The much promised...

Pictures!

I still feel like I am trying to get the hang of this camera. So that is my excuse. I'm not overly proud of these pictures, but you wanted to see what I was up to, so here goes:

Friday night found Lisa, Katie, the Parent Massingills, and myself at the Flying W Ranch. They have a kind of old fashioned town setup there. Complete with a little train and some rock formations you can climb. Then they ring the bell for dinner and all 150 to 300 people come filling in and find their assigned seating. Then some guy talks for a bit about the ranch and how they do things there at the ranch and then they herd you through lines of food and suddenly you're back at your seat. I had beef, a couple rolls, some very excellent apple sauce, some baked beans, a baked potato, and a bit of spice cake. A very good meal, however the drink was hard to come by it seemed. After dinner had been consumed some cowboy types got up front and sang some folkish-cowboy music. They were all talented at what they played and had great voices. (They did a version of Ray Steven's "Mississippi squirrel Revival", which if you haven't heard is gold.)

Pictures:
Lisa and I . . .
Katie: Wanted . . .
The View . . .
Lisa and her biscuit . . .

Saturday found me getting out of bed what seemed like too early and I made my way to the Massingill's Motel where we all piled into the vehicle de Massingill and headed towards Pike's Peak! (Insert transition music) We got to the base where the cog wheel train was to pick us up and wait a bit. The cog wheel train is pretty cool. It is made so that it can ascend a 25% grade. This means that the front of the 125 foot train is 33 feet higher than the back part of the train when it is climbing that kind of grade. It took and hour and a half to get up and another hour and a half to come down. Then they gave us thirty minutes on the top. Fourteen thousand feet seems high to me. The air seemed pretty thin up there. I can't image someone trying Everest, it's 29 thousand feet. More than double this one.
After the climb down the mountain we looked around the small town of Manitou Springs, we say the Marimont Castle (which supposedly is haunted...) and then back to the Motel for a bit of a rest.
An hour or so later the Stagecoach Inn was where dinner was served and steak was the primary choice of meat. (Buffalo was also had) From there it was back to the Motel where we chilled for a bit. Then Katie, Lisa and myself decided to go see a movie. We ended up seeing "The Village". Not to make myself sound like a total wuss or have an imagination I cannot control, BUT I had to sleep with the light on. (You try watching that movie and coming home to a 3000 sq foot old house!) Anyway, my verdict is that the movie was more scary than anything I have watched before on the silver screen and "those that cannot be named" still (3 days later) make me cautious around the house when it's dark. The director nailed creating a scary creature that would stay in Ben's head. However I did like the story, and the director did a really good job directing. He's defiantly the next Alfred Hitchcock.

Pictures:
The Train . . .
The Cog Logo . . .
The Lettering . . .
Katie and Lisa at the Top . . .
View #1 from the top . . .
Looking North . . .
Coming Down . . .
Mirmont Castle . . .

Saturday evening and Sunday we touring around the "Garden of the Gods" which is a park in Colorado Springs with a bunch of steep rocks pointed out at odd angles. All the rocks are either very red or very white. It's a nice walk and if you have climbing gear you can climb them. ($500 fine for not using climbing gear or "Bouldering" as they called it) Here are pictures from both days:

Pictures:
Garden of the Gods from the visitor center . . .
Cathedral Spire . . .
Kissing Camels . . .
Katie and Lisa Holding up a rock . . .
Same rock, only closer . . .
Lisa, on the rocks . . .

Sunday, after not sleeping much, I met the Massingills at Mesa Hills Bible Church for, well you guessed it, church. My old youth pastor's wife's sister's husband was the pastor. (Confused yet!?) Following church, we ambled over to Glen Eyrie for a little T and T. (An explosive combination!) The first T was Tea. Lisa had booked the family a Tea time in the music room. The tea was great (I had mine highly caffeinated so I could stay awake) and the little tea things they give you were pretty good as well. They were substantial, as opposed to come teas I have been apart of, where it's like they wave the food over your plate. Following tea the next T was a tour of the grounds. Glen Eyrie is a fully working Castle that used to be owned by the founder of Colorado Springs, General Palmer. The Navigator's own it now (see website) and use it as a retreat center for anyone who wants to use it as such. We got the grand tour and learned all sorts of things about the castle and General Palmer from a nice lady who did nothing other, it seemed, than give tours to people. After the tour we walked the grounds a bit and then it was back in the car.
We then went over to Lisa's apartment so her folks could meet her room-mate. We chatted for a bit and then headed out to diner at the "3 Margaritas". (which looks and feels just like the "Los Margaritas" back home, they only added the 3)
Following diner and a brief respite we all went miniature golfing. 2 courses of 18 holes later I found myself the looser and the winner. (Lost the first round with 59 strokes and dominated the 2nd round with 52 strokes.)
Then it was home to bed so I could get some work done on Monday!

Pictures:
Outside the Castle . . .
More Castle . . .
Castle from the Courtyard . . .
The Aftermath . . .
Lisa and Katie "experimenting" . . .
Lisa taking tea . . .
Lisa: Pre-tour . . .

"Real life" pictures sometime this week as well. (House and Dog, etc) I'm worn out by this post.

~B.