So this may be pretty lengthy. If you have dialup (does anyone even have dialup these days?), go make your self a cup of latte and while you’re at it, make a batch of cookies because it may take a while.

Unless you’re a skim-reader like me, or are not interested in photos from Colorado that are a whopping 7 months old.

There were 6 of us from Ohio and Georgia that flew out to be with our friend Twila who works at New Horizons Ministries. We flew into Colorado Springs, ate lunch and then headed to Focus on the Family for a tour. About the time we got there, it started raining. It rained. And rained. And rained. We putzed around the visitor’s center, taking in all of the interesting films/exhibits before slogging our way across the parking lot with umbrellas that FOTF lent us. We arrived in time for the tour, half-drenched and giggling!

They told us “it never rains like this” but on this day it did.

By the time we arrived in Canon City, it was no longer raining.

Where I live it is flat, flat, flat. So I found the hills with the mountains in the background quite intriguing.

And the desert was not what I was expecting. But beautiful anyway.

We spent several days at a house that had breathtaking, unbelievable views! The staff kept talking about the outhouse and being prepared for roughing it. We saw the twinkle in their eyes. We also new there was a hot tub around. 

The first morning we were there I woke up early (!) and soon was joined by Velma and Lois. We decided to see what wildlife we could find so we hopped in the van and headed out.

Does that not look unreal?!?!? It felt like we could reach out and touch the mountains. But we drove and drove and drove and didn’t seem to be getting any closer. We came around a bend and most of the range lay out in front of us.

This looks stretched and distorted but it is a pano stitched together from around 16 images.

Upon closer observation we saw a big group of bucks (mule deer?) crossing the ridge.

We watched the disappear and we headed back to the lodge to wake everyone else up.

There is just so much beauty surrounding this place!

The aspens were still quite green when we were there. That was a little disappointing because we had hoped we would be able to see lots of yellow.

One morning we headed out to do for the day and stopped at a quaint restaurant out in the middle of nowhere for breakfast.

We had a delicious country breakfast!! And the owners were just delightful! This is a painting that someone had done some years back of the Mr.

He was tall and lanky. Just like the books describe the cowboys. 

After driving around some high, curvy roads with no guardrails (shiver) we eventually made our way to Royal Gorge (double shiver).

If you’re wondering what that ^ is, it is edited to look like a miniature something-or-other.

Believe me, it was larger than life. We crossed over on the cable car. It swung in the breeze much to the discomfort of my stomach and eyes and everything else. When we got to the other side, they shut it down for a while because it was so windy. Thanks alot. Why didn’t they do that before we got on!!

I was amazed at how crossing over the bridge did not feel scary for me. I even had fun leaning over the railing to take pictures. But that night I kept having nightmares of being to close to the edge!

We took the tram down to the river.

It looks different from this perspective!!

Another day we crawled into the cutoff suburban and headed out to Skyline Drive.

After turning a hairpin curve we had the sudden sensation that the steering had gone out. But then we discovered it hadn’t and we all breathed a sigh of relief!

More views near or on the way to the house where we stayed.

We went out several evenings too to look for wildlife. We found some but it was hard getting good pictures without a better zoom.

It was so cool hearing the elk bugle!!

The last full day we were there, we headed several hours north to Estes Park. Wow. If we thought we were full-to-overflowing with breathtaking beauty, we were about to be out of oxygen for real.

Coming from an area that is around 100 feet above sea level, the thin air was something to get used to. This place was around 10,000 ft. give or take a hundred.

We drove around the town for a bit hoping to see more elk but that was the day they had chosen to be AWOL. The few shots I have above are the only ones we saw. And there was nearly a traffic jam where other people were stopping for photos too. 

There was a lovely quiet spot beside a lake that we hung out for a bit before heading back south.

So, there is a week’s worth of living in a very small nut-shell. I didn’t even begin to tell you of all the fabulous food

interesting conversations, games, birthday party for Twila (including some interesting looking ladies who showed up at midnight for the surprise party) and all the good things that come with being with friends! And a brief time spent with the Knepps, catching up with them. They were houseparents at the mission that I worked at in Northern Ontario way back when their kids were 10 and under. Now they’re working at the ministry in Canon City, or over in Thailand, or doing creative things like cutting off the top of the suburban as seen in the above pictures! 

It was a lovely time from beginning to end and it was so awesome to see such beautiful country.