Colorado Vacation - Royal Gorge Bridge

We woke on Tuesday morning to a very rainy, overcast day.  Checking the weather, we were disappointed to see that the weather wasn't going to change until the end of the week (about the time we would be heading home!).  We knew that we had to make the most of our time in Colorado Springs and decided to head to Canon City & Cripple Creek for the day.  We were excited to explore the Royal Gorge Bridge Park and tour the Molly Kathleen gold mine.

We ate breakfast with the whole family and discussed our plan for the day.  After taking John back to the hotel (he had work to do for the day), we hit the road to head to Canon City. 

While driving, we saw this lovely bug out our window!  Matt quickly pulled over and (with excitement in his voice) announced that there was a brand new letterbox by the bug!  We hiked up the hill, found the letterbox and took a few pictures.

We arrived at the Royal Gorge Bridge mid morning.  We could barely see the road as we drove in to the park due to the fog and overcast day!  We were surprised by how many people were there, but we figured they were making the most of the crappy day as well!  After getting into the park, we took pictures by the Water Clock (scavenger hunt item) and then took the tram across the bridge.  We were amazed by the gorge!  Even with the fog, you could see all the way to the bottom really well!

We walked up to the Theater and enjoyed an aerial show (where Maddie was Ms VIP), Magic Show & then a movie about the Royal Gorge Park.

After the theater, we were all excited to ride the gondola back to the other side.  After the long trek up hill...ALL up hill...we were thrilled to find a very short line.  The ride across was smooth.  We all enjoyed the ride and scenery. We even saw white water rafters on the river (see picture below).

The first step "outside the cabin" would be a doozy!

Now that we were back at the visitor's center, we knew it was time to make a decision about the afternoon plans - 1) stay at the park for the remainder of the afternoon 2) wrap things up at the park and head to the gold mine.  We called the gold mine to find out their hours.  With it being almost 3:00, we knew that it would be best to skip the gold mine and enjoy the rest of the park (we wanted to walk across the bridge, have lunch and let the kids play at the play area for a bit).  We were disappointed but felt it was the best decision for our day.

After having some lunch, we headed back towards the bridge (with a couple of quick detours).

Walking across the bridge was quite the experience!  There was a little bit of bounce and sway to it (enough to freak out Maddie & me).  There were vehicles (tram, golf cart, park ranger trucks)constantly crossing it too, which didn't help matters! It was worth the weak legs though - I am proud to say that my family walked across it!

One of the photo scavenger hunt items - Find the Illinois Flag in Colorado!  The kids found it as soon as we took the tram across the first time. While walking across, we snagged a picture.

The kids & I continued over the bridge while Ken, Connie, Matt & Kaitee enjoyed the view.  The younger 3 had asked if they could go play for a while.  Kaitee soon caught up with us and played for a bit too.

Alex walking across the "bridge"

Ken & Connie asked for a ride back across the bridge so the golf cart picked them up - they felt like VIPs as they traveled across the bridge!  The rest of us finished playing and then headed back across the bridge via the tram.

With no waiting for a ride on the gondola, we all rode across to the south side of the gorge. While traveling across, we saw a couple of people zip-lining.  When we got out on the south side, Connie & Matt announced that they were going to zip-line also!  Ken & I got back in the gondola for the ride back to the north side (with all 4 kids).  We then waited to see "Grandma & Dad" zipping across the gorge!

Fun in the Gift shop!  One of our photo scavenger hunt items was "wearing a hard hat".  We had chosen this item because of the gold mine we were going to visit.  Since we passed on that, we were thrilled to find these in the gift shop!

We left Royal Gorge Bridge and decided to head towards Colorado Springs via Cripple Creek - instead of going back the way we came.  We weren't disappointed by our choice as it was a beautiful drive!  Cripple Creek is a very quaint town with lots of life to it!  We found a few letterboxes in the area and enjoyed the beauty of hwy 67.  We even found some dead squirrels and the SUN!

Another Colorado day comes to a close.  We got back to the hotel and grabbed a late dinner.  Tomorrow would be another fun-filled day!