I'm going back in time to summarize the past few days and fill in the gaps. First up, Seven Falls where the theme of the morning was stairs galore. They don't need the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs...substitute instead 224 grueling stairs and you've got yourself quite a workout especially if you repeat it. I hear people have been up them in the winter. Not for the clumsy of foot! Some attractions take your picture at just the right moment. The facial expressions and body stance at the top of the 224th stair would be memorable...or not. The kids highlights here were seeing a neat bird called the Stellar Jay. The local chipmunks are out in force and you have to watch where you step sometimes, as they shoot right by your feet. The kids had as much fun watching these as seeing the spectacular scenery. You can even come back at night and see the falls lit up in a rainbow of colors but we chose to see it in its natural state. The trout feeding pond was fun and a resident mama duck with two chicks in tow hung nearby and one duckling was more daring flirting with the edge of a mini falls and dining there.
The zoo was fun as always you see a new animal...for us it was the atipi and coatmundi. Petting a giraffe was awesome as well as the location nestled in along the mountainside. Just after arriving Clay commented, "this stinks"....you'd think it was his first visit to a zoo and that he didn't recall animal smells.I think we could easily have spent a week or close to it in the Springs as there's always so much to see and do here...we missed many of the indoor locations such as: The Money Museum, Pro-Rodeo Hall of Fame, Western Museum of Mining, Olympic Training Center...just to name a few!
Lastly Colorado Springs is not complete without experiencing their famous Chuckwagon Dinner, an out West must do. This place, The Flying W Ranch has been in operation now for 58 years. Like cattle massive amounts of people are sent through a line and over 1,000 people are promptly fed a platter of western staples: beans, beef, biscuit, spicecake, lemonade/coffee, chunky fresh applesauce. The venue is located outdoors in a beautiful location with huge rocks framing in the background. Thankfully the weather proved wonderful the whole evening through and we didn't have to relocate 1,000 people indoors. Judging by their efficiency though and impending rain I'm sure it would have been a fast move. It was quite nice to sit outdoors. On my first visit as a teen we were driven inside by the rain. You sit at picnic tables with others assigned with you. We sat with a family from MN who were self proclaimed rednecks (didn't look like it) but as we talked we found out they hunt everything and the wife got a 300 lb. bear a few years back that made the news in MN. Following the dinner the music and cowboy comedy followed. The kids thought it all was great. If we come back I know they'll want to come here again as they left singing songs afterward...especially "The Opposum Dies Tonight (the Opposum fries tonight) instead of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight"
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