Colorado Springs, CO (part 2 of 3)
Day 4 Monday June 5th
Cheyenne Mountain Zoo
As we ate breakfast and looked over our iternery and the weather for the day we changed our plans just a little and opted for a zoo day. There was a chance of storms coming in and it looked like a a good day for the Zoo.
Up Mountain we go! The reason for the name. It's built on the side of the mountain!!! And very cool. With each level you go up you see a different group of animals. As must see if you're in the area.
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The best part and the first thing you see when entering the zoo ate the giraffes. You are up above there play area and can feed them. It's fantastic and I was having way too much fun with this one!
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Past the Elephants and to the Bird Feeding!!
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Reptiles to the bears.
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Big cats to Monkeys
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We had purchased tickets to ride the ski lift to the top of the zoo back down but due to weather we were not able to ride it today. So we head back down to feed the giraffes one more time before heading back to our car.
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The zoo as a whole is amazing and so much going on.
Now with the zoo pass you also have access to the Will Rogers Shrine of the Sun. He (Will Rogers) was apparently good friends with the guy who created and owned the zoo. So as a tribute to his friend, he built this tower that overlooks Colorado Springs. Word of caution, if you are not crazy about hights you might want someone else driving this for you. The name of the road that takes to the tower is "sheer cliff road" and is aptly named!
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Once at the tower you can walk around the base and there are places that tell you what you are looking at. You can also climb a million stairs to the top of the tower and look out from up there.
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After making our way back down we were need of some refreshments. We had seen a little coffee shop earlier and went to check it out. Kangaroo Coffee. Let me tell you what. This was the most amazing coffee!! Everything is made by hand. And the baristas are totally chill and relaxed. They write nothing down and get the order right.
Time for dinner. We had heard of a place before we left for oyr trip and were very excited to try it out. The Airplane Restaurant. Yup, you guessed it. They actually have an airplane attached to the building and you can choose to eat in the restaurant or on the plane.
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We chose the plane and because we went before the dinner rush, we had the run of the place. As you wait for your food, you can go into the cockpit and mess with all the controls.
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Oh and food!!!! WOW!!!!
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After dinner, we headed back to the Garden of the Gods to check out Balance Rock. This place is so beautiful we could have easily spent the whole week just here.
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We headed back to the hotel to do a little swimming before we calked ita night.
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Day 5 June 6th
Museums
First stop, COFFEE!!! Back to Kangaroo Coffee!!
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Western Museum of Mining Industry. With a family history of miners, this was a very cool place to visit. To be able to see the tool my dad and grandpa had used. And oddly know what a lot of them were. We loved everything about this museum.
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While here and talking with the workers they had informed us of a bug museum that they thought our group of people would love.
We headed back to Colorado Springs for lunch. On our way back we stopped at Lookout Point where they were having some parashot jumpers.
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Lunch at King Chef Diner. We had originally tried toneat the castle but unforchonitlly they were down when we showed up. But they did direct us to there downtown location. They only accept cash (we knew ahead of time) and the food was melt in your mouth good!
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As we ate lunch we talked about the bug museum and found its location.
Quick walk around the square and loaded back up in the car.
As we got to the museum it started to rain and storm on us. A good place to stop …. right?!
May Natural History Museum. Home of the largest insect collection. So many creamy crawlies and more information that I cared to know about. From all over the world. And what you see is not even the full collections. So many Hibi-Gibes and ohh and awws all in one room! A total must see for sure!
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The storm had now passed so we headed back to old colorado city to do dinner at
Pizzeria Rustica were they make AMAZING fire brick pizza!
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A small walk around the block and with everything closed we knew we needed to come back when everything was open.
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Everyone was having a sweet tooth and we found an ice cream parlor in the downtown area. Josh & Johns ice creams. WOW!!!! All homemade and so creamy.
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Back to the hotel for a swim and end of the night.
Day 6 June 7th
Caves and Dwellings
First stop to the Cave of the Winds. This is a guided tour of the cave system. The history of how this was found is fascinating and to see the old smoke damage from lanterns when they would take people on tours is just crazy. They also take you to a blackout room where it's so dark you can't even see your own hand in front of your face.
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Next to the Manitou Cliff Dwellings. These are replicas of the homes they would build that you are allowed to crawl all over! Right up our ally!
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Lunch at the Colorado City Creamery and a walk around old Colorado city.
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We got caught in a rainstorm so had to go change out of our clothing and dry off. As the storm passed.
When everything quite we headed over to Red Rock Canyon across from Garden of the gods. They have lots of walking trails and it's not as crowded.
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For dinner we stopped at The Mason Jar. Where my nephew was FINALLY able to find sweet tea. HUGE dinner portions that we had to bring back with us!
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We called it a night for the journey home was starting tomorrow.
Continue to part 3
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