Monday, November 28th, was a beautiful day, so Nick and I decided to get out and do a little adventuring. Nick's parents had provided us numerous suggestions of fun places to see in the Colorado Springs area. We finally made up our minds, and headed to Manitou Springs. This is a small,artisan city at the bottom of Pike's Peak. The town is known for world class art, it creepy history of witches, warlocks, and wizards, and it's 24 fresh mineral springs in the area.
After walking through town and popping into the interesting shops, we came across a local bar, Townhouse Lounge. We took a seat and checked out the bar. To our surprise, we spotted a very special piece on the wall...
A UGA HAT! We asked the bartender about it, and found out the owners of the bar were, in fact, Dawg fans! Nice to know we have 'family' in unexpected places. We quenched our thirst with a beer recommended by the bartender, it was called Colorado Native. It was an amber lager, brewed by Coors in Golden, CO, and featured all local ingredients from the state.
We settled up at the bar and went on to check out a few other shops in town. When we had had our fair share of Manitou, we jumped in the truck and headed to a park we had passed on our way up. Looked like a perfect spot for a little hiking and testing out the new camera (a very generous gift from a very loving family member!).
This park is a beautiful area full of hiking paths and the natural red rock formations. We had just enough time to enjoy a 1.5 mile trail before the sun started to go down. Great shot of Nick to show how massive these formations are.
Second is a panoramic shot Nick got of our view, as I kept on along the trail.
At the split in the trail, we opted for the 200 ft incline that brought us up to this prime photo spot. This overlooked an amazing ridge of red rocks that went all through the park.
We climbed back down the trail, winded for sure, the altitude is something to get used to, and headed back to the truck as the sun started to hide behind the mountains in the distance.
A successful day of adventuring, for sure!
Our experience started on the morning of November 20, 2011. With the UHaul trailer(with the help of family and many friends, we got pretty much everything in!) hitched up to the back of Nick's truck, we pulled out of my parents driveway in Johns Creek and started our journey across the country.
Our journey really started to hit us as we left Georgia and entered into Alabama, first of 5 states we would drive through before entering Colorado.
After 12 hours of driving the first day through Birmingham, Memphis, and through most of Arkansas, we arrived in the town where my Uncle David, Aunt Robin, and Grandparents live. With great hospitality, they fed us a yummy homemade dinner and hooked us up at a hotel nearby. The first long day of driving was over and we were on the road again bright and early Monday morning.
After 10 hours of driving through the most agreeably, boring stretch of plains and oil fields, we had arrived in Colby, Kansas. This was the last major city before we entered into Colorado. With the excitement of reaching our new home state, we grabbed some caffeine and decided to push forward through the remaining 3.5 hours.
At 10:30pm mountain time, we finally pulled into Nick's parents house. Nick was such a trooper and drove the whole 25.5 hours we were on the road! Words could not describe the excitement and exhaustion that overcame us when we settled into our new home that night.
The second best thing, after sleeping in all morning after our late arrival the night before, was unloading the UHaul and getting that thing off the back of Nick's truck!
Our move was over, but our adventures in the Red Rock State were just beginning!
