Pikes Peak

Arrived in Manitou Springs about 3:30 on August 8th.  The drive up through Colorado from New Mexico was amazing.  The mountains just grew and grew.  One minute I was going up and next thing I know it was all down hill, hairpin turns and crazy straight aways.  White knuckle curves and beautiful views made up the majority of my trip that day.  My first experience with Airbnb was a good one.  I stayed at a quaint little motel about 10 minutes from the Pikes Peak Cog Railway station.  Luckily, I had called the day before to reserve a seat, and was able to get one on the 8:00 am trip. I was so excited for my trip to the peak, I was up and ready to go pretty early the next day. They suggested arriving about 30 minutes prior to departure time, but me being me, I showed up with about 50 minutes to spare.  Signs around the depot suggested that riders bring a jacket and plenty of water.  The temperature posted, indicated that where the station was, it was a balmy 72 degrees, however, up at the peak, it was 31 with a 25 degree wind-chill.  I grabbed my jacket a bottle of water, and boarded the train.  As luck would have it, my seat was in the front row of the uphill end of the train.  Which meant, I sat next to the engineer and looked right out the front window.  What a view !!! At 8 mph it took about an hour to get to the top.  Along the way we saw, mule deer, rocky mountain goats, lots of yellow bellied marmots, and tons of different birds.  It is virtually impossible to put into words the scenery that I saw during that trip to 14,115 ft.  Our train car was the first one up top so when we stopped and I stood up and looked out the front window, I was literally looking straight down.  Crazy !  The top was bustling with other tourist who had chose to drive to the top (no thank you), so I hurried inside to grab my Pikes Peak donut.  Yep, it’s a donut made at the top of the mountain.  Not the best donut in the world, but one of those quirky things that you do, just so you can say you ate a donut at 14,000 ft.  Souvenirs in hand I headed outside to call my Dad.  Yes, I had cell service at that altitude, thanks Verizon.  Talking to my Dad from the top of Pikes Peak was one of the only things that he has asked of me throughout my entire adventure.  It was a memorable moment.  Our allotted time up top drawing to an end, I once again took my assigned seat and the trip down began.  It was just as beautiful watching everything go by backwards.  They tell you to drink plenty of water during the trip up and back, because water helps transport oxygen to your bloodstream.  There is definitely some truth to that statement, because you can really feel the changes in atmosphere.  Trip complete, I climbed back into my Jeep and hit the road, looking forward to my next great adventure.  Bucket list item, check ! !