Our last stop before we began our journey home was Colorado Springs. We had two full days to explore the area. There is so much to do here and we really only scratched the surface!
Lone Duck Campground
We stayed at Lone Duck Campground for 3 nights. This was a great location near the base of Pikes Peak. The couple that owns the campground was super friendly and even let our kids play with their pup. There was a nice heated pool and an awesome arcade area with cheap pinball machines, games, and a claw machine that was fairly easy to win. The downside of this campground were the spots were tight! It was really hard to get in and we had to move the neighbors (our friends luckily) picnic table and outdoor things. The bathroom situation was not great, with one small bathroom with 3 showers and 2 toilets for the entire campground. It was very cramped in there and crazy at busy times. They could definitely benefit from another bathhouse.
Garden of the Gods
Our first day in Colorado Springs we visited Garden of the Gods. This is a really cool, free area in the middle of the city that has a ton of rock formations for the kids to explore. Parking can be tricky, definitely go early. The visitor center was also really cool, with fun exhibits, coffee, a great gift shop and fabulous views! The kids had so much fun exploring.
After visiting the gardens, we headed to Pikes Peak Brewery. We had coupons in one of the coupon books at the campground for buy one get one free beer. The beer was great, and we ordered food to the brewery.
Pikes Peak
The next day we decided to head up Pikes Peak! This is a 19 mile twisty turny road to the top. We paid $40 for entrance for the 5 of us with the carload discount. They were doing work at the top, so we could only drive to mile 16, where we got on a bus to finish the journey. It’s a beautiful drive and freezing at the top! The air is very thin and most of us felt dizzy. The new visitor center is beautiful, with great views, food, and a big gift shop.
Cave of the Wind Mountain Park
After Pikes Peak, we decided to do something fun for the kids and headed over to Cave of the Winds Mountain Park. They have a variety of attractions, from cave tours to zipling. We decided on the Pioneer Package. $27 per person included the Bat a Pult, Wind walker challenge course, climbing wall and Geronimo’s Leap.
We did the Batapult first. You get one turn on this (honestly the line was so long you won’t want to get in it again)! Two people can go at a time, and we calculated the loading, ride, and unloading to be about 3 minutes. It took us about an hour to get through. The ride was fun but I think we enjoyed the other area more. The views were fabulous standing in line which made the wait more bearable!
Next we went over to the ariel adventure part. This included the wind walker, rock wall, and leap. The best part was once you got your harness for this part you could use it for all 3 attractions. You could go back and forth as much as you like and spend as much time as you like, but once you left the area you were done. The kids spent a few hours here. The wind walker was set up so you could go multiple ways instead of just a one way course. That allowed you to skip harder parts of needed.
We finished our last day of fun with a visit to Trails End Taproom. This was a great place, with pay by pour beer, wine, and cider. The selection was huge! You could pour as much or as little as you want. They also had great food choices, like pizza and sandwiches and lots of gluten free options! It’s located in a shopping center but it does have a pretty outdoor area.
Colorado Springs was our last stop before we spent the next day days driving home. It was a great respite from the heat we had experienced earlier and we a break from all the crazy long hiking. I would definitely go back!
Camping with the Kennedys 