Colorado Springs/Pike's Peak - Ever been?

[KCmike]

Thinking of surprising the family with a road trip there. It would take around 9 hours and then would only have a couple of days there. Anybody been or live there?

 

[lisah0711]

Colorado Springs is a very nice city. DH grew up there and DMIL still lives in the Broadmoor area.

Pike's Peak is fun if you've never been there before. It takes about an hour to drive up. The drive is a little hairraising so take it nice and slow.

There is also a very nice zoo there -- they have a big giraffe program, one of the largest in the country.

You can also go and see the chapel at the Air Force Academy. It is famous for its beautiful stained glass windows.

Garden of the Gods is an interesting place to take a hike.

Cripple Creek which was a famous mining area is now casinos but there are still some vestiges of the Wild West around.

All in all it is a picturesque fun place to spend a day or two.

Have fun with your planning!

 

[KCmike]

Thanks for a very quick reply. Anyone else?

 

[Mrs.Toad]

I live in the Denver area, so I've been there many times. There are a lot of fun things to see and do. To expand on what Lisa said,

Garden of the Gods is beautiful. Hiking there is great, but if you're not hikers, you can just drive through and see lots of beautiful scenery as well, and get out of the car to see some interesting sites up close as well.

Pikes Peak is fun. If you drive up, take their advice about staying in first gear on the way back down! Even in second gear, your brakes can get really hot on that steep slope. If you don't want to drive up, you can also take a cog railway. It's a little pricey and you need reservations in advance, but lots of people do it that way, because the drive is so steep and no guardrails in most places.

Cave of the Winds is fun. You can take a tour to see the cave formations.

Seven Falls is nice, too.

The Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is the one Lisa mentioned. You can feed the giraffes -- it's fun. Try to get there early and be one of the first to do it, or the giraffes are full and don't take the crackers from you as well.

You can also drive about an hour further south to the Royal Gorge, the highest suspension bridge in the country/world?? It's an interesting site. You can walk across the bridge, take an incline railway to the bottom of the gorge, and also they have some little amusement park rides.

There is a lot to see and do there. I could easily spend 5-6 days in the area, but you can also have a lot of fun in just one or two days.

 

[jsmith]

I live in Colorado Springs-and what others have said is true-but one caveat about driving up the hill. If you are from a lower elevation come and spend at least on day site seeing in the Springs before you go up-and stay very hydrated. Altitude sickness is no fun and can ruin your vacation-you body needs a little time to adjust to the lower level of oxygen and dryer climate.

Tons of fun stuff to do here tho-pretty well listed out in the other posts so i wont rehash. Flying W ranch is a great place for a family dinner-chuckwagon meal and musical entertainment.

If you are here on a fall weekend-and they are playing at home an AFA football game is a good time.

 

[Disneyluvr81]

Our friends moved to the Colorado Springs area about 15 years ago and my brother & I spent many a summer there as we were growing up - so I am totally biased and absolutely love the area!! We were actually just there last weekend for my best friend's wedding.

To add to what others have said, in addition to driving up Pike's Peak - which is DEFINITELY hair raising to say the least (hair pin turns with no guard rails and extra long drops) you can also take the Cog Railway up and down. I believe adults are about $35 and its 3 hours round trip.

Another vote for Cave of the Winds. We did the lantern tour which you literally have a kerosene candle in an aluminum bucket and go back into the cave where the normal tour doesn't go.

Below Pike's Peak and where you would pick up the Cog Railway is a town called Manitou Springs - very cute touristy town. They have really done a lot to it these past few years to spiffy it up. There is a really cool outdoor arcade in the center of town with old penny machines and such!

Here are a few pictures from our trip....

At Cave of the Winds

The Cog

Pikes Peak

Part of Manitou Springs

Garden of the Gods (taken while driving up I-24)

 

[CDoobee]

We were there in 1998, not sure what may have changed since then. We went to some of the places listed here.

I agree that Garden of the Gods is beautiful! We went horseback riding there. What a beautiful and fun experience! I'm not sure how old your children are, but at that time they had to be 8 for the horseback riding. DD was turning 8 in a couple of days, so got to go.

At Royal Gorge, along with the bridge that you can drive or walk across, and the incline railway you can ride to the bottom, there was also a tram (think skyride) that went across the gorge. I do not like heights, but even more I do not like things like trams that are just held up by cables with nothing underneath! However, my family (DH, DD8 and DS13) all wanted to ride it. I decided I'd rather die with them than watch from the side as they fell to their deaths! HAHA It wasn't as bad as I thought, I just didn't look down!

If you are going to be in the area for a few days, I'd advise you wait until the last day to go to the top of Pike's Peak. All four of us got altitude sickness. DH and DS just got headaches, I was short of breath and very dizzy, and DD was dizzy and ended up throwing up. We were told later that it is best to give yourself a couple of days to get used to the altitude of the surrounding area before venturing up to the peak! We had only been in the area less than 12 hours before driving up.

We loved the area and I'd love to go back sometime and see the things we missed and repeat the things we did do! Well, except for that tram!

Edited to add that I just saw that jsmith had already written about how to avoid (hopefully) altitude sickness!