Friday, August 19, 2011

Happy Birthday, Mark

Not only is today Mark's birthday, but, it is also our last day here in Woodland Park.  So, we wanted today to be special for both reasons.  The choice was obvious...

We took for the drive

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up Pike's Peak, America's Mountain.

We have been to the top of Pike's Peak many times, but the last several trips we took the

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Cog train, so this time we decided to drive the 19 miles to the top.

We made our way to the

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entrance and paid the fee.  Nothing left at this point except to make our way

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up,

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up, and

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up.

We passed

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lakes, drove

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through construction, and

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kept going up and around and around until we finally made it up to

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the summit.

  The temperature was 50 degrees and while we were at the top a

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dark cloud blew in bringing snow flakes with it, so...

time to head into the gift shop to browse around.  And, in lieu of a birthday cake, I treated Mark to the World Famous

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high altitude donuts and a cup of coffee.

When at the top, you know why the words of America The Beautiful were penned from here in the late 1800's.   And, when we were content with soaking in all

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of that beauty, we started our decent.

Going down is a lot quicker than going up...

We were cleared at

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the the brake check to keep going and soon, we were almost

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to the bottom.

We then made our way through Manitou and on into The Springs.  Our destination was the mall for a little birthday shopping.  Mark got 4 pairs of socks and I got a new pair of Oakley sunglasses.

Great birthday, great day!

Tomorrow, we will be traveling about 100 miles to Golden, Colorado.  We are looking forward to spending the weekend with my nephew and his little boy.  I am sure there will be an adventure or two to report from there.

And, by the way, to answer the comments from yesterday's post...the orange things on the grill were peaches and they were delicious!

7 comments:

  1. Looks Awesome!! We opted not to take that drive, since I was already having trouble with the elevation.
    I so had hoped that we could meet while we were both there, but I had no way to contact you except through comment.
    Maybe we will meet up somewhere sometime.
    Looks like you enjoyed your visit to Woodland Park area, just as we did.
    Sheryl and Jeff Bright brightswheelife.blogspot.com

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  2. Happy Birthday Mark, see y'all next week.

    Stay Safe

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  3. Grilled peaches are delicious! Happy Birthday Mark and I'm thinking Dortha got the better end of your birthday with a new pair of Oakley sunglasses!

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  4. Happy Birthday Mark!! Looks like you two celebrated in a grand way!! :-)

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  5. Thanks for taking those great pictures! What a wonderful view and SNOW to boot. Travel safe!

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  6. great day at Pikes Peak!!..and Happy Birthday to Mark!!

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