A Heavenly Day

Our first stop of the day was an al fresco breakfast at the Garden of the Gods Welcome Center. After the group picture was taken, we watched a short video entitled "How Did Those Red Rocks Get There?".  We drove through the garden and saw many rock structures. Photo 2 shows a Balancing Rock. We then processed to the Manitou Cliff Dwellings.

Group Photo with the Garden of the Gods in the background. Sneed and I are in the back row just right of center. Sneed is wearing a green hat and I'm on his left.

The 185 steps were quite steep.

Second photo shows Seven Falls. Friendly chipmunks ran along the sidewalk at the bottom of the falls.

A side stop took us to these lovely sculptures of Starr Kempf in front of the home in which he lived until his death in 1995. We had to stagger our stops as the neighbors are quite upset when lots of cars block the entry and egress from the area.

Our last stop was Helen Hunt Falls in North Cheyenne Cañon Park named after Helen Hunt Jackson, a successful writer who moved to Colorado Springs in 1873 to restore her health with "the curative air of the Rockies". She is remembered for her novel Ramona.

We, and Phil and Sue from Williamsburg, VA, were invited to join Michael from Kansas at one of his favorite restaurants in Manitou Springs located in the beautifully appointed Cliff House. We dined in a small private room with fireplace, many servers, and excellent food. A very relaxing end to the day.