Tag: Manitou Springs

Posted in: Exploring Colorado, Sightseeing

Manitou Springs and Little Libraries

Written by tepetravels 2 Comments on Manitou Springs and Little Libraries

We kept it pretty relaxed today. We drove up to Manitou Springs looking for a birthday present. It was packed! We ended up parking up the hill by the school and walking into town. We did find a couple more Little/Free Libraries along the way. Will dropped off a book he had finished, but didn’t have much luck finding a new one this time.

We just kind of browsed and meandered through town. We tried a fresh squeezed blackberry lemonade. It was pretty good, although tart. The boys loved it and it was a nice treat on a warm day.

Remember how I had trouble finding a parking spot? It turns out they were having the Pikes Peak Marathon. What?! I can’t even imagine running from the town to the top of Pikes Peak and back down. We got to cheer on a few people crossing the finish line.

After town, we headed to Walmart to pick up some grocery and clothing items. It was a pretty relaxing day.

Posted in: Exploring Colorado, Museums & Tours, Sightseeing, YouTube Video Link

Cliff Dwelling Museum

Written by tepetravels 1 Comment on Cliff Dwelling Museum

After an orientation session for online school in the morning, we went to the Manitou Cliff Dwellings today. I remember going to Mesa Verda when I was a kid, and being amazed that anyone could build on the side of a cliff. I wanted the boys to get an idea of these dwellings, but Mesa Verde was way out of our way (like 6 hours one way). I found the Manitou Cliff Dwellings while searching for things to do online.

According to their website, the dwellings were originally in McElmo Canyon. To help preserve the ruins, they moved them to their new location and reassembled the structures. They used a concrete mixture to reassemble so that people could walk through the buildings.

Entrance was $33.08 for the three of us. It doesn’t take a long time to walk through the dwellings, maybe an hour. Although they are amazing, they won’t take your breath away quite as much as Mesa Verde. However, if you can’t make it to Mesa Verde, these are still historical ruins and a great history lesson. The boys actually enjoyed it and Nick read a few of the signs.

There is an inside museum, as well, in the visitor center. The boys read about baskets, water containers, weapons, and pottery. Nick liked learning that they smothered the fire in the kiln with horse manure to get the black color on the pottery.

We ran to Walmart for a few items.Once back at the campground, we did a load of laundry and went swimming in the evening. It was amazing because we had the pool all to ourselves! We discovered that Will has finally passed me up. The beginning of summer, I still had a little height on him, but it looks like he finally eeked past me a little bit.

I have a YouTube video of our walkthrough at the Cliff dwellings.

Posted in: Exploring Colorado, Food, Hiking, Sightseeing

Laundry, Burritos, Gardens

Written by tepetravels

We worked on laundry in the morning. There is a breakfast food stand/truck in the campground, so once we got the washers going, we walked over and enjoyed pancakes and breakfast burritos. Nick ran a burrito back to Ben so he could enjoy it while he was working.

We spent a little time playing in the arcade after folding the laundry.

We decided to drive to Garden of the Gods. We decided to take a hike around the park. After 2.5 miles, the kids were done. It was hot and very, very sunny, not a lot of shade. We took a shortcut back and ended up with a 2.8 mile hike.

Family picture and Kissing Camels (the rocks, not us)

We were all dehydrated by the end, even with the water we brought.

We drove to Manitou springs and walked around. It was about 5:30pm when we got there, and the summer hours posted showed most of the town closed at 6:00.

We found a couple of the spring fountains that Manitou is known for. Each spring is supposed to have a slightly different flavor. We only tried one today, and it tasted just like fizzy (carbonated) water! The fountains are located throughout town and are free for use. There were people walking around filling up their water bottles to try the different waters.

We ordered a pizza from Hell’s Kitchen to bring back to the RV for dinner. It was a long wait for the pizza, but the taste was pretty good! It had a nice crust, not heavy on the sauce.

Manitou Springs had several more large objects for Will as well, so those pictures will be coming soon! 🙂

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