The North Gateway Rock (Left Center) and South Gateway Rock (Right).  Garden of the Gods.  Colorado Springs, Colorado.

August 17

The early morning weather brought us both good news and bad news.  The good news was that the sky was cloudy.  The bad news was that the heat hadn’t left, which meant that it was very humid.  Still, we thought that the clouds would help cool our planned hike in the Rocky Mountain National Park.  However, those plans changed when we watched the morning news shows.  One of the television stations had a camera in the park, transmitting images of rain.  The forecast called for rain all day in Northern Colorado, with showers tapering off the further south one went.  We had no desire to spend the day trudging through the rain.  So, we decided to head south to Colorado Springs to fulfill our hiking cravings.

Before going to Colorado Springs, we needed to find a place that served a big breakfast so that we would have enough “fuel” for our trip.  After a quick glance through Lonely Planet, we decided to stop at Dozens Restaurant in downtown Denver.  It turned out to be a great choice.  Dozens is housed in an old Victorian building, which lends a wonderful atmosphere to the establishment.  The food only compliments the atmosphere.  We both had omelets ($6.95 each) that were not only big, but also delicious.  The only downside to Dozens is that it’s very popular.  We were lucky, in that there was a bicycle race that morning which tied up much of downtown Denver.  Thus, most people stayed out of downtown until the race was over, allowing us to walk right into Dozens.  But, by the time we left, staff was telling people in line that it would be an hour before they could be seated.  So, get there early if you want to have breakfast at Dozens.  If you do, you won’t be disappointed.

We left Dozens and began heading south toward Colorado Springs.  Along the way, we passed though the same sights we had seen the day before.  As I passed through miles and miles of suburbia, I was amazed at how big the Denver metropolitan area really is.  It won’t be long before Castle Rock will be swallowed by this behemoth slouching south along the foothills of the Rockies.

We made it into Colorado Springs without any difficulty.  We decided to stop by the Air Force Academy to see if its prohibition against visitors was a one day event.  But, the same signs were up again, so we continued on our way.  We drove to the Garden of the Gods visitor’s center, picked up a map of the park, and then drove to the rocks themselves.  We spent about three hours hiking in the park.

After our hike, we thought about driving up to the top of Pike’s Peak, just to claim that we’d been to the top of a 14,000 foot mountain.  But, it looked like it was raining at the summit.  Since we didn’t want to be fighting inclement weather, we decided to forgo Pike’s Peak.  I’m glad we did, because I later found out that the Pike’s Peak marathon was being run at that time.  So, our chances of making it to the top were slim.

We instead drove off to downtown Colorado Springs and the Olympic Training Center.  I was looking forward to seeing some of the world’s top athletes training.  I even harbored fantasies of me engaging in some “pick-up” matches with them in their sport.  But, the Center was virtually deserted because it was a Sunday and it was almost closing time.  But, we did manage to look at some of the facility.  And, we spent quite a bit of money at the Center’s gift shop.  I can’t say I recommend visiting the Training Center, but I am interested in visiting it again to get the venue’s full flavor.

Our drive back to Denver was uneventful.  We showered and got ready for dinner.  We weren’t feeling too experimental, so we stopped at a Mimi’s Café that was about a mile from the hotel.  After dinner, we went back to the hotel (which was still very warm) and packed for the next day’s departure.

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