Roaring Through the Rockies, Day 9

We started off with a late start this morning. It was nice to be able to sleep in a bit. We got out of the room around 9:30 and headed to breakfast. One of the guys at the hotel suggested The Western Omelette. After looking at the reviews on Trip Advisor, I wasn't sure about this, because the other place that they recommended was just above this, and that place was not that great. We got there and ordered. Brenda got a "Harley" which was 2 eggs, 3 strips of bacon (extremely big, thick, bacon), and a plate size pancake. When they said plate size, they weren't joking. That thing was huge. I got an omelet with sausage and mushrooms. I also got their chili on the side. Now, remember this is not beef chili like one would think, this is sort of like a green chili gravy. I got the mild, which was actually hot, but very good. The waitress gave me a bit of the hot on the side, I was too wimpy to try it. She said it was made with habaneros, which was too hot for me. Regardless, I asked if we could ship some of this back home, which unfortunately we could not.

After breakfast we went to the Garden of the Gods. We drove around for about an hour or so, stopping to take some pictures and everything. We then went to the gift shop, then headed to Santa's Workshop.

The kids loved Santa's Workshop. The park included rides that one would typically find in a fair, basically a lot of rides that go around in circles sometimes very fast. We spent about 3 hours there until we did everything they had to offer.

After the workshop, we went to the Phantom Canyon Brewing Company for an early dinner. The beer was good, I had a bison burger, and Brenda had the regular burger. Both were very good, and the price was very reasonable compared to some other meals we have had on this trip.

Tomorrow, we are heading back to Denver in the morning to return the bike, then maybe go into downtown Denver, walk around the pedestrian mall, show my son where the Avalanche play, and possibly go see a movie. The vacation is definitely winding down.

Roaring Through the Rockies, Day 8

Today we made it to the top of Pike's Peak. My original plan was to ride to the top while Brenda and the kids took the cog railway. A couple of days ago, I was thinking about it more, and decided that I had not spent as much time with the family as I wanted to on the family vacation due to being on the bike. I decided to forgo the bike ride up the mountain and take the cog railroad with everyone. When we got to the top, I saw a couple of guys who obviously rode up, and I asked them how it went. Now, these guys definitely seemed like more seasoned riders than I am. They said that it was OK, except for the 5 or so miles of gravel due to the construction going on. Now, knowing how I felt at the top of Rocky Mountain National Park, with that construction, I was glad I made the decision to ride the train. Additionally, the guy I was talking to said it would be even more fun going down. We then both joked about staying in first and riding the clutch the whole way down.

I can also tell you that trying to walk around at 14,115 feet I definitely felt some altitude sickness coming on. I felt the shortness of breath and lightheaded, it was a sort of weird sensation, and as fascinated as I am with Everest, and the people that are able climb it, I can definitely understand why they would spend so much time at base camp just to get acclimated. The fact that base camp for Everest is 3,000 to 4,000 feet above the summit of Pike's Peak is just crazy. Oh well, that's what I get for living at sea level. Maybe I can continue to try to get Brenda to move out here so I can get ready to spend the night at Everest base camp.

Moving on, after we made it back down to the train station, we went over to Santa's Workshop. We decided that due to the time we would go back there tomorrow, since it would probably be a couple of hours to get through the park. We then came back to the hotel for the kids to go swimming for a little bit before we went to our dinner.

Our dinner tonight was at the Flying W Ranch. If you have ever been to the Hoop De Doo Revue at Disney, this is sort of like that, only not as campy. They offer a "chuck wagon" dinner, which is beans, applesauce, baked potato, your choice of beef or chicken (steak is a $7 upgrade), biscuit, and spice cake. The food was really good and filling (although my son actually went back for seconds). After dinner, they had their show, which was just four guys playing country music. The show was very good, and the whole family enjoyed it.

Tomorrow, the plan is to go to Garden of the Gods, then back to Santa's Workshop. After that we'll see what time it is and how everyone feels, and decide if we want to do something else like Cave of the Winds or the Olympic Training center. However, knowing the kids, we'll probably just come back to the hotel so they can go swimming.