Out West, Day 8

I am so sad to leave. While we hit everything on our itinerary, there's more I want to see. I know how silly this sounds, but before this trip Colorado to me was Denver. Now that we're here in Colorado Springs, I know it's so much more, and I can see why people love it out here. The scenery is beyond gorgeous, and everyone is so friendly.

We enjoyed the complimentary waffle bar in the common area of the Buffalo Lodge, and then packed up the car and headed for the Garden of the Gods. In no way was this what I was expecting. Everything is bigger out west so I should have known. I pictured a small-ish city park with a few rocks spread throughout, which is laughable now that I think about it.

Garden of the Gods is pretty, just like everything else out here. The red rocks reminded us of Sedona, and against the blue sky, they're just stunning. There's a paved road through the park with pull-offs to access trails and rocks for climbing. Fortunately it's Monday so we didn't have to fight crowds or traffic. I imagine on the weekend, traversing this park can be a nightmare.

Pikes Peak is visible from all areas of the park, and we had fun centering ourselves by looking for the "bald mountain." We hiked the 0.6 mile Siamese Twins trail, and took our picture with the twins with Pikes Peak in the background. Othere than that we just climbed rocks and took lots of pictures. We stopped into the visitor's center to the use the restroom, and I would have liked to spend more time exploring the exhibits.

By 11:30, we had to get going. We had plans to meet my internet friend, Suzanne, and her daughter for lunch at the Lazy Dog Restaurant in Aurora prior to going to the airport. Our flight wasn't until 6:30pm, but we wanted enough time for lunch, dropping the car off, and security. 

We had a non-stop, uneventful flight back to Pittsburgh and arrived a little early, around 11pm. I downloaded the southwest app and enjoyed watching our plane fly back across the country. I don't know what time we got home, around midnight maybe, and we basically dropped our bags and got ready for bed. I'm off work tomorrow to recover.

I can't believe our long-anticipated trip out west is over. We had a wonderful time and made the best memories. This is a trip all of us will remember forever. 

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