Tourist Day

Today is my first full day in Colorado Springs, and I spent it as a tourist!  Ruth took Jordan and I around Colorado Springs and the surrounding area to see the sights.  I'm sunburnt already because of the sun being more intense here.  It's been a fun day so far, and it isn't over yet because we're going out for dinner in a little bit!

The first stop of the day was Garden of the Gods, a park with a bunch of neat rock formations.  Instead of talking about it, I'm just going to post a couple of pictures cause that does it better (although still not fair) justice!

The Balanced Rock

Jordan doing some "scrambling"

Next stop was Pikes Peak, which was not an easy stop to get to!  Pikes Peak is a "fourteener," meaning that it is over 14,000 ft in elevation (14,110 to be exact).  There's a highway that goes up to the top, so Ruth drove us up that.  The drive is quite an experience in itself...there are switchbacks, steep drop offs without guard rails, parts that aren't paved...it's nineteen miles long, but it takes a bit of time to get up to the summit because of the grade and the 20mph speed limit!  And, again...here are some pictures for you!

This picture was actually taken at Garden of the Gods, but that's Pikes Peak in the background!

View on the drive up

Brother and I at the summit

Ruth and I at the summit

After leaving Pikes Peak, we ate lunch in Manitou Springs.  Manitou Springs is a cute little town in the foothills with lots of fun shops...I didn't get to visit any, but I'm hoping that there'll be a group of USOC interns willing to shop with me!

We ended the day with a quick visit to the US Olympic Training Center so Jordan and Ruth could see where I'll be living and working...but I'll post pictures of that later!  Off to dinner!