The next stop for the Airstream on our road trip was Colorado Springs, or “The Springs” as the locals here in Colorado call it. We had originally only planned on staying there for two days but ended up extending it to four. I am glad we did because we ended up really enjoying it. We had four great days full of adventures and fun with new friends.
The drive into Colorado Springs was a welcome escape from the traffic around Denver. Colorado Springs is the second largest city in Colorado behind Denver, but the two feel nothing alike. We stayed at an RV park in Manitou Springs, which is a funky little mountain town right outside of The Springs. Right after unhitching the Airstream, we jumped on our bikes and headed into town to check the town out and find some food.
We found an awesome Mexican place where we could sit outside and enjoy the beautiful Colorado Springs weather. After that, we biked around Manitou Springs and found a cool store that made outdoor furniture out of old skis. We also found an old “penny arcade” where most games still cost a couple quarters. We ended up talking to the owner of the arcade and he had some really interesting stories. He was quite the entrepreneur. At one time he owned 79 arcades around the country and still worked every day at this one. I love meeting interesting folks like this on the road.
On our first full day in the Springs, we decided to go climbing at Garden of the Gods after the kids finished school for the day. Garden of the Gods is a park with huge orange sandstone rock formations climbing out of the shrubs and trees of the dry landscape. Pikes Peak towers over the park in the distance providing more drama to the scenery. I loved finally getting to pull the gear out of the truck and get climbing again. We all had a great time even though Jamie was a bit nervous being up there on the rock again. After climbing, we met some new friends (relatives of some friends of ours back home) at a whiskey distillery. They had kids the same age as ours and everyone had a great time together.
Since we had so much fun at dinner the previous night, we decided to get back together with our new friends the following day as well. They invited us over to their house to hang out that afternoon. All of our kids had a great time playing together on kayaks, on video games, and having hex bugs races. Jamie and I hung out with the parents and they cooked us a great meal of tacos – you can never eat too many tacos. We felt like we had a social life again! It’s times like these that remind us of some of the things we miss while out on the road. We all hope we get to hang out with them again sometime soon.
The next morning, I woke up around 3:45 to go climb Pikes Peak. Jamie drove me to the Barr Trail trailhead about 10 minutes from where we parked the Airstream and dropped me off. The hike was going to be pretty hard. It was about 13 miles long and had 7400 feet of vertical elevation gain.
I hiked the first couple of hours by headlamp but could look over the city of Colorado Springs all lit up in the distance. The sunrise was absolutely gorgeous. In one direction, I could see the sun peaking over the horizon and in the other Pikes Peak glowing orange from the new light. The trail eventually poked out above treeline to a rock landscape that looked like something I imagine you would see on another planet. The hike got pretty hard as it got steeper and the air thinner. Jamie and the kids drove and took a shuttle to the top to meet me. I loved seeing them at the top and getting to enjoy the mountain with them. I finally got to check off climbing a 14’er off my bucket list.
We really enjoyed our time in Colorado Springs. The combination of good scenery, fun adventures, and great people made our stay there a memorable one. We only scheduled two days there originally because we did not think it was a place we could live. Skiing is too far away for the Springs to qualify as a “perfect” place we may want to live one day. I think that may have been too quick of a judgment. After all, Breckenridge is only a two and a half hour drive away!
Did you see Lightening McQueen and Tow Mater? 😂