Scariest Train Ride Ever

Yes, I'll say it. I was scared. No one else in the family was even the least bit nervous, but there were times when all I could think about was falling. Or rolling all the way back down the mountain. It was awesome!

We started the day in The Garden of the Gods. Its a park, run by the City of Colorado Springs that consist of some very large protrusions of sedimentary rock, laid down by an ancient sea, something like 30 - 60 million years ago. We drove all through the park and walked a bit. We saw some beautiful rock formations. I thought a lot about geology and weathering the entire morning. It was a great way to spend a couple of hours. The pictures certainly don't do it justice. These rock formations were huge. I took one picture of Pike's Peak down there and then one of the Garden from the Summit of Pike's. They were huge!

After spending the morning, we drove through a wonderful little mountain town, Manitou Springs. It was one giant touristy, motel-town. We decided this might be a good place to come back to visit. Maybe a family reunion or just to hang out for a while. We went ahead and found where the railway station for the climb to the Summit was and then wasted some time just dreaming about where we could live if we bought the old gas station to convert into a Red Dirt BBQ location. 

We caught the 4 o'clock train to the Summit of Pike's Peak. I gotta say the climb was intense. I continually thought about mechanical failures. Fortunately, we were on the mountain side of the train; meaning we were not on the sheer mountain side. I might have had to move. The climb up was spent hearing about history and I was disappointed that there was no mention of Nikola Tesla; especially in light (no pun intended) of the fact that we passed the oldest known Hydroelectric Station west of the Mississippi River. (its well known this was one of his specialties.)

At the Summit (14,110 ft) we had Summit Donuts, a specialty, and a combination of water, hot chocolate, and cappuccino. I estimate the temperature was somewhere near 50 degrees with winds blowing about 15 mph. As we were dressed for 75 degree weather, it was a bit chilly. Being the ultra hot-natured folks that we are, we simply grinned and enjoyed it! We got to hang out on the Summit for about 25 minutes before the 1.5 hour long descent. We certainly enjoyed spending the day together. JC insists that yesterday (Rocky Mtn. Nat'l Park) was his favorite part of the trip, but I suspect he had a good time today. I think we all did. 

Don't forget to check out our new traveling companion, Rocky over at his blog, Rocky Travels.