MAY 13, 2020 : On Wednesday, my son Ari and I drove through Missouri, across Kansas and into Colorado. We called it a day after over 10 hours of driving and decided to stay at a Quality Inn in Burlington, Colorado. We had a nice dinner at the Dish Room restaurant, just across the parking lot, returned to the room exhausted and fell asleep early. The next day (yesterday) did not start off well – no hot water in the hotel (boiler broken), no breakfast served (corona) and dented the car while leaving the gas station (no I did not see that pole).
We still had over two hours driving to reach Colorado Springs. As we drove, we listened to the Israeli radio station, Reshet Bet. This was in addition to having the Red Alert app on my phone. This app vibrates each time a rocket is launched towards Israel. Rockets, rockets and more rockets (and a phone that is vibrating, vibrating and vibrating) does not make for a relaxing vacation.
Breakfast was from a food truck in Limon.
At Limon, after 758 miles on Interstate Highway 70, we turned onto a smaller local road towards Colorado Springs. Soon, beyond the mostly flat fields, snowcapped Pikes Peak mountain came into view.
Outskirts of Colorado Springs. Pikes Peak always in the background.
It was too early to check-in, so our first stop was the Garden of the Gods visitor center. A couple of things were surprising. First, we were surprised by how many people were there. It is May, off-season, and the place was full. We were also pleasantly surprised about how nice the visitor center was – it was one of the nicest visitor centers ever, and included a short movie about the geological history of the area. The movie was presented as spaceship journey through time. Basically, over millions of years, the area alternated between being underwater and being dry land. Different layers of rock formed. At one point, the layers tipped to stand vertically instead of horizontally. Erosion eroded some of the layers, and left standing the red rocks of the Garden of the Gods.
The visitors center 
View of the red rocks of the Garden of the Gods as seen from the Visitors Center. Snowcapped Pikes Peak in the background.
After picking up a hiking map, we went across the street to the Garden of the Gods park. Where did all these people come from? Even the overflow parking was full of cars. License plates showed that tourists had arrived from all over, even as far away as Alaska. We drove through the park to the main parking lot, only to not be able to park – too many cars. We continued driving the loop through the park.
On our second attempt at the main parking lot, we were lucky. Someone pulled out just in front of us, and we were able to get a parking space. We then walked (us and many other people) a few kilometers on the paths between the huge red rocks. Stunning.
As we walked, the phone in my backpack kept vibrating. Not a good feeling to be hiking while kids and grandchildren are running to shelters back home.
From there we went to Trinity Brew. This was a microbrewery / restaurant recommended in a YouTube video. I find YouTube to be a very good source of information about places – what to see, what to do, where to eat. People create videos about what they did in the area, and these help me plan what we should do. We sat outside in the sun shine, with Pikes Peak mountain the backdrop. Food was delicious but took forever to arrive, and when it came, they got Ari’s order all wrong. They apologized and eventually the correct food appeared – as compensation, it was a free meal.
The view as we ate lunch
We then returned to the hotel – Magnuson Grand Pikes Peak Hotel in Manitiou Springs – to check in. Nice hotel – large rooms, clean, plenty of hot water, fast internet, centrally located.
After a short rest, we went to Old Colorado City – the historic center of Colorado Springs. This is a small, quaint area full of boutique stores and restaurants. Unlike Garden of the Gods, there was hardily anyone here. Maybe because it is off season, maybe it was the wrong time of the day. In any case, it was only us, a handful of other tourists and a few homeless. Not great.
After strolling around, what was great – was an amazing chocolate, nut and toffee covered apple.
It was late afternoon, and we decided to call it a day. On the way back to the hotel, for the first time in my life, I went to a liquor store. Although I have been in the States for over a week now, I am still jet lagged and not sleeping at night. I thought some Moscato might help.
Of course, the night I finally decide to get help sleeping is the night I sleep better than ever without any help. Managed to sleep over six hours on my own. Feeling invigorated and ready to face the new day. Hopefully without feeling too many phone vibrations.
We’re all OK here, continue having a good time
Turn your phone off 🙂