.  And, as I've mentioned before, mile 11 pictures seem to work well for me, plus I've got some post-race pictures I really like too.  Yes, I definitely have some photos to display as well as the medals.

Liz Runs has another DIY option I really like.  She took a basic coat-hanger-with-shelf and added a few more hooks to make a simple display.  I like the shelf option here - an easy place to put a few trophies or a certificate, or an additional picture or two.

Running with the Girls has a different option altogether, though no instructions.  A gift from one of her running buddies was a medal display which looks like it was based off of a decorative small curtain rod.  A little different from the other options I've found, which focus on pegs instead.  Too bad there aren't instructions, but it was a gift, after all.  Found a similar one on etsy at Inspirational Piece - still no instructions, but a little bit bigger picture.

Finally, if after all this, you're still not sure you want to make your own version, there are numerous places online to find neat displays.  

• Gone for a Run has some lovely metal ones (my favorites are the I Run This Town series)  A nice point to this style is the extender bars - definitely a plus.  Gone for a run also has clips for the ribbons, to pin back extra ribbon as they are hanging on a display - a little more subtle than paper clips or binder clips!  The custom display option is there, as well.
• Sport Hooks (Heavy Medalz) has a whole bunch of Rock & Roll Marathon Series displays.  Yes I do have a couple of R&R medals (3 VB, 1 AZ, 1 San Diego) but I have a lot of other race medals too.  And yes, it would bother me to be hanging other medals on a R&R display.  I'm like that though - it would also bother me to have half medals on a rack labeled for full marathons, and vice versa.  Still, they are neat looking displays.
• Allied Medal Displays has some more very pretty, sleek metal options.  I really like their 50 States-50 Marathon designs (or 50 Half Marathons, too).  And the "give a girl the right pair of shoes" one too.  They also do custom displays.  Of course, custom = more money.  The eternal trade-off.
• In View Designs is more of the shadow-box style display, instead of wall-mounted racks.  A little different, but still pretty nice.
• Made 4 Medals has another different style of display.  This one might be easy to recreate, too.  I like this one, too, as it's a bit neater looking than simply hanging the medals.  Maybe one day I'll sit down and try to figure out how to do it.
• There are tons of etsy options (a quick search just now for "marathon medal display" turned up over 200 results). They have ones from metal workers, wood carvers, crafty types... you name it. 
• Running on the Wall is an etsy shop I particularly want to point out - TONS of varieties of displays.  They've got lots of different size and color and quote combinations.  Other sports are available too (triathlon, swimming, hockey, wrestling, custom...).  I particularly like their "13.1: Only Half Crazy" one :)
• Running Hutch has another purchase-able option - a belt or tie rack.  The one she found also has a shelf on it, for pictures or trophies.
• Anchors Aweigh doesn't list instructions or sells them herself, but this is her Top 10 list of displays, and I liked a bunch of them, so I wanted to include the link.  My favorites are the funny ones ("I got suckered into another one" and "Whose idea was it to add the 0.2?")  
• Anchors Aweigh also had another Pinterest idea for race medals - making magnets from them!  I tracked down two sets of instructions - from Everybody Loves VD and from Deemed Legally Fit.  I don't know if I'd do this, though.  Several of my medals have really pretty ribbons, and a couple are reeeeeally heavy, so would need a bunch of magnets to keep them up.  And then, I write the date and time of the race on the back of the medal, too, so that I can remember and see my progress.  So, don't know if I'd ever make the medal magnets, but still a neat idea.

So now that I see where I want to go with this, let's get started!   (To be continued!!)

Crazy Colorful Fun!

I have now done a Color Run!

I've been wanting to do one of these for a couple years now, really since they first started getting popular.  With one thing and another, I just couldn't make one.  There are actually a bunch in the area, too.  Austin and Dallas both have them, if I don't mind driving.  Temple and Killeen both have them too, which was more surprising.  But between schedules and having people to run with, it just wasn't working out for me.  Normally having buddies on a race isn't a big deal for me, but with this one, it just seemed like a More-The-Merrier sort of thing.

So, we were planning on doing the one in Killeen this fall (November).  We still might, come to think of it!  But then we lucked out.  MWR on post puts on races regularly through the year, and the 4th of July race is one of their standards.  This year, they decided to make it a color run!  Couldn't pass that up!  So here we are, nice and clean white shirts, all ready to go. 

If you're going to do one of these, the pre-race picture is important - lets you see how very dusted you actually became!

The race itself was fun, but crowded.  It was by far one of the biggest turn-outs I've ever seen at an MWR event, let alone a race!  Everyone was taking advantage of it!!  There were so many people there, I wouldn't call it a race at all.  It was still a 5K (they just used the post's usual 5K course) but with all the people, and especially with so many kids and first time runners, it made quite a crowd to maneuver through, in spite of the wave start.  Even with the crowd, I'd say it's worth doing.  Especially if you can talk someone into trying a 5K for the first time.  All the colored powder and no timing definitely makes it a less intimidating introduction to running.  Anything to encourage people to be more active, right?

Despite what you might think looking at Zach's shirt above, the majority of the color doesn't come from the race itself (unless you make a special effort) but from the Color Party afterwards.  Zach got so very blue by being at the front of the first wave.  The volunteer color teams (those who throw the powder at the runners) were still VERY excited as he was running through.  The kids especially were having a blast trying to get the adults with the color.  Living in Texas, we don't actually get snow to speak of, so this is the closest we can come to a snowball fight and being able to legitimately throw stuff at one another.

 

As you can see below, the Color Party  leaves significantly more color on a person!  People got little bags of color as they finished (I think it comes in the race packets in an average Color Run).  And then at the party, the volunteers spray powder over the crowds (in the pictures above) and people toss their powder up (or at each other).  Everyone gets very colored!

Surprisingly (I suppose) for a crafty-type person, I did not try to set the color on my shirt.  Zach and I talked about it, but ultimately, I just washed it back to the basic white.  I took pictures, though!  You can probably see why I chose not to - the funny green stripe from Zach hugging me, and the sports bra-shaped void on the back are just kinda funny.  So, would rather have my basic black and white running shirt back.  Zach's shirt we didn't even try to salvage!  

 

The powder does wash out, eventually. My hat is back to black, and after a few washes, my shirt is white again too.  Maybe at the November race, I'll try and get a better "design" on my shirt and try and set it then.  We'll see!  :)

Colorado Trip: The Incline

I realize this was just a morning trip, but it's totally worth a post of it's own!

So, there's this little trail in Manitou Springs, just outside Colorado Springs.  The Incline is an old cable car track that's been disused and is just a trail now.  And it's pretty much the craziest trail I've ever set foot on.  This thing is just under a mile long, and goes up approximately 2,000 feet in that one mile.  It averages a 40% slope, and reaches a 68% slope at it's steepest.

As it clearly warns, this IS an extreme trail.  And yes, Zach is excited as all get-out to start climbing this thing :)

 

The steepest part, that 68% incline, is just before reaching the False Summit.  Yes, there is a False Summit.  Meaning, what looks like the top of the hill in almost all these pictures is really about 3/4 of the way through.  It levels out just a little, then goes back to a crazy incline to reach the top.  That little bit of leveling means that you can't actually see the true summit.  I knew it was there, and I still felt like crying when I saw how much further I had to go!

The view below is from atop the leveling at the False Summit.

I am a flat-lander, I will admit.  I was sucking some serious wind with the crazy elevation change on this trail.  That actually was what was getting me the most.  My muscles were holding up pretty well (though I did feel my legs the next day!), but I was having to stop very regularly to gasp for air.  I took just over an hour to scale the thing.  Zach took closer to 45-50 minutes (he was a bit ahead of me).  People who are used to the elevation will take under half an hour.

For me, it was like spending an hour on the most diabolical stair-climber ever invented.  I counted steps and made myself go a little further each time before stopping (am not fond of stair climbers, obviously).  When I'd stop to wheeze and try to catch my breath, I'd snap a few pictures.  So, yes, it is a fiendish stair climber, but it's a stair climber with an absolutely phenomenal view.

We made it!

Hooray!

You come back down via Barr Trail (the same one that goes all the way up to the top of Pike's Peak).  It's about a 3.5 mile round trip with Barr Trail too.  People do laps on it!  An older gentleman was doing laps while we were there.  Went up and down the Incline itself twice (he passed us), then after his third trip, he came back down Barr.  He passed us (again) on this trip down and told us, "Just didn't have a fourth one in me today!"  Crazy mountain folk!!  Course, if I lived out there, I'd probably be out there every or every other weekend, too.  Can't beat a great workout AND a great view!

Colorado Trip: Colorado Springs

So while in Colorado Springs, we had to see the sights.

The Air Force Academy. After Pike's Peak, it's one of the first tourist destinations people think of when they think of Colorado Springs. 

I love the symbolism in older or larger churches.  Part of why I love visiting cathedrals.  This one had its share as well.  Not as much religious symbolism in the overall building, since several faiths are served by the one building, but symbolism nonetheless.  The building uses a lot of aluminum, like the large cross in the Protestant Chapel.  The aluminum is meant to reference planes (Air Force Academy, after all).  And the backs of the pews have a strip of aluminum similar to the edge of a fighter plane wing.  The ends of the pews in the Protestant Chapel too, which are sculpted to resemble old airplane propellers. There are more specific examples in each of the individual chapel rooms, making it a very interesting building to visit.

 

Oh, and in the Catholic chapel there?  A statue built on a computer reconstruction from the shroud of Turin.  I couldn't get a picture of the statue itself, being in the chapel, but there's a view of the finished statue in the description below.  The display outside the room went into how they reconstructed the 3-D image from the shroud.  It was really cool!

 

Back into Downtown, a more unusual stop we made was the Money Museum, home of the American Numismatic Association.  C'mon - you knew we'd have some geeky museum stops too!  This one had some interesting exhibits, really, especially for someone who's collected coins for years.  They have a large permanent exhibit on the History of Money (yes, they have one of those giant rock coins) and the temporary exhibit was on money in the Civil War.  And did you know there is a Numismatist Hall of Fame?

The last real "sight" in town were the trail runs we took.  Colorado Springs is a brilliant place to live if you like being active and outdoors.  Besides the trails in the mountains just outside town, there are hiking and biking trails running all over the city.  Our friends live under a quarter mile from one of these, so several times during our stay we went out for a run to enjoy them.

With the hills in Colorado Springs, it's very easy to get up above the rooftops (or a lot of them, at least) and it gives you a great view.  Running at dusk meant that we got both gorgeous sunsets and wildlife coming out.  Kinda crazy turning a corner and seeing 9 deer just having dinner during your evening run!

 

 

After visiting my in-laws who live near a park and visiting our friends here, I have to say that having easy access to running trails is VERY high on my list of things to look for when we move next!