On Tuesday of our trip, we left Estes Park down the canyon, through Loveland, to I-25, through Denver, and eventually made it to Colorado Springs where Amber and Colton and their new baby, Joesy, live!
Molly and Jack like playing with the dogs, both outside in their kennel and inside in their cages.
We had a fun time meeting and playing with Joesy. Both Molly and Jack were excited to hold her. James even held her once or twice.
That night, we ate dinner at the Olive Garden. Molly slept through most of our meal, and then woke up a little stressed, but calmed down when we told her we were going to visit Colton next. We went to Fort Carson and got to visit Colton at work since he was working a late shift. We got to go in the helicopter hanger and see some of the helicopters he works on. Though I think he usually works on Blackhawks, tonight he was working on Apaches. Jack couldn't stop talking about helicopters until it was actually time for him to climb up into one and then he freaked. He sat on James lap for a few seconds and then tried to jump out. Oh well. Molly thought it was pretty cool.
We learned all about the Apaches. They are basically the attack force of the army and though they are slow, they are pretty undetectable and can get in and get a job done with surprise and accuracy. The Blackhawks run on the same engine as these ones, but have a different look to them (side-by-side pilot seats in the front) and with a larger middle section are basically used for transport.
On Wednesday, we went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. It was a neat zoo. The kids got to feed giraffes. We saw wallabies and hippos (which we don't have at Hogle Zoo). They also have a large bull moose that was kind of cool to see close up. It's fun because you wind up the mountain to see all the exhibits and you have a nice view of Colorado Springs. We had a crazy windstorm and thought we would be rained on at one point, but it stopped and it was otherwise just a very pleasant, overcast day.
Since the kids weren't really riding in the wagon, Grandpa decided to take a turn.
Next, we headed to a Colorado local burger joint call Crave Burgers. The burgers themselves were a lot like Smash Burger, but with a weird twist. Their menu consists of crazy additions to the burgers, like one with glazed donuts as buns and a patty melt with two grilled-cheese sandwiches on either side. I had the "3 Little Pigs" which is a heart attack topped with a slice of ham, bacon, pulled pork, and onion strings. It was delicious!! The kids also had milkshakes that were pretty good!
On our way back from Crave Burger we drove through Valley of the Gods to see some lovely orange rocks. It was a pretty little drive. As you can see from the dark foreboding clouds above the red rocks, we finished our night in rain. It was a foreshadowing of crazy weather yet to come.
On Thursday we got all packed up, said goodbye to Joesy and then tried to leave, but . . . our battery was dead. We had a problem with the battery a few weeks ago and James thought he had found the problem and fixed it. While getting ready to go, though, Jack was playing in the car, turning the flashers on and off, honking the horn, and setting off the alarm. James thinks that was just enough to dry out the battery and make it not fixable. We were delayed a little while to get a new battery, make a few pit stops and get on the road, but eventually we made it out of Colorado Springs.
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The kids were "fishing" on Amber's front porch while James and Grandpa took care of the car issue.
