Look Around At How Lucky We Are To Be Alive Right Now

 Day 2 of the Wild Wild West road trip! 

Today we explored Colorado Springs, Colorado. Our day started at 9 by filling up the gas tank, grabbing a quick breakfast at McDonalds and then headed to Garden of the Gods. If you are planning to go to Colorado Springs ever this is a must do. First of all... It's FREE! 

Your first stop should be the visitor center. They have an information desk where you can pick up a map, schedule a tour, buy souvenirs, pick up a snack or coffee, and use their clean restrooms. They also have a deck where you can look out at the beautiful rock formations. 

We headed over to Garden of the Gods park to start our day of exploration. It was our lucky day! A parking spot opened up right away so that we could walk the trails near all the major rock formations. Our map skills were put to the test as we searched for Kissing Camels. Of course we found many areas to take pictures, see wild life, and enjoy the beauty around us. We became mini-influencers... LOL! Celeste is AMAZING at finding the best places to take pictures. Usually, once our photos were done, there was a group behind us wanting the same picture. Here are a few of my favorites from the central gardens. 

Once we finally found Kissing Camels, on our way to the car because we had given up, we headed to our next destination. We wanted to find the Siamese twins formation and balanced rock. Well... we missed the turn in to the parking lot for the Siamese twins. No problem! Balanced Rock was coming up next then we could just circle around. Well... I turned to soon and we were on a red dirt road quickly climbing to higher elevations. When we were higher into the mountains we saw that someone dropped off a couch and rugs and a chair. WHERE WERE WE????? Well, once I saw the sign for "Narrow road 12 Miles" I knew we needed to head back down. Those 2 miles of driving on a scary twisting dirt road was enough! 

Not to bore you with more Garden of the Gods stories, we did end up seeing Balance Rock and we climb the trail to the Siamese twins lookout. I was very proud of myself. I don't do well with elevation climbs, stairs or loose rocks but I made it all the way up!! Celeste cheered me on the whole way and I would not have made it up there without her. 

After Garden of the Gods we headed to the U.S. Olympic Museum. When we go there we found out that parking was $15 dollars and entrance fees were $25 each. Umm... teacher salary here! So, we snapped a photo and found something else to do. 

I got on google and searched for top sights in Colorado that are inside. The Ghost Town Museum popped up and had a $1 off coupon! Fun for $6.50, yes please. Y'all!! It did not disappoint. It was small but they had so many great artifacts, facts, and stuff for the whole family. This is a must do if you have some extra time on your hands or if it is raining. You can even pan for gold. Here are a few pictures from the museum: 

After the museum we headed towards the Broodmore to try and visit the Golden Bee. It was closed... just like a lot of stuff we wanted to see today. Oh well! We decided to go to the Skirted Heifer in Downtown Colorado Springs. It was sooo good!! I had a cheeseburger, fries and a drink. Their specialty is that there is cheese that is fried around the burger patty. They also have craft sodas, homemade garlic focaccia buns, and they make their own custard and sauces. I loved the black cherry soda.

It was an amazing day of adventures! Follow along tomorrow night for day 3 of the Wild Wild West Road Trip!