Thursday, May 5th – Colorado Springs, Colorado – Day 84
We woke up at our trailhead camping site. We had a really good sleep. The day was sunny and warm. We had some breakfast and the girls wandered around outside. Charlotte and Aisling led me out to a spot with a particularly nice view. We had to dodge the Prickly pear and other cacti along the ground.
The drive to Colorado Springs was about 40 minutes. It was a winding road along the base of the foot hills. Our first stop was to see the house that Gen’s Great Grandfather, John Farquar McLennan, lived at for many years. Gen had spent some time there when she was a child when Keith and Mary would visit. We looked for 89 Marland Road South but there was only an 87 and 91. We talked to Mary to see if she could help identify the house but, we found out later, it was torn down and a mansion was built.
Mary advised us to go see the Shrine of the Sun, a memorial to Will Rogers. Below the shrine was the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. If we wanted to see the shrine, we needed to pay for the zoo. I had no interest in a zoo but Gen was keen. Our first step was to drive our car to nearly the top of the mountain to see the shrine. When we walked up the steps of the shrine, Gen recognized the Lion statues there from pictures of her as a kid. She found several other spots that helped her piece together some pictures she’d seen of her youth. She was very happy we made the trip. The shrine was three quarters the way up the mountain, so it had a great view of Colorado Springs and the area beyond that. It also had several rooms of pictures to remember Will Rogers; a early 20th century roper, comedian, film star and potential presidential candidate (he was one of the most popular people in the US at one point). We looked around; John was running wild. After we visited the museum by the parking lot.
The next step was driving back down and entering the zoo. The Cheyenne Zoo was awesome. The kids could feed the Giraffes lettuce. The Wallabies roamed free around the Australia exhibit. There was a raised boardwalk to see the Grizzly bear from above. The mother and baby hippos were lying and cuddling together. The Elephants, Lions and Rhinos were on full display. We saw so many animals up close.
The downside to the zoo is the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is on the side of a mountain. There were at least ten giraffes, where do they run around? I have no idea how they keep the animals active in those small enclosures.
We stayed until they were closed. An employee gave us all a free ride on the carousel then we rushed through the hippo and penguin exhibits before they kicked us out.
We decided to return to the campsite to make pasta and hang around. We had a nice evening looking out on the mountains and eating a delicious pasta dinner Gen made. Aisling made a Nopalito salad featuring the leaves from a Prickly Pear cactus. It was good but the prickles weren't entirely removed so we had to pick tiny cactus spines out of our mouths.
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