Colorado Vacation – Day 11

Day 11:

• Left camp around noon after lunch and a nap
• Visited the Manitou Cliff Dwellings
• Went to the Cave of the Winds, but decided not to take the tour
• Visited the Royal Gorge
• Dinner in Canon City
• Returned to camp

Today we got a later start since we slept in. After we both had showers, Evan had a nap, and we had lunch, we set off for the day. The DML guys had a long day of offroading planned, but we passed on that. As I type, it’s almost 10pm and they haven’t returned yet. Evan wouldn’t have handled that trip very well.

Our first stop was the Manitou Cliff Dwellings. There wasn’t an awful lot there, but we explored it all and visited the museum and gift shop. Evan had a good time- we let him climb the stairs and walk around a lot. Our next stop was the Cave of the Winds. When we saw what the length of the tour, the conditions, and the price were, we decided to move on. We weren’t sure Evan would enjoy that, and there didn’t seem to be a bail out plan.

Finally, we journeyed to Canon City and visited the Royal Gorge. The way it works is that you pay your admission and all the activities, etc. are free. We took the incline railway to the bottom and back, walked across the bridge, hopped on the trolley, saw the far side of the park, and returned. I was there many years ago as a kid, but the only thing I remembered was looking down between the planks on the bridge and seeing down 1000ft. They let cars drive across it, though they have to weave between pedestrians. When a car passes, it rocks the boards you stand on, which I’m sure bothers some visitors.

Since it was getting pretty late, we grabbed a bite to eat at a Mexican restaurant in Canon City and headed back to camp. Evan went to bed, and overall had a pretty good day.

• A group of Hawaiian teenagers at Royal Gorge – they wanted to know what “rappelling” was, since there’s a spot on the bridge where a guy rappelled over 1000 ft down.
• A flatbed loading a late-model F250 on 24W. It looked like it had problems pulling a giant 5th wheel up the pass
• Sunset over Pike’s Peak after a rain storm
• Manitou Cliff Dwellings, and Evan in an oven (an old clay reproduction)
• Petroglyphs at the Manitou Cliff Dwellings
• A giant pile of wood – the DML ordered $100 worth
• The skycoaster at Royal Gorge, and many insane people paying money to swing out over the edge of the canyon
• Hummingbirds at Royal Gorge (we saw dozens at a time in Estes Park
• Many canopies at DM HQ collapsed or collapsing from the rains