Colorado (July 2010)

A weekend trip to Colorado to enjoy the mountains. I spent the day in the mountains and evenings in 16th street mall in downtown Denver. This was my first summer trip to Colorado (my previous Colorado trips have been in the winter for skiing and Campus Crusade for Christ's Denver Winter Conference).

July 16
Arrived in Denver in the late afternoon and checked into the Sheraton Denver hotel in downtown Denver. This hotel is along the 16th street mall, a great place to find restaurants. It has a great gym with lots of weight machines.

July 17
I joined a tour group for a day trip to Colorado Springs. The tour started with a visit to the Air Force Academy. Admission is highly competitive and prospective students are strongly encouraged to commit to applying when they are freshmen in high school. The Air Force Academy emphasizes building leadership as well as training to serve. Next was a visit to the Garden of Gods. My favorite sites were the Kissing Camels and the balanced rock. Afterwords, I had lunch at the Trading Post, where there was a reserved table for my tour group with our own wait staff - very nice touch. Next was the highlight of my tour - climbing Pike's Peak via the cog railway. The train ride was very scenic and we had a knowledgeable, friendly tour guide who gave many details on what we're seeing. At the summit, the weather was sunny so I got to enjoy very nice views. There was a small house on the summit, which consists of a gift shop and food court. I got the donuts (recommended by the train tour guide) fresh out of the oven and they were delicious. Important note: in 1893, Katharine Lee Bates, a college professor, took a trip to the top of Pike's Peak. There, she wrote a poem which became America the Beautiful. Two warnings about going to the top of Pike's Peak: dress in layers (the summit is 30 degrees cooler than the bottom) and drink water to minimize altitude sickness.

July 18
I joined another tour group for a trip through the Rocky Mountains. I sat in the first seat on the tour bus, to get the best views. The young lady sitting next to me is from Russia and we helped each other out with taking pictures of ourselves in front of the beautiful mountains and scenery. First stop was at a river in Idaho Springs. At a Conoco gas station near Dumont, I bought a Blueberry Xing Tea. This drink is very rare but my friend Chad loves this drink - he is always drinking one when I see him. The Xing tea is good, and uses no high fructose corn syrup. Now I can understand why Chad loves blueberry Xing Tea. Next, we climbed the mountain to Berthoud Pass. We then visited Lake Granby and had lunch at Grand Lake. The remainder of the tour was a scenic drive through Rocky Mountain National Park. For all pictures in Rocky Mountain National Park, start with this picture (number 33) - pictures 33 to 71 in this album are of Rocky Mountain National Park.

July 19
I spent the day in downtown Denver before taking an evening flight home. I took a tour of the Colorado capital and climbed 99 steps to the observation level of the golden dome. Yes, the dome is made of real gold. I then concluded my Colorado weekend trip with visits to Cathedral of Immaculate Conception and the Firefighter museum. The firefighter museum has some information about fire stations and what firefighters do, as well as historical fire fighting vehicles including a historic fire truck, from the 1950s, that still works - a museum staff person drove the truck into the garage.