Garden of the Gods

Garden of the Gods is a National Natural Landmark located by Colorado Springs. The garden refers not only to flora, but also to rocks. Like a rock garden you might have in your backyard. In fact, some people here actually have it in their back yard. Unlike in California, these city planners must be very cooperative with developers. There literally are houses built so close to the Landmark that some of the formations are within their yards.

So sod Mon.

But the Garden is spectacular with many miles of dirt trails, and a road that has a walking/biking path throughout the entire area.

Here is the Siamese Twins Formation with Sue in the foreground.

Here is the view that Sue was taking a picture of that highlights Pikes Peak as seen through the keyhole in the Twins.

We arrived at the Garden about 8 in the morning, when the sun was coloring the rocks with it's morning red glow.

Just a stunning area, everywhere you look on the Central Garden Trail.

There was some fauna too.

Our 27th anniversary is in a week, but by then we'll be out in the boonies again we think, so we celebrated last night with a fine dining experience at the Mona Lisa Fondue Restaurant in Manitou Springs. (That's actually where we are staying right now)

It was a wonderful venue in an old hotel which had many small rooms of three or four tables that kept the noise level very low and made for a very intimate setting. Like the title suggests, we had a cheese fondue course and also a chocolate fondue course.

The only downside was that they brought the entree to your table uncooked and a small grill was supplied. We were pretty busy for a while trying to cook everything and still enjoy the food while it was hot.

No Jan, she didn't do all the cooking. As you know, I'm quite the grill master!

Tonight, dinner with our friend Jim who is in town for 90 days pulling National Guard duty. Or as he calls it, paid vacation.

Tomorrow, Pikes Peak. Maybe instead of driving up there, we'll just hike it instead.