We were up early today to be in Manitou Springs by 8:50, in time for our 9:20 train ride up the Cog Railway to the top of Pikes Peak. The ride was slow but scenic with interesting but cheesy tidbits. Noah enjoyed the waterfalls and scenery on the way up and slept most of the way down; Emmie slept most of the way in both directions.
We sat near the entrance/exit to the train car, which proved useful as Amanda raced to the restroom at the top. We started inside; while Amanda, Noah and I shared a small Pikes Peak donut, Amanda fed Emmie for her highest altitude eating on record.
Mommy and Noah at the top of the world (or, Pike’s Peak.)
After a very good pizza lunch at Savelli’s in Manitou Springs, Emmie took a much-needed nap, staying with Amanda at the hotel while Noah and I went to Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.
Built into a mountain on the west edge of Colorado Springs, the Zoo featured a number of fun, interactive features for Noah. Highlights include him feeding a giraffe – purple tongue and all plus feeding chickens and birds. He also saw his first elephant up close, after I fed the elephant lettuce and carrots. Near the end of the visit, we rode the skyride up the side of the mountain.
Note the giraffe’s purple tongue.
Dinner was at an unpretentious fast food joint, El Super Taco. While much different from Adam’s Mountain Cafe, Amanda quite liked her $2 fish taco.
It’s always good to make a long day longer, and we did just that with an evening trip to Seven Falls. Finding Seven Falls turned out to be half of the adventure, as our Google Maps app took us to the middle of nowhere on a mountainous dirt road. We did find the park, where we all climbed a tremendous amount of stairs.
The waterfalls featured cool colors at night.