Garden of the Gods

The weather here in Monument has sure been strange. We wake to beautiful sunshine and a few white, fluffy clouds. Definitely t shirt and shorts weather! But by late afternoon, the darker clouds start piling up and every evening we get a crazy thunder and lightning storm along with a good rain shower. It cools off considerably and we grab our sweatshirts.

Still that leaves all day to play and sightsee. So off we went to visit the Garden of the Gods. First we stopped at the visitor center and were disappointed. This marvelous 770 acre public park was donated to the city of Colorado Springs in 1909 with the stipulation that it would remain free to the public.

The visitor center is located across the road from the park and is a vision of excess. The prices of everything inside are outrageous beginning with a 14 minute film about the park for $5. We left quickly.


Across the road is the entrance to the Garden of the Gods.

The multicolored rock formations of sandstone are encircled by a narrow road with several parking pullouts which were all full the day we went. It's an incredibly popular park with miles of hiking trails, rock climbing, guided walks and picnic areas.


One of the favorite stops is Balancing Rock. There was no place to park so we weren't able to get a very good picture of this amazing boulder.

We will certainly visit this park again when it is not so busy.

Leaving the park, we wound our way along back roads into the town of Manitou. It's a cute little tourist area that didn't interest us too much but when we saw the signs for the North Pole, we couldn't resist.


Up in the hills on the way to Pikes Peak is Santa's workshop complete with an amusement park and gift shop.






We snapped a couple of shots then headed home.