From where the road turned to go further up the hill is where I stopped because I could see the city down below plus I was out of breath...the elevation does get to you after a while. The sun was starting to melt the snow and you could hear piles of it fall off the tree branches onto the ground.
I figured Fitzy might be on her way back from Pueblo now and Ben might be up so I meandered my way back down to the house. I finished getting myself ready for the day and Ben was up moving around and Fitzy did show up just after I got back down. I really didn't feel like making a huge breakfast so I settled for cereal. Fitzy said there was only soy milk so I dumped some of that on a pile of Kix. I also made some toast, had a banana and washed it down with some orange juice. Ben had the same thing but he had coffee with his. Fitzy and Chaise had omelets with a bunch of random stuff from the fridge sprinkled into it.
After breakfast everyone got themselves ready for the day. I asked Fitzy if we could go to Garden of the Gods and she said sure! That will be our first stop of the day. We all piled into the truck and stopped for gas along the way. We were not that far away from the park. The last time I was here was back in late winter 2012 when we came to Colorado to help Erika get ready to head into the Army. We drove down to the Springs and saw some stuff while we were here. We just drove the loop and saw some of the brief overlooks. This time we actually parked and walked part of the trail system that snakes its way around the rock formations. I knew Fitzy and Chaise have done this probably a few times so Chaise stayed in the truck while Fitzy walked around with us. I wanted to do a few geocaches while we were here. They were mostly virtuals and earthcaches and the questions were pretty easy. This place is absolutely stunning. Even after all the snow we got the day before.
I knew Amber lived nearby in Manitou Springs so we texted her to see if she wanted to come out to dinner with us later that night. She got back to us and said it would be great to come out and visit. I would text her later the time and the place. She wrote back, looking forward to it.
We found the plaque for Beautiful Garden of the Gods (GC7B73Y) and took a group selfie to prove we were here.
We walked around the corner to answer a few questions about three rock formations, Garden of the Gods-Three Graces (GC1GJ7K), Garden of the Gods-Sentinel Rock (GC1GJ7E) and The Love Struck Camels (GC2QQH4). All three wanted us to learn more about the geology of the area including the composition of rock, what layers and epochs they came from along with the color, texture, the outcroppings etc. I took pictures of the signs, the rocks in question and most of it I figured I could find online when I got home.
We walked back to where Chaise was in the parking lot. For the life of me I could not remember where the really cool overlook was from the first time I was here. We ended up driving past it unfortunately. We made one last stop at the famous balanced rock. It was much busier than the last time I came. We found a place to park and Ben and I got out and looked for a good spot to climb up. We had to be careful not to slip and fall. We got up to the top and took some pics. I checked to see what kind of questions we had to answer for The Amazing Balanced Rock (GC2QQGY) and we found all of them on the informational signs down below.
We got a few more pictures before we moved on to the next thing. We thanked Fitzy and Chaise for taking us to the park.
Fitzy wanted to take us out to Manitou Springs for some shopping. We parked in a small community parking area and walked to the shops. I told Ben about the last time I was here and we went and saw the cave dwellings and the Cave of the Winds...which was just right up the road. While we walked I checked out my caching app to see if there were any around the area. I saw an earthcache and a virtual we could do before we leave here.
The first store we went into was the Christmas ornaments store. There were literally thousands of ornaments. Anything you could think of was an ornament at this store. We spent probably a good hour inside here looking at the ornaments. Every year since Ben and I have been together we try to get a new ornament every Christmas with the year on it. I guess this is one tradition his family did when he was a little kid. We narrowed it down to a Seahawks and a holiday penguin one. We had the penguin one personalized and the year put on it for free.
Fitzy was really excited to take me into the next store. There was a giant duck out in front. She called it the duck store. There were thousands of rubber ducks inside. She added that for my birthday present I could select one of them to take home. It was so hard to decide because all of them were pretty cool. I ended up with the most plain duck on the shelf and he was awesome.
From there, we went into a couple of souvenir shops because I had to find mom a shirt. I got a few other things while she was deciding which one she wanted while I was on the phone with her. She figured out which one she wanted and I paid for my stuff and met everyone outside. Chaise found out his parents were out driving around and that we were going to meet them at The Keg in town. It turns out they were already at a place and had eaten. We finished our drinks, paid and headed back to the truck. We saw his parents inside the place they decided to eat at so they spent a few minutes hanging out with them.
Meanwhile, Ben and I hurried ahead and found two geocaches while they visited. The first one we did was a virtual called Too Tough To Quit (GCA58B). There were some informational boards we took information off of to answer questions about a large locomotive that was in front of us. I learned a lot about how important trains were in this area. It didn't take us very long to get the answers. We got our photo and we moved onto the next one inside the park.
I really enjoy doing hands on earthcaches. 7-Minute Spring (Manitou Springs) (GC2176K) was one of those hands on unique caches. We did everything it asked us to do except for ones that required the signs that were missing. We had to make the best of it by trying to find the answers online. We even tasted the water since it came from an aquifer as run off from the melting waters of Pike's Peak.
We got in the truck and headed into Old Colorado City to have a light lunch and drinks at the Alchemist. We parked at one of the free lots in town and walked the short distance to the bar. I saw there was a traditional cache nearby so I stayed behind to grab it while they went inside and grabbed a table. Ore You Ready?? (GC34V75). Finding the cache was quick, waiting for the crosswalk to change twice took the longest. I had to explain what I was doing to someone walking by and she knew what geocaching was.
I finally got across and met my people inside. Ben and I got beers and shared a bowl of mac n cheese. It hit the spot. We hung out there for a little while. I checked the caching app again and saw there was another virtual nearby within walking distance. We all paid for our food and drinks and walked down to the street towards Log House Virtual (GC9181).
We got the necessary information and our picture and then met Fitzy and Chaise across the street at La Baguette. They wanted a hot chocolate because it was pretty cold outside. I used the bathroom really quick and we headed back to where we parked the truck.
We got back to the house and chilled out for a while. I texted Amber again and she said she would have to take a rain check because she tried getting out of her driveway but got stuck in the snow and ice. She almost slide down her little cliff next to her driveway and had to have her neighbor help because Josh was on crutches. I told her it was too bad we didn't get to hang out but I understood. Fitzy and Chaise had a heck of a time trying to get the kids to do their chores, homework and practice their band instruments. They told them that they couldn't go with us to dinner if they didn't do all of their stuff.
We piled into two cars, Ben and I went with Chaise's mom and dad and made our way down to downtown Colorado Springs. It was freezing outside.
Fitzy chose Oskar Blues, a Southern food bar and grill. They sat us down and took our drink orders. I ordered the Blackberry Paws because it sounded good and I like trying out new fruity beers when they are available. We visited for a bit and then the waitress came by to take our orders. I ordered the salmon fish and chips. They were absolutely delicious.
I wish we wouldn't have had that late lunch earlier because I could barely finish it all and I really couldn't take it home with me since we were leaving tomorrow pretty early. Since it was my birthday weekend the waitress brought me a free dessert. Everyone sang happy birthday to me and we shared the dessert if anyone wanted any. Chaise's dad picked up the tab.
I definitely ate way too much and sleeping was going to be uncomfortable. We headed back home because the kids had to get ready for bed. I took a shower in the fancy shower one more time, got my pajamas on and got back in the room to organize our stuff. I put out what I was going to wear and packed up everything else. I wanted to sleep in as long as possible. I tossed and turned all night. Between being really full and really hot I slept like hot garbage. Tomorrow was going to come really fast.
Next Adventure: My 35th Birthday: Plane Ride Back to Seattle, Renewing Driver's License and Relaxing
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