Pueblo

So, we went to Pueblo a couple of weeks ago to see Phill & Keely. Turns out that Pueblo is a nice little town. Actually, it's not even that little. ( I have no idea if the pictures will stay where I put them, or if the captions will match up with the pictures, so this may be a bit of an adventure to read.) Shae came with us, since she had not been up to see them all summer. I felt bad for her, because we are two of the most boring people on the planet, and also because the back seat of our car is kind of loud. (It is a standard, after all.) However, she is quite the resourseful young lady, and like every other teenager I know, she has a phone with which to text people. So we didn't quite bore her to death.

Anyway! Phill & Keely live near a park, which we wandered around in a bit. And there is a riverwalk through the middle (I guess it's the middle) of town. I'm going strictly from memory here, but I'm pretty sure Keely said that Texas once stretched as far as the Colorado River (next to which is the aforementioned riverwalk), and Phill was quick to point out that he was born on the non-Texas side. However, as soon as he went home from the hospital, he was back on the Texas side.

On Saturday we went to Colorado Springs, much to the delight of my sister, since that is the home of Cheyenne Mountain and, therefore, Stargate Command. And here is the photo I promised her:

It was taken from some distance away, obviously, but there it is. I did not, however, run into Daniel Jackson while I was out. (Which is hardly surprising, since the series is filmed in Canada, and Michael Shanks is, in fact, Canadian.) Sorry, Neesee. Also it turns out that Carter was wrong; not only is there a zoo in Colorado Springs, but it is on top of Cheyenne Mountain itself! Carter must have been under the influence of something. Or perhaps she just didn't want to go to the zoo.

So we actually went to Colorado Springs to see the Garden of the Gods, which is very nice. It is so nice that there was a (presumably) newly-married couple getting pictures taken there. We were walking along the road, and decided to try one of trails through the park instead. We got to this point:

And there was no further trail to follow, because we had chosen a loop that would take us right back to where we started, but there was a nice view from here.

(Also, those dark clouds in the corner? Not friendly.)

So Chad and Phill decided to find us a way down. And they did a good job of not getting us all killed. :) Poor Shae was wearing flip-flops, though, which are not the most comfortable shoes for scrambling over rocks in. And my husband is well acquainted with my lack of grace and coordination, so he was a tad too concerned with getting me off the rocks. However, we made it down with nary a sprain or break among us. (Not even a bruise, even, that I know of.)

When we got to the bottom, we found this sign:

Oops.

So, once safe from serious injury and fatality, we went to the visitor centre across the road from the park, where we ran into some friends from church! They had decided spur-of-the-moment to go up to Colorado for the weekend, and stopped at the visitor centre at the same time we did.

After all that climbing and visiting (and a stop off at some shops) we headed off to another park to see a balloon festival. However, those dark clouds we saw precluded any taking off, hovering, or glowing that the pilots might have done, so we had to content ourselves with "Candles in the Park."

So that was our Saturday. On Sunday after church, we joined Phill's family at his parents' cabin in the mountains. And Chad got to shoot things.

Then, we went round to Bishop's Castle. I'll just let the signs speak for themselves:

Seriously, enlarge the second picture and read the sign. It's worth it. And a couple of shots of the castle itself:

On Monday we made our way home, but we took a wrong turn in New Mexico and added an hour to our trip. Oops. I felt sorry for Shae, but she assured us she is well accustomed to her brother-in-law's rather unusual sense of direction, so the detour was not a problem. Also, it turns out she goes to bed later than we do, anyway! So we weren't keeping her up.