Summer Vacation Time - San Diego, Hotel Del Coronado, Catalina, and of course DL

[blackjackdelta]

Mike, thought I would join. We have about 5 weeks left before we head south. Love the 10mm so far, hopefully I will be able to at least get some photo's as good as yours. Have a great day.

Jack

 

[I'm mikey]

Mike, happy you had a safe trip, looking forward to the rest of your report.

 

[KCmike]

Day 2

We woke up kinda late today. Too be expected right? The day's itinerary was to include Garden of the Gods, Manitou cave dwellings, and Pike's Peak. Then drive up to Denver to find our next hotel and get ready for the flight to California.

The day started out with me getting a map of our surroundings. We did have my wife's I-phone in case of any emergencies but the hotel lobby had some nice surrounding maps to help guide the way. We were lucky that where we ended up was close to all the attractions we wanted to take in. It was a very quick drive over to the Garden of the Gods. It was in the high 90's when we got there. They have a building with a movie, cafe, and other history aspects about the place but we opted to just go right for the main show. You can see the rocks as your driving up so it was not really any surprise to what was up ahead. It is a free attraction which is nice. What's free anymore? You can hike through the trails or drive around the park and stop at each rock formation. We opted at first to start hiking but soon realized that in almost 100 degree temps that this would be a mistake. We went about 50 yards and headed back for the car. We decided to drive around and take it in that way. Here area few misc. shots.

Racing to the sunlight

Beginning of the journey

From the road

Zoomed in

 

[mom2rtk]

Now.... now.... I know for a fact there was a "no stopping or parking" sign in front of that "Garden of the Gods" sign! My family gave me unending grief about stopping long enough just for a shot of the sign!

We got lucky being there a few weeks ahead of you. The weather was much milder so we were able to do some short hikes.

We also saw some climbers out on the rocks. I had to pass on a photo though since I had the wrong lens on.

I'll be curious to hear about the cave dwellings. Drew really wanted to do that, but we ended up there too late in the day and had to bypass it.

And ......... love your son's Missouri shirt! If he was in a KU shirt, I might have had to unsubscribe from your TR!

 

[KCmike]

Now.... now.... I know for a fact there was a "no stopping or parking" sign in front of that "Garden of the Gods" sign! My family gave me unending grief about stopping long enough just for a shot of the sign!

We got lucky being there a few weeks ahead of you. The weather was much milder so we were able to do some short hikes.

We also saw some climbers out on the rocks. I had to pass on a photo though since I had the wrong lens on.

I'll be curious to hear about the cave dwellings. Drew really wanted to do that, but we ended up there too late in the day and had to bypass it.

And ......... love your son's Missouri shirt! If he was in a KU shirt, I might have had to unsubscribe from your TR!

Never saw the sign Janet? There were several behind me waiting for me to clear to get their picture taken as well. Hmmm. As far as the Missouri shirt it is sort of weird. I was born in Kansas but have always been a Missouri fan. I grew up watching Norm Stewart and loving all of his basketball teams. My youngest daughter is a KU fan but I won't share any photos with her shirt she occasionally wears.

 

[mom2rtk]

Never saw the sign Janet? There were several behind me waiting for me to clear to get their picture taken as well. Hmmm. As far as the Missouri shirt it is sort of weird. I was born in Kansas but have always been a Missouri fan. I grew up watching Norm Stewart and loving all of his basketball teams. My youngest daughter is a KU fan but I won't share any photos with her shirt she occasionally wears.

I'm just messing with you. But there WAS a sign. I had a good laugh about it because it was clearly set up to be a photo spot, but then there was a sign saying no parking. My family knows better than to think I'd let a little sign stop me.

And while we're sort of (gasp) KU haters here, I won't unsubscribe if you show photos of your daughter's shirt. Sounds fair if you were born in Kansas after all....... And I promise not to hold that against you!

What did your kids think of that long drive the first day? Isn't it grand to finally get out and move around for a bit after a long day like that? Too bad you couldn't have kept driving. The really spectacular stuff would have been in the next leg. But it's hard when you only have so much time.

 

[kaoden39]

That's so pretty! I love the photo of the people climbing.

 

[KCmike]

I'm just messing with you. But there WAS a sign. I had a good laugh about it because it was clearly set up to be a photo spot, but then there was a sign saying no parking. My family knows better than to think I'd let a little sign stop me.

And while we're sort of (gasp) KU haters here, I won't unsubscribe if you show photos of your daughter's shirt. Sounds fair if you were born in Kansas after all....... And I promise not to hold that against you!

What did your kids think of that long drive the first day? Isn't it grand to finally get out and move around for a bit after a long day like that? Too bad you couldn't have kept driving. The really spectacular stuff would have been in the next leg. But it's hard when you only have so much time.

Kids were tired. To be honest I wouldn't split driving and flying again. I think I'm getting too old to do both. I enjoy only spending one day (really half or less than half a day getting to my destination). It will be something we will always remember though for sure. After coming back to Denver on July 2nd I wasn't too excited about driving back to KC.

 

[KCmike]

That's so pretty! I love the photo of the people climbing.

Thanks. I am always fascinated by climbers. I've got some of the ones on the Matterhorn in DL as well.

 

[KCmike]

Mike, thought I would join. We have about 5 weeks left before we head south. Love the 10mm so far, hopefully I will be able to at least get some photo's as good as yours. Have a great day.

Jack

Welcome Jack. I saw you started a "Who's going in August Thread". Congrats!

 

[KCmike]

Mike, happy you had a safe trip, looking forward to the rest of your report.

Thanks Mike. Loving your posts on the pic of the day thread.

 

[mom2rtk]

Kids were tired. To be honest I wouldn't split driving and flying again. I think I'm getting too old to do both. I enjoy only spending one day (really half or less than half a day getting to my destination). It will be something we will always remember though for sure. After coming back to Denver on July 2nd I wasn't too excited about driving back to KC.

Yeah, I wondered about mixing the driving and flying. And after all that fun.....that last day driving across Kansas really is a downer. One of our trips it rained the entire way across Kansas for us. A fitting end, but really hard driving.

The only way to describe that drive across Kansas...... is mind-numbing!

The good part is you got to CA a LOT faster than we ever have. The bad part is you got to skip the BEST part of that drive. I'm hoping to get back to DL next year. But we're only going if we can fly, probably in the fall.

Can't wait to see some more photos!

Thanks. I am always fascinated by climbers. I've got some of the ones on the Matterhorn in DL as well.

I wish they still did that. We saw that on one of our first trips to DL and really enjoyed it. Very unique!

 

[KCmike]

Will post more of the first day in Colorado Springs tomorrow.

 

[KCmike]

I wish they still did that. We saw that on one of our first trips to DL and really enjoyed it. Very unique!

They started again this summer!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Gorgeous pics of Colorado. Sure shows why it is colourful! Is the rock all mostly orange/red or does it also display the yellows and pinks that you can find in some of the NP around Utah?

 

[arthur06]

Kids were tired. To be honest I wouldn't split driving and flying again. I think I'm getting too old to do both. I enjoy only spending one day (really half or less than half a day getting to my destination). It will be something we will always remember though for sure. After coming back to Denver on July 2nd I wasn't too excited about driving back to KC.

We are doing the driving/flying thing in November when we head to SoCal. Your making me wonder if I made the right choice. We are flying out of KC rather then Minneapolis or Des Moines. So, for us it only added 2 to 2.5 hours in the car and not the longer time you had.

What we won't do to save some money.

I keep looking at your TR and wonder if I should add a few days at Hotel Del Coronado when we are out there. It just looks amazing, like all your photos. But, I'm just worried the weather in early November would not be the best to be at the beach much.

 

[mom2rtk]

They started again this summer!

Wow! That's great news! I hope they keep it up so we can see it when we get back (maybe next year!)

 

[KCmike]

Gorgeous pics of Colorado. Sure shows why it is colourful! Is the rock all mostly orange/red or does it also display the yellows and pinks that you can find in some of the NP around Utah?

Not sure. This was the only color we saw of the rocks.

 

[KCmike]

We are doing the driving/flying thing in November when we head to SoCal. Your making me wonder if I made the right choice. We are flying out of KC rather then Minneapolis or Des Moines. So, for us it only added 2 to 2.5 hours in the car and not the longer time you had.

What we won't do to save some money.

I keep looking at your TR and wonder if I should add a few days at Hotel Del Coronado when we are out there. It just looks amazing, like all your photos. But, I'm just worried the weather in early November would not be the best to be at the beach much.

2-2.5 hours isn't bad at all. I wouldn't mind doing that. As far as Hotel Del Coronado I would think anytime would be a great time to visit. They put up a skating rink for Christmas time out by the beach. Just think...you could ice skate and see the ocean at the same time. When we get to day three you will see way too many shots of one of my favorite hotels of all time.

 

[KCmike]

Garden of the Gods was nice. It was too hot for us to really enjoy it and I'm glad it was free. Now on to the Manitou Springs cave dwellings. They stated that these were inhabited by the Anasazi I believe. These people inhabited the "four corners" region of this area from early BC to 1800 AD. They actually relocated from the original dwellings to this place in the early 1900's. I want to say the cost was somewhere around $10 per person. It wasn't worth it. You get to walk into the dwellings and climb around and touch anything but I would bypass this attraction. Here are some photos.


Entrance driving in

Tipee near entrance

Lookout point

Museum Store/gift shop

Actual dwellings

Inside one of the areas

View from the dwellings

My daughter has some pictures of the Colorado Springs fire from the highway. I will ask her to email them to me and I will include those later. So at this point we had the chance to either drive up to Pike's Peak or head back to the highway and head up to Denver. We debated for a few minutes but on the decision of many wise disboarders we decided to skip Pike's Peak. Good thing! As we got onto the entrance of the highway and started north to Denver we noticed huge white smoke coming from exactly where we just were. How bizarre. As we drove the highway billboards that usually talk about traffic conditions stated "Don't call 911 about the fire, We already know". It wasn't until we arrived in California the following day the extent of all the fire. In Denver we stayed near the airport at a Homewood Suites hotel. That night we ended up seeing Brave at a local theater. We debated on whether seeing Brave at the El Capitan in Hollywood because of all the special things they do but we thought we better devote as much time to DL and DCA as we possibly could while in Anaheim.

Up next: Hotel Del Coronado, the beach, The USS Midway naval battleship, San Diego from the bay, and pictures from the island.