Colorado Trip - Boulder, Colorado Springs & Denver - Part 3

After leaving RYM and Estes Park, we spent about half a day in Boulder, Colorado.  We walked around the Pearl Street Mall, and enjoyed the street performers there.  We loved the Rocket Fizz candy and soda pop store, Boulder Book Store and Into the Wind which is a kite store.  We also had lunch at Pizzeria Locale which is a fantastic pizza restaurant.




That afternoon we visited the United States Air Force Academy and continued driving to Colorado Springs, Colorado where we spent one night.





We ate dinner at a wonderful old German restaurant, Edelweiss, in Colorado Springs.


The next morning we woke up early, and drove to Manitou Springs, Colorado where we rode the Pikes Peak Cog Railway train to the top of Pikes Peak.  Along the ride we saw some animals that Griffin had been hoping to spot.  We saw pika, yellow-bellied marmots and some bighorn sheep.  He actually shouted in excitement on the train when he spotted the sheep.  The kids enjoyed some famous donuts from the restaurant at the top of Pike's Peak, but Margaret said they weren't nearly as good as Gibson's!  The view from the top of Pike's Peak at 14,114 feet was amazing, and it was about 35 degrees the day we were there.  The kids got a little stir crazy in the last half of our ride on the way down, which prompted staring contests and silly face games.  Margaret is the family's reigning staring contest champion, and she was undefeated after numerous matches.




















After the train ride we played some arcade games at the penny arcade and had lunch at Adam's Mountain Cafe in Manitou Springs.  It is a cute little mountain town.



Following lunch we went to the Garden of the Gods Park where we watched a video on the rocks and walked around for a little while.  I have to say that it was one of my most favorite things that we did on the trip.  It was breathtakingly beautiful!












Then we were on our way to Denver for a few days.  While in Denver we went to the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, the Denver Zoo, the Denver Botanic Gardens, and to the Park Meadows Mall to the American Girl doll store and Lego store.  We also went to see Monsters University one afternoon, and we really liked it.













These are the Lego minifigures that Griffin made and purchased at the Lego store.  In his words they are..."Abraham Lincoln who just killed a zombie," "Griffin if he was a student at Hogwart's" and "skater dude with a crowbar."  I am pretty sure that is the first time that any of those were made at the Lego store.

Some restaurants that we liked in Denver were: Lola, Steuben's Food Service, Tocabe, Parisi,  Modmarket, & Freshcraft.  There were several others that we wanted to try, but either didn't have reservations for or ran out of time!




We had a great time in Colorado, and we miss the "no-humidity" thing now that we are back home!