Friday, 26th April - Colorado Springs

We woke to beautiful blue skies but a forecast of heavy rain and thunderstorms approaching in the afternoon. So we quickly booked tickets to ride on the Pike's Peak Cog Railway https://www.cograilway.com/the-new-experience/pikes-peak/  departing from Manitou Springs, 8 miles up the road, at 10am.

The railway climbs to the summit at 14,000ft above sea level however after the heaviest snow falls in 10 years we could only travel to 12,000ft (bonus though, we got 50% of the ticket price refunded!). The views are incredible, stretching as far as the eye can see towards the neighbouring states of Kansas and Oklahoma. 

In the afternoon we visited the Garden of the Gods Park  https://gardenofgods.com/ starting at the informative visitor centre before driving around the park viewing immense red rock formations that have evolved over billions of years.

The most impressive of all is the Balance Rock (best viewed on side - I haven't figured out how to rotate the picture!!)

Dinner (again) at the rather excellent Mom 'n' Pop style restaurant adjacent to our hotel, The Village Inn