Every year in March the Bugarin family, Jay's parents, make a trip to Mexico and California to visit family and attend family events. This year unfortunately we were not able to go with Jay's parents. With me in school full-time and Jay working and going to school it just didn't work out. We were bummed and still are but hope to make it out there next year. So alas, we decided to take a vacation that was closer to home. We decided on Colorado Springs.
We headed to the Springs on Tuesday March 16th and had a nice drive, other than Aiden telling us how long the ride was and he wished he could watch a movie in the car. I decided not to bring it because its only a 2 hour drive I guess next time I will be bringing the DVD player.
After making it into Colorado Springs we checked out our hotel and went to the bathroom but couldn't check in because it was too early. So we headed to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. The zoo was AWESOME. It is so close to the famous and historic Broadmore Hotel and has incredible views. The zoo is literally in the mountain which makes for a great setting but LOTS of hiking.
The first thing we did was feed the giraffes. There are animal-type graham crackers you can buy and feed the giraffes. It was slimy and wet but tons of fun. Aiden was a bit hesitant at first but once he realized they weren't going to bite him he was happy to feed them. We then headed thru the whole zoo and got quite a work out in. We were fortunate to see the tigers playing with each other and wrestling and then playing with a big barrel in the pond in their habitat. It was fun to see them so active. 
One cool thing they have is a gondola ride up to the top of the mountain from which you can get an overhead view of the zoo and the animals and the incredible views of Colorado Springs. When we went it had just snowed a few days earlier so there was still snow on the ground and most things were brown but it was still beautiful. All in all the zoo is a definite MUST see and we will be coming back!!!
Since we were already up into the mountains we decided to hit up Seven Falls. It was only about 5 or so minutes from the zoo and was AMAZING! Unfortunately since it was still spring much of the falls were frozen and all the hiking paths were closed but we were still able to climb the 224 stairs to the top. Thats right, it was quite the trek to get to the top and it was not easy. Aiden thought it was though. He has too much energy sometimes. We made it to the top and took some pictures and then headed down. Well if you've never gone down 224 steps in a nearly vertical angle let me tell you it is not easy. I had to look down and count to keep myself calm enough to not trip and fall. Jay had a fun navigating the stairs with Aiden on his back. When we finally made it down, a nice couple had taken a picture of Jay and Aiden making it down the stairs and wanted to know if we wanted them to e-mail the picture. We were so grateful and exchanged e-mail addresses and chit chatted for a few minutes. We finished by buying some post cards and then headed back the hotel for FREE dinner and to check in.
The hotel was great. It served FREE breakfast and dinner and had an indoor pool that Aiden had to try out the minute we finished dinner. We had fun hanging out and swimming for an hour or so and then headed back to the room to change and head out to the malls so Jay could go shopping. :) What can I say? Jay loves to shop. However I am the only one that bought anything at the mall. Funny. At the mall as we were leaving though, these cute Asian men approached us and invited us to get a massage because we looked tired. How did they know? :) Well both Jay and I are suckers for massages so we obliged and each received a 12 minute chair massage while Aiden watched and ate a HUGE lollipop. After that we were ready for bed.
The next day we headed to Maniou Springs to check out the Cliff Dwellings there. They were so cool and were quite the structures. I have never been to anything like it and really liked seeing and reading about the history of the people who built them and lived there. However there aren't very many so it didn't take more than 30 minutes to see it all. So we headed to Cave of the Winds. That was GREAT. The cave is massive and we all really enjoyed seeing and learning more about it and how it was discovered.
After this we headed back toward the hotel and got something to eat and then headed to the movie theatre to see Alice In Wonderland in 3D. We really enjoyed the movie and were happy to just be together. We then headed back to the hotel to go swimming again before the FREE dinner and just hung out in our room and went to bed.
Our last day we checked out of the hotel and headed to the Olympic Training Center and took a tour. It was really neat to see the facilites and learn all about what kinds of athletes train there and how many. We even saw some olympic hopefuls during the tour. Colorado Springs is really an ideal place to train. It is beautiful, in high elevation, and in Colorado, the BEST state there is, right?
All in all we had a great time and were grateful for the time we had together and time away from school and work.
1 comment:
How come we haven't done this with you ???? I wanna PLAY!!! What is it with you people... playing and eating and enjoying life... You are the best... Love you tons
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