Colorado Springs

Becca and I are in Colorado for the week. Saturday we flew into Denver, got our rental car, then drove down to Colorado Springs. On the way down from Denver we found ourselves in the middle of a pretty heavy storm with balls of hail that slowed traffic and resulted in another shopping spree at Kohls to pass the time. But then we got down to my grandparents' house and had dinner with the two of them and Amy. After dinner we went to Amy's house, met her roommate Amy, and got Becca situated in her room. Then I was back to Granmom and Grandad's for the night. Sunday we went to church with Amy then went to pick up my grandparents and go to lunch. Grandad, who is on a special diet and doesn't eat out much, had been dressed and ready to go to the restaurant hours before we got there and was headed out the door as soon as we arrived but we managed to sneak a few pictures in first. Here is a picture that he grudgingly allowed us to take. For lunch we went to Texas Roadhouse where we met with Aunt Sarah, Uncle Jim, Aunt Lori and Uncle Tom. After lunch Becca and I went to Garden of the Gods where there are many pretty large rocks. Sort of like Sedona in Arizona but not as nice. There is one rock called the Balancing Rock, which is really cool until you realize it is cemented in place. Next was Manitou Springs, a fun old town nearby that had an old school arcade. We finished off the day at Seven Falls, which is a beautiful waterfall with seven parts that would have been much nicer if it wasn't highly commercialized and cost $10.25 each person to see.

On Monday we went Pikes Peak on the cog railway which was beautiful. The view from a mountain top is breathtaking, at is the air considering that we were at 14,110 feet above sea level. On the way up we sat across from a couple, Sherry and Kurt, who are motor homers from Indiana that drove all around the country. In fact they had been through Albany where they unfortunately took a wrong exit and got into a bad part of town. They were spending a month on the road but needed to get back home in time for the Michigan-Notre Dame football game. Great people except for being Michigan fans.... While talking to them Sherry noted a person behind us wearing a Michigan hat, so we started talking to them too. That was a friendly family, again with unfortunately misguided loyalties. However, the family dad asked me where I was from and I told him Albany. So he proceeded to tell me that he had done his radiology residency at AMC where I am now and had worked with some of my attendings when they were residents 20 years ago. Small world.

After Pikes Peak we drove down to the Royal Gorge, the highest suspension bridge in the world just over 1000 feet above the bottom of the gorge. People have bungi-jumped off of that, can you believe it? Not for me. The gorge was great though.

Then we had dinner with the grandparents again at Mimi's Cafe, which was really good. Grandad again followed his low salt-low fat diet by ordering Fish and Chips. Hmmmm, probably not what the doctor intended. I stole the bill and paid for the meal, which I'm not sure they were too happy with but made Becca and me happy. On the way home we let them treat ut to desert at McDonalds which further improved Grandad's diet with a milkshake. After returning Granmom and Grandad to their house and chatting with them some more, we went back to Amy's and the 3 of us went to see Hairspray. A manly movie? No. But hey, John Travolta was in it, that counts for something right? No, he played a woman. But he did get highly flattered when his character (a woman) was told by her husband "You are old and fat, but you're never boring." That was funny. Actually I really enjoyed the movie and laughed to whole time. Not manly, but enjoyable non the less.

Tuesday we went to the Olympic Training facility and took a tour of the grounds. The funny part was when we were at the part of the tour looking at the pool, 2 of the male swimmers got out of the pool, flexed their muscles and posed.

Slightly off topic, I borrowed a GPS device for my computer from a classmate at AMC, at it's been pretty fun. We get into the car and can easily get directions to wherever we want to go. I highly recommend it. The main problem we've had with it is that when Becca was navigating with it she got car sick. So if you're prone to motion sickness that may not be the best bet.

OK, we're off to Basalt, near Aspen, where tomorrow we are going whitewater rafting. Very exciting.