We woke up in Estes Park and broke down camp. Today we would all move to Manitou Springs (south of Denver) for the remainder of our week with Grams and Pop. We got everything all ready to leave, including hitching the RV to the truck. Grams and Pop came to the campground and we all went to The Egg and I for breakfast. Grams and Pop went here before we arrived and liked it so much they wanted to go back. As soon as we got there we understood why. The menu selection, service, food and coffee were all absolutely incredible. It was a perfect way to end our time in Estes Park.
We headed to our next destination, Manitou Springs. When we pulled in over the small bridge into the campsite the wife owner walked over to our rig to greet us name. The spots here were very close together. She let us know her husband would help us get into our spot and boy did he ever. He had us roll down our windows and he literally walked us through it step by step, telling Adam exactly what to do (quarter turn to the left, half turn to the right) while he walked with us holding onto the side mirror. His talent for this was amazing and we were so grateful. If left to our own devices it would have taken us forever and I am not sure we would have been able to get ourselves in. He realized our trailer would need to be raised to level on the driver side and got a board to put down for us. Once we were in they hooked up our electricity and water (no other campsite provided this VIP service). I took the girls to the restroom and the husband told us their very important policy. Kids get one free ice pop each day. As soon as they heard this they wanted to get theirs right away so we went into the office and the wife gave each of them a freeze pop (they chose which ones they wanted) and they were so happy.
This time Grams and Pop were staying 20 minutes away from our campsite in Colorado Springs. The weather was chilly and overcast so we decided it would be best to go to the Olympic Training Center for a tour. The facility here was so cool. Just past the lobby they had enormous pictures of some of the athletes, including Apolo Anton Ohno who lived and trained here, with a quote from each of them on their photo. They also had the Olympic uniforms from several sports on display, including gymnastics, which made us all think of my niece Taylor who lives for gymnastics and is exceptionally talented.
Our tour started with watching a very interesting film about the facility. Then our tour guide named Taylor (we all thought that was such a funny coincidence) took us around. We started out at their newest building. It was a state of the art gym with everything the athletes would need to train. Taylor explained one of the reasons this location was chosen was for the altitude. Since it is harder to breathe at high elevations training here would help them to be ready for any climate and altitude.
Briefly after the tour started we saw Dakarai "Doc" Kongela working out. He and Taylor have a very strong friendship and he came out to talk with us. His personality was incredible and he seemed like a very fun loving, hard working individual. He currently is the back seat in 4 man bobsledding. But he is transitioning to skeleton bobsledding. This is a one man bobsled where you go down face first. He told us how early on as he was on a practice run he hit his chin and it was gushing blood. He had to continue the run and as he was the blood was pooling inside of his helmet. When he finished he asked for a medic, took off his helmet and was dripping blood everywhere. The medic closest was a student and wasn’t quite sure how to handle this much blood. So Doc told how he walked him through helping him. Once it was patched up he went to the hospital for stitches. His first practice run after this was healed he did the same thing again. He is very strong, mind, body and spirit, and this never phased him or shook his determination.
He went back in to continue training and Taylor continued giving us information. Shortly after, the door opened again and this time Lauren Gibbs came to talk with us. She also had an amazing personality. Just like Doc she is the back seat in the 4 man bobsled. She was very animated while she talked to us for quite some time. She told us about her schooling and training. Before she left she offered to take pictures with everyone. Ella and Lily were first and she picked the girls up at the same time. Ella just could not get over she was held by an Olympian. Throughout the rest of the tour she kept saying I just can’t believe an Olympian picked me up. We are all very excited to watch Doc and Laura perform in the next Olympics.
We saw many gyms throughout the tour. One area had the space to be 3 separate gyms or 1 giant gym when they have spectators. The ceiling in here was very high. Taylor explained it was this height for the trampoline event. They get very high in the air and the height of this ceiling is the lowest limit it needs to be to give them another 10 feet for clearance. The walls of this gym were filled with great inspirational quotes.
In another gym the male gymnasts were practicing and they asked us to quickly look in and keep moving. Pop came out after a bit. He was watching as the younger group of male gymnasts were working. The one young athlete was working on getting his giant, which Pop knew about because Taylor (niece not tour guide) talks to him all the time about getting hers.
Next we saw the Olympic Shooting Center. These athletes’ marksmanship has to be spot on. The target they have to hit is the size of a pinhead or a pea, depending on the event. Taylor was very knowledgeable about the shooting events and training because he tried his hat at this sport and was one of the athletes training here for a time. He said he just couldn’t get his head wrapped around a pinhead target and the pea sized one wasn’t much better so he ended up stopping. Since he loved the facility so much he went from training to being a tour guide.
We saw the wrestling gym, which one of the kids on the tour noticed was done in the colors of the Colorado Flag.
We went to see the pool and while we were walking over to the viewing windows Taylor shared a funny story about while he was training. The athletes all live on site and dine at the cafeteria on site as well. One night he was exceptionally hungry and had just finished preparing his very full tray when someone called his name. As he turned around to see who it was he bumped right into Michael Phelps and his entire tray of food went all over his chest. He said Phelps was very nice about the whole thing and took it well.
We learned about the phenomenal sports medicine available to the athletes here. They have equipment to continually check how an injury is healing. They also have the capability to examine how the athletes are moving to prevent an injury. If an athlete gets injured they have zero gravity exercise equipment they can use to keep in shape and not lose any of their muscle without further harm.
At the end of the tour we were allowed to go onto the roof of the main building where the cauldron sat. Both Ella and Lily climbed the ladder just as the person with the torch does to kick off the Olympic games.
We spent some time in the gift shop and Grams and Pop bought each of the girls a t-shirt. Our plan on the way out was to take family pictures inside of the bobsled. Just outside of the theater where we started our time here they had an actual bobsled used in the Olympic games. While we were in the gift shop the rest of the facility closed and the employee was telling us we had to exit out of the back door, which would mean no bobsled pictures. We asked her a few times if we could go out the other door and she held to her guns. But then we tried one last time and asked if she could escort us to the bobsled for a quick picture. She finally caved and we were all able to go inside the bobsled. It is incredible what a tight space it is and how each of their legs and bodies are on top of one another as they navigate the trail down the mountain.
When we finished here we all went back to our campsite. Right in front was a free shuttle to the center of Manitou Springs. Grams and Pop left their car in the campsite’s visitors lot. The town of Manitou Springs was very cute with lots of shops and restaurants.
We looked into eating at one of the restaurants but it was closing soon. But, right next to it we found D’Vine winery with tastings available. The adults all thought this was a great way to unwind. I am not sure the girls loved the idea as much but they were ok with it. The woman waiting on us was very helpful and extremely kind. She brought the kids over a glass chess game. Adam said to her he wasn’t so sure about that and she commended him for his thoughtfulness but went on to say it isn’t a day in a winery without something breaking and not to worry. They gave the girls water and we bought them an Izze to share. They had all the usual wines to choose from but then they also had their current specialties. The first one Adam and I tried was a white Coconut Yuzu. We both agreed it was beyond incredible and went down very easy. The other one I tried that I absolutely loved was a berry, apple Syriah. When you got four tastings it came with a glass of wine. So Adam and I each got a glass of the coconut yuzu. While we were wine tasting we got their hummus plate to share. It came with pepperoncini that Grams read as pepperoni. So even though it was a little disappointing we didn’t get pepperoni we all enjoyed it and the girls handled our stop here very well.
From there we went on to find our dinner spot. The waitress gave us two recommendations that were across the street from each other. The first didn’t have much seating and didn’t have anything available to accommodate us. When we crossed the street a restaurant caught my eye and I went to check their menu. The rest continued on to the other recommendation. In my opinion there was no comparison between the two and I really wanted to go back to the place I had found. At first Adam wasn’t so sure but since all they were given was a pitcher of water we all decided to go back to Swill. We got seated at this huge square table and it was very mellow in here with a very talented man playing a guitar. We all enjoyed our dinner and the ambiance. The recommended place was a bar setting and it was very loud and bright in there so after a long day I was thrilled with the more calm atmosphere.
While we were paying the bill we missed the shuttle back. Grams and I were thinking we should walk back but pop and Adam disagreed. We crossed the street so we could get on the shuttle sooner going in the opposite direction. It wasn’t too long of a wait and it was a good thing we did not walk. The street was not very well lit in spots and it was longer than we had remembered. We said good night to Grams and Pop at their car and off to bed we went.
