Today we went to Seven Falls in Colorado Springs.  It's located in a box canyon, which is surrounded on 3 sides by 900' of towering, granite walls.  The mouth of the canyon is only 41' wide, and the road leading to the falls is very narrow.  Because it's so narrow, and the walls are so high the pictures don't really do it justice... and you end up with a pain in the neck from looking up so much!  The falls at the end of the mile long canyon has 7 distinct waterfalls.  We took the elevator to the observation deck, we weren't up to taking the 280 stairs!

The road going into the canyon.

The falls are 180' high.

Rainbow trout being fed in the stream.

Looking up at the observation deck.

After Seven Falls, we went to the visitor center at the Air Force Academy.  We were expecting more models and exhibits, but it was mostly just informational things and a huge gift shop.  We couldn't tour the chapel because it was booked for weddings all afternoon.  A few pictures of the area -

Every day, on our way wherever we're going, we pass this sign about the John May Museum of huge bugs.  Today we decided to stop on our way back to the camper, and boy were these bugs HUGE!  This man collected these bugs, moths, spiders, butterflies, scorpions, and beetles from his travels around the world.  Hundreds and hundreds and possibly thousands of bugs mounted in cases.  Some of them were 100 years old, but you couldn't tell because they all looked perfectly preserved.  Each was mounted and had a small note with the name, where it was found, and the date.  We were very happy to find that not many of these huge, mean looking things were found in the US.  And we decided we will never go to New Guinea!  I would NEVER be able to leave the house! lol

Today looks to be a busy day!  We leave Colorado Springs on Monday, and tomorrow we've decided to hang around the camper and get ready to be on the road again, so today's the day to see all those last minute sights we have on our list.  First off is breakfast.. yum!  Then on to see the Seven Falls.  The brochure says you can get to the top by either taking the over 200 steps... or you can take the elevator.  Wonder which we will choose??  (haha!)  After that will be the Air Force Academy's visitor center and Chapel.  Hope to get lots of pictures!

The 7th day of our journey was spent going up the cog railroad to Pike's Peak.  There are 3 ways to get to the summit - #1 is hike up but at 14,110' that was totally out of the question!  There's a paved road you can drive, but it looks to be pretty curvy, narrow and scary.  So we took the easy way, riding up in the cog railroad.  The ride started out pretty warm, temps were probably 70s, maybe low 80s.  By the time we reached the top, 1 1/2 hours later the temp was in the 30s!  It was pretty chilly, but the sun was shining and we were prepared with jeans and sweatshirts.  You really don't get much time at the top, only about 30 minutes before you have to board the train to come down.  Barely time to use the ancient bathrooms and take a few pictures. 

The scenery here is just so different from what we're used to seeing at home.  Not just Pike's Peak, but every place we've been. 

 Here are a few pictures taken on the ride up -

And pictures from the top -

This last picture is of the road you can drive to reach the top.... really glad we decided to take the train! 

We took today off from sight seeing, so not much excitement to share.  Instead we did laundry and cleaned up around the camper a bit.  The dogs had a few good, long walks.  Larry stood forever watching a deer up on the hillside.  And that was about it lol 

Here are a couple of signs up in the office window...

It's a little scary going on walks knowing you might have to fight off a mountain lion!

Tomorrow we're going up the cog railway to the top of Pike's Peak, so will have pictures to share tomorrow!