Our last day in Colorado.... being good tourists! and loving it!

Well, all our family has left, and it’s just Jerry and I here now.  We’ll be leaving in the AM but wanted to take in some of the sites here.  We had a fabulous thunderstorm yesterday early evening for about 2 hours.  Then, all night it poured, and I mean poured!  Don’t get that sorta stuff at home!

Woke up to a heavy overcast, and just a bit of a drizzle now and then.  What happen to our sun????  Being Washingtonians, we still headed out and started our explore.  First to the “Garden of the Gods”… gorgeous rock formations which are humongous!  Our original intent was to walk the area on the trails.  The rain put a kibosh on that!  They have a great road and pullouts, so we didn’t feel like we missed too much.

Got photos of the kissing camels… the clouds in the background take away from the grandeur but, it still was cool.  Jerry found the ‘balancing rock’ and, course, had to get a pic of that!  Also, found a bridge over a creek for a bridge picture.  Set the camera up on the car and Jerry had to hustle to get into the picture… but he did… yahoo.

After that little explore, we drove to the cliff dwellings in the Manitou Springs area.  The Indians built their homes right into the cliffs.  Was pretty neat to see, but we kept wondering… is this the real thing or not?  Well, yes and no… these dwellings were built, for real, and found in Mesa Verde, a long ways away.  They were dismantled and moved to this place… and now folks can seem them up close and personal.  I knew you wanted to know that!

After lunch, we found our way to The U S Air Force Academy.  The Chapel is gorgeous… Within the building, upstairs is the Protestant Chapel with a very impressive pipe organ in the choir loft, downstairs the Catholic Chapel, a Jewish Temple and a Buddhist Quiet area:  each area beautiful in its own way.  Patti, as we left, guess what we saw… no surprise… check the last picture!

Tomorrow this adventure ends with our trip home.  Very much looking forward to that!  Miss my Fircrest and Miss my Oliver!  See you next time on this blog!

Kissing Camels....

 

 

 

You go Jerry... Hold that rock up!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The glass and the light shining through make this impressive shot!

 

 

Quite the organ!

 

Catholic Chapel

June and Julian Foss Foundation Retreat 2013

We met in Colorado Springs this year... Gorgeous weather... but the evening we had our picture taken, Mother Nature brought in the overcast (and rain earlier in the afternoon).  But.. nothing keeps us down!  It was a great time, a great site visit and lots of lively and hopefully productive conversation.  Till we meet again in 2015
 

A long day... Starting with Thunderstorms in Minneapolis and heat in Denver!

Today seemed longer than it really was.  Travelling is like that I think.  We left MSP about an hour late due to storms across the upper midwest.  Got into Denver, rented our car and off we went to our destination...Just a few sidetracks along the way.  We needed 35 Frisbees... and, trust me, there were almost none to be found as we travelled down the road.  After no luck going into stores, I just started calling them... Then... our phones shut down (was a system wide problem, cuz it was only the phone not working) so we couldn't call anymore... Writing about it, it doesn't seem like that big a deal... but, we were tired, starting to get grumpy and just wanted to get to our hotel.  Finally, the stars started to align, the phones worked and we called a Big Lots in Colorado Springs... They had 35 of them and would hold them for us... But don't get me started on how we got to the store... The clerk's directions and the navigation directions did not jive... and as it was, the navigation had it right....  Oh well we were successful and that was all that mattered.
As you can see by the couple pics, the place is nice.  Temp is quite warm, but should get down to 65 tonight.  We met up with some family, had dinner and came back to a very welcoming room... How wonderful!  Now, looking forward to some good rest and a great day tomorrow!
 

 

 

 

We're here.... sad when you arrive at your final hotel and you say "We're Home"

This has been a great road trip... just wish the last two days we could have pulled off the beaten track more... We watched the scenery change from mountains, to badlands, to rolling lands... it was all pretty green and beautiful as a result of the unusual rain storms they've been having.  We did manage to find a geocache in each state we visited....yay us!  We used Tripadivsor and always found great restaurants instead chain stores.  We noted that the Rest Stops in North Dakota were very deluxe... nice, big, new, attractive buildings.  We loved that the speed limit in both Montana and North Dakota was 75.... Minnesota was 70.  Sure helped the trip go faster.  We were very thankful for air conditioning in the van we rented since the temp was always 90+.  We watch in wonder as helmut-less motorcycle drivers passed us:  no sleeves, no protective eyewear, temps warm... all we could think of was all the bugs that were smacking into them... We know that for sure, cuz the bugs were smacking into our vehicle.
The next few days we will be with Halley, delivering the stuff we just brought with us... but on Tuesday, we will head for Colorado via a silver bird, to the Cheyenne Mountain Resort for our Foss Foundation Retreat... where 40 members of the Foundation gather and we all reconnect and share what the Foundation has been doing!  I'll start checking in again when that trip starts!
Interesting artwork in North Dakota... next to the freeway,
Geese in Flight
Guinness World Book of Records - Largest Scrap Metal Sculpture
Date Erected:  2001  Weight over 78.8 Tons
Size:  154 ft long and 110 Feet Tall
Largest Goose has a 30 ft. wing span
Scrap Metal Used:  Oil tanks and amp, oil well pipes

North Dakota....

Missouri River 

The plains... going on an on and the Dust kicked up by a truck on the Frontage road next to the freeway.  We had to make sure the air was always on recirculate... the whole area is pretty dusty and we didn't want it coming in the van.

The proverbial 'mirage' that appears on the road... you know, where it looks like water on the freeway!

Land changing as we enter Minnesota

My scrapbook company was on the freeway we were on... kinda sad cuz they are going through Chapter 11 and I was thinking of all the employees in that huge building that have probably been given pink slips as they reorganize.

Another crazy motorcycle driver.... no helmet... IDIOTS

 

And we're driving, and driving, and driving....

Wish I could tell you we did all kinds of fun things today...but, alas, that it not the case. I guess then only real excitement was when we left I-90, who we had been going with for the last 700 miles, and took up with I-94.  We crossed the state line to North Dakota and it was fun, but not necessarily exciting, watching the topography change.  We are now in the happening town of Dickinson and, though they have a wonderful firework show, we will probably miss it.  Too tired and tomorrow, our plans are for an even longer day on the road!  Somehow the word "Road Trip" has lost some of it's allure!
 

And here's our real excitement for the day:  A rest stop in Montana!!!! Woohoo!

 

 

 

 

 

North Dakota apparently hasn't done away with the billboards yet.  It was pretty obvious when we came to the outskirts of a town... 

 

A floating golf green.... and then on to Montana!

So, the resort we were at has a golf course and outdoor pool… thing is, they are a 10 minute drive from the hotel or a 7 minute water taxi.  AND, this golf course has a floating green on one of the holes.  Since we were up early today, we decided to take the water taxi over and check it out before we left.  So nice to be on a Lake… and this one is gorgeous!  We stayed just a bit, took pics, & then took the boat back to our place and packed up to prepare for the next leg of our trip.

We had plans to see our friend Twyla on our way to Bozeman, but that feel through when she couldn't get off work (sniff sniff)… This morning Jerry suggested we contact another couple who live on Flathead Lake in Polson.  We called and they said lets meet in St Regis for lunch (that would about an hour ride for them)!  We had an extra 30 minutes to fill, so we stopped next to a sweet river running through Wallace and just enjoyed the river's cool air AND the butterflies that were hanging out. 

Met up with  M & G (I forgot to ask permission to post their names in my blog… dang) and at a “Jaspers”… so weird… Walked by the bar, and at the counter is a 7 year old little girl with her parents…. Laws are different here… 

The scenery is ever changing… and very beautiful.  A little cooler today… 97 degrees… and we arrived in Bozeman, Mt ready for some downtime!  My niece will be going to school here next year… Checked out the campus, and it’s gorgeous!  We see so many different places and I always think, “I could live there” and the same goes for Bozeman!

Water Taxi... and Jean was stuck with 'boat hair' the rest of the day....
 

I wonder how many golf balls are in the water... they have to hit the ball from the left side of the pic to the island on the right...

 

Found this sculpture while out looking for a geocache... 

Probably about 10 butterflies hanging out next to the water's edge on the gravel/rocks.

 

This train was carrying coal...

 

These look like ginormous Dandelions...They were about three inches in diameter!