We met Grams and Pop at Garden of the Gods around 8:30am. Garden of the Gods was a must do on our pre-trip itinerary but Grams found their 1909 open-air trolley tour which looked very fun. She booked us the first tour of the day at 9am well in advance. It is a good thing we had the paperwork with us because when Grams checked in the woman had never heard of anyone pre-purchasing their tickets and there was no note or mention of us from her manager. She was so impressed she gave Grams a sticker patch of a violet. Grams let the woman know she was here with her 2 granddaughters and the woman gave her 2 more violet patches.
The 1909 tour was a 45 minute ride in a trolley with a phenomenal guide. We almost had the tour all to ourselves but as we were leaving a young man asked to join. The guide was very animated keeping us all engaged and entertained while he drove us around and pointed out all the various formations in the rocks and told us all about the Garden of the Gods. One of our favorite formations was the kissing camels,
which from another angle he showed us looked like a camel kissing the rear end of a frog.
The variety of formations throughout the park were breathtaking. It was so picturesque in this park we didn’t know which way to look first.
Once the tour was done we got the girls their jr. ranger books and drove over to do some trails on our own. We weren't sure where we were going. Adam led the way and some of us might have been doubtful he had us on legit paths but it worked out great and we had some beautiful views and very interesting rock formations to climb.
One of our favorite places to explore was the enormous balanced rock.
We came back to the visitors center and ate lunch in their cafeteria. Grams and I each bought a very comfy sweatshirt that says those that wander are not lost in their gift shop. The girls shared their jr. ranger work with a ranger and got sworn in. The ranger then announced over the loud speaker that reached through the whole visitors center that he is excited to announce the swearing in of two new rangers named Ella and Lily.
We bought tickets to their movie experience that was advertised in the bathroom and caught both mine and Grams attention. The employee let us in to the cute theater that was designed to feel like you were in a time machine. We were there a few minutes early so understood when it didn’t start right away. But 10 minutes after the start Adam went to ask when the movie would start. The employee thought it was already playing and Adam let her know it definitely was not. About 2:15 the movie started. It was not as good as the bathroom advertisement made it seem. When the movie was over the employee came over to apologize that she didn’t start the movie.
That ended our visit here and we moved onto the Manitou Cliff Dwellings, which was just a short ride away. There was a line of cars waiting to get in and pay and we sat for about 20 minutes. Once inside the girls noticed a table of t-shirts for sale. They each found one they liked and Adam and Pop got matching Colorado t-shirts. We walked through the dwellings and read all the info along the way. These dwellings were a collection of ruined Anasazi cliff dwellings between 800 to 1000 years old that were relocated in 1904. The original founder wanted to preserve and protect these dwellings from looters because at that time the government did not get invovled in protecting such historic sites. There was a very interesting museum along with the dwellings and of course a gift shop which we also spent time browsing.
From here we moved another short distance away to go to Cave in the Winds. The drive after crossing the entrance was a very steep, curvy drive all the way to the top of the mountain. The view from the parking lot was gorgeous.
Grams was hoping to take Ella onto the Batapult, a zipline ride that was seated. Ella did not quite make the height requirement. The girls both had a good time climbing up to go down the stalactykes slide a few times while we waited for our tour of the cave to begin.
They announced our tour and we all gathered with the guide. This was an interesting cave to go through with a lot of interesting little sections within. We had to squeeze through tight spaces and climb steep steps and ladders to get around. In one of the rooms the guide showed us how dark the caves get so we could see what it was like for the initial discovers of this cave. She blew out the candle and we stood in the pitch black without being able to see a thing. It was a very interesting experience but I would not want to be down there like that in an uncontrolled situation.
After our tour we went to watch the terrordactyl ride. Riders sit in a seat and are lowered down slightly and turned 90 degrees so they are looking straight down. At that point the bungee cord lets go and they swing through the deep canyons in the mountains for several minutes until they are brought back to the platform. We made our way to Old Colorado City for dinner. We chose to have Greek for dinner at Jake & Telly’s Restaurant and Wine Bar.
Perhaps Pop wearing his Mykonos hat today had us all craving Greek food. We sat outside on the balcony and all enjoyed our meal. At the end of the meal our waiter offered us a complimentary shot of Ouzo which he did with us. When we were walking over to the restaurant we saw an ice cream shop that advertised they also had frozen yogurt. After dinner we decided to go there so Grams could get her frozen yogurt tonight. When we walked in and asked they said their yogurt machine was broken. So still no frozen yogurt for Grams. The girls got ice cream and we sat and reminisced about our day, which happened to be 23 years to the day from when Adam and I started dating.
