Team Dave's Road Trip, Day 2 - Amarillo to Colorado Springs

This morning, after everyone got up and around, we drove to Love's for gas and then to Cadillac Ranch to do some "damage." It was windy, but we managed to spray paint a few nice touches and the people who got there as we were leaving did not have paint cans, so what we wrote stayed at least for a while.

After that, we headed north through the northeast corner of New Mexico and into Colorado. The scenery was beautiful, it was not as windy as yesterday (though it was extremely windy), and there were no dust storms at all.

We ended up lunching in Walsenburg at the Coyote Cafe. Neat little place, and the food was excellent... it's just that my pizza took so long to cook ("The oven isn't usually this slow!") that James and Daphne had already finished their mushroom Swiss melt and bacon mushroom Swiss burger, respectively, before it was finished. The waitress brought me a free side salad, and when the pizza was ready to go, I had it boxed up and ate some of it on the road.

It was with gratefulness that we pulled into Colorado Springs earlier than anticipated, and the van running like a champ. This trip is putting it through its paces with the wind and elevation changes and dust.

The first thing we did was go to Garden of the Gods. It's indescribably beautiful. You can look at my pictures, but even they don't adequately capture how amazing the place is. We walked on the paved trail for an hour or so, enjoying blue skies and a break from the relentless wind. When we were on our way back to the car to drive to another area of the park, the clouds rolled in and the temperature dropped what felt like a good ten degrees. The wind whipped back up, and we rushed to the car, breathing hard from the elevation to which we are not accustomed.

We drove around and looked at more formations, then as we stopped at Pull-Out 8 to see some red rocks plus Pikes Peak, it started to snow!

Fortunately, we are staying less than two miles from Garden of the Gods at the Glen Eyrie Conference Center. Because Daphne is under 16, we couldn't stay in the castle, but we got a room in a small lodge and it's perfect for us.

When we first arrived, there was a conference group checking in at the carriage house, so we walked up to the castle and explored it for a bit before going back down to check in. On the way to the lodge, we happened to catch a huge (I think; it was easily a dozen, maybe more) herd of bighorn sheep grazing in front of the adjacent lodge.

We got settled in, meaning that Daphne got on the internet and I unpacked for our two nights, then James and I set out to find somewhere to go for dinner. He happened across Edelweiss German Restaurant, and, man, was that a winner. Daphne had jagerschnitzel (pork medallions), James had a stuffed pasta, and I had an amazing Waldorf salad. We had so much food that we all brought back left-overs. And we also ordered dessert to go: a slice of Dobosh Torte and a Mocha Mousse Torte. Breakfast, I guess?

Now we're back at Glen Eyrie, and I think it's time for bed! James has already been asleep for an hour. I'm ready to join in.