Today was our explore Colorado Springs day. That started with a surprise pop in to see a friend who had moved there a few years ago. It was just a quick hug at her work, but I am happy we made the stop.
We made our way to Pike's Peak and paid the million dollars to drive ourselves up. My stupid moment came when I asked the 12 year old "park ranger" when I was supposed to put my car in Mountain mode. He said he had never heard of that. I said well, there is a mode that says M. He told me that meant manual. I felt like a fool
But then again, how could I just switch an automatic car to manual? There is nothing to shift. I stand by it meaning mountain.
Round and round we went up the mountain while watching the temp drop from the 90s to the 50s. All of a sudden, some worker is waving us over into a parking lot. Are we at the top? No. Still a ways to go. We get out, put on jackets, and try to find out what is going on. Apparently, this is a parking area and we now wait for a shuttle to take up to the peak. We paid to drive ourselves, so why this shuttle? We were told it was sleeting at the peak, yet our safety was not the concern. Actually, construction was being done up there and the equipment took up too much parking, so now, 80 year old women are driving people up in an oversized van. No thanks!! We chose to drive ourselves, we paid to drive ourselves, and we are not getting into an oversized van to drive thru the sleet to the top. We, mostly Loren, but we were MAD. No one told us this when we paid per person, even though we were in one vehicle, to drive to the top. Not to a parking lot 3/4 the way up.
We turned around and headed back down as it started raining. We did not want to be dangling off the side of the mountain in the rain. It was just a very disappointing experience.
Our next stop was Garden of the God's. This area is actually free. You read that correctly. Something was free. Because of this, it was also very crowded. We climbed on the rocks for awhile until the rain from the mountains caught up to us.
Deciding it was too late to continue on our journey, we found a Hotwire room and moved into our new home for the nite. A&W was close by, so we had a yummy dinner that we couldn't get at home.
The end of our travels is near. Tomorrow we start on the way home, so stay tuned.
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