Colorado Springs in a Weekend

.Colorado Springs in a Weekend.

It's been over a month since we left for our adventure to Colorado! It's crazy how fast time is flying this summer. Every summer I say how fast it goes, but this year has been faster than any year before. So I am FINALLY blogging about our Colorado vacation!!

Colorado is one state we had not explored & my little brother moved there this past fall, so it was a perfect destination for our BIG summer vacation. We kicked off our big vacation in Colorado Springs to see my little brother. We spent the 4th of July holiday weekend enjoying as many sights as we possibly could. 

Friday evening, we enjoyed relaxing & grilling at my brother's apartment that has the most incredible view!  The kids loved meeting their dog cousin Ronin! It was really nice to reconnect & catch up on what had been going on this past year. It was a very long 15 hour drive out to Colorado, but the kids did great...it was well worth it! 

Early 4th of July morning, we headed to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo! This zoo is built into the side of the mountain. We walked the entire zoo & took the chair lift up to the top to see the incredible views of the city.  We have been to quite a few zoo's in our life, but this ranks as one of the best zoo's I have ever been to. The giraffe exhibit is the largest in the United States. The kids loved feeding them & touching their long tongues. My daughter loved watching the elephants do their daily checks with the animal trainers. She thought they were dancing around! 

^^fun moments at the zoo^^

^^family photo in the giraffe exhibit^^

^^their tongues were incredible! I never realized that their tongues were black or that long until this trip!^^

^^The kids favorite part of their day was swimming! I always laugh because I try to plan fun activities & try new things on vacation. But my children love swimming at the hotel pool the most! ha^^

^^Fireworks time! Sibling love or overtired laughter...^^

Sunday morning, we trekked to the Garden of the Gods to explore the visitors center & hike in the park. I have never seen such incredible rock formations & colorations like at Garden of the Gods. It is so amazing how these could be formed millions of years ago! My son loved climbing the rocks, digging in the dirt & watching the climbers attempt to climb the rock formations! It was a very hot morning, so we only hiked for a few hours. The kids were not enthused about hiking that morning. 

^^I love all of our fun photos from Garden of the Gods, especially the ones of my children  exploring together^^

^^The most incredible gourmet burgers, fries & shakes at Crave in Colorado Springs! All I can say is WOW! If you ever have a chance to go, don't eat for many hours before. You will be soooo stuffed! I had the Sin City burger & Parmesan truffle fries and a Grasshopper shake. Let's just say I only ate about 1/2 my meal.^^

 After an incredible lunch, we headed towards Pikes Peak. We spent the afternoon exploring Manitou Springs & their adorable downtown area before our trip up the Pikes Peak Cog Railway. We enjoyed a delicious smoothie, playing at the playground & spending money at the old fashioned arcade!  

We had 5:20pm tickets for the Pikes Peak Cog Railway, the last train of the evening. Everyone told us that it would be such an incredible view, but I was amazed by how truly beautiful it really was. The conductor did a great job explaining the history of the railway. It was exciting to hear that a man from Wisconsin raised money to build the Cog Railway. Go Wisconsin!  When we arrived at the top of Pikes Peak, it was quite chilly at 45 degrees & windy!! We walked around for a bit to take pictures & throw snow balls, but were ready to go inside the Visitors station to warm up & grab a snack.

^^I'm on top of the world!!!^^

^^more gorgeous photos from our adventure up Pikes Peak--Snowball fights, incredible views, big horn sheep, & train cuddles!^^

^^Love these two! They had a great time riding the train!^^

We loved Colorado Springs & can't wait to go back someday! We saw a lot of amazing sights in one weekend, but definitely have so much more to see! Colorado Springs is such a beautiful city with great restaurants, incredible views and so much to see & do! It was also great to see my little brother & his girlfriend too!

I will be posting more vacation posts next week- Rocky Mountain National Park & Royal Gorge!