Mesa Verde National Park

We spent the day at Mesa Verde National Park. It is quite an unusual place. The a Pueblo peoples built and then left these dwellings in the cliffs for some unknown reason. There is speculation that there was a drought and they moved southeast into New Mexico. They grew their crops on the mesas above and climbed down the face of the rocks to get to their living quarters. It is thought they lived in the cliffs because of the protection the cliffs offered from the harsh elements of heat in the summer and cold and wind in the winter.

We took these photos on our 20 mile drive into the park as we climbed from 6500 feet to over 8,000 feet. We were glad we did because while we were in the park, the wind picked up and these beautiful views were hindered by dust when we were exiting the park.















We ate lunch at the Spruce Tree House dwelling. I was adventuresome and tried a Navajo Taco - Doug tried a buffalo brat sandwich. Both were very good. On the patio where we ate, there was this beautiful vine in its red fall splendor. Then the following photos are of Spruce Tree House dwelling. This one had a path down our side of the canyon and up the other side so you could walk through the ruins.










Cliff Palace is one of the larger cliff dwellings. You can tour this one with a Park Ranger but we decided not to do that. I could never climb the ladder you see the lady doing in the last photo and both of us were suffering from altitude sickness from being at 8,000 plus feet.










This photo of one of the cliff dwellings called Windows because it had more windows than the others.




These four photos of Tower House are from an overlook on top of the mesa. It has the four story tower. The last photo in the group looks down the canyon from the overlook.











These photos show the beautiful fall colors of the low bushes. Unfortunately the photos don't really do the colors justice. They gave the appearance of velvet or velour on the hills which dwarf the road going down the valley.

Wolf Creek Pass

We headed west today from Colorado Springs. We traveled US 160 over Wolf Creek Pass 10,858 feet. We so enjoyed this drive with the fall colors. Unlike the eastern US where we have all different shades of color in the fall, the west only has the aspen trees which turn such a vibrant shade of yellow. When you come upon a cluster of them in the sunlight, it is like someone turned on a spotlight.









These are views of our travel up and over the pass. The last two photos are of the western slopes where there were fewer aspen trees and more bushes which made for more fall colors. The white spots are dead bugs on our windshield.

Pikes Peak - Cog Railway

Today dawned bright and clear - perfect for our trip on the cog railway to the top of Pikes Peak - 14,000+ feet. The air was
thin and caused us more problems with altitude sickness. The first photo is our train at the top of the mountain. I thought I'd put it in here out of order so you could see what the train looked like. Its engine was 4 Cummins Diesel 500 engines. They used 70 gallons going 9 miles. In the second photo we are on the train waiting for departure and Doug is talking with Josh on the phone. He has that talent for calling at unusual times!

When we were almost at the top (notice the snow - it was 29 degrees on top), our train slowed down and passed two folks with a lama. We found out that this lama had been loose for over a month and they were trying to catch it since lamas are domesticated and it would not survive the winter on its own on the mountain. Fox News had an interesting article about the lama rescue. The other photos are scenes from the top of Pikes Peak looking down on Colorado Springs.








































When we got off the train at the top, we discovered our friends, Bob and Susan Jacobson, from MA who had driven to the top. They had their cute little dog with them who was not liking the heights at all. They took our photo in front of the sign and we took their photo. Then we hopped the train back to the bottom. We came across the herd of Rocky Mountain Sheep shortly after leaving the top. Oh, I forgot to explain the colorful plaque. It is for America the Beautiful - composed on the mountain by Katherine Bates after she rode a wagon to the top in the late 1800's.

Doug and Stan John before lunch. Stan is Vice-President in charge of Development for Focus on the Family and we enjoyed eating lunch with Stan again. He has blessed our CHAP Convention for two years each May. At our luncheon on Friday, Focus on the Family's founder and President, Dr. James Dobson, was presented with the HSLDA Lifetime Achievement Award. Dr. Dobson has been a big influence in many of our lives. Doug and I had the opportunity to see him recording a daily radio broadcast last year when we visited Focus on the Family while here in Colorado Springs.

Visit to the Air Force Academy

On one of our free afternoons we went sightseeing with our friends, Don, Darlene, and David Catlett. We chose to go to the Air Force Academy to tour the chapel.
On one of our free afternoons we went sightseeing with our friends, Don, Darlene, and David Catlett. We chose to go to the Air Force Academy to tour the chapel.












Doug and I visited it last October when we were here in October but the tours were not being given at that time. We wanted to take the tour so we made the return trip. It was quite beautiful all over again. That is Darlene standing in front of the Chapel. Quite interesting to see the freshman who must double-time on the white marble when changing classes.








That is Don, David, and Darlene in front of the stained glass windows.
















Doug is standing beside the Torah ourside the Jewish Chapel. We felt it was quite fitting that the scroll was open to Deutronomy 6 - verses which instruct on a parent's responsibility for teaching our children as we go along the way of our daily lives.

On this visit to the Chapel we were blessed to hear a visiting organist playing the organ.