Pikes No Peek

Before we headed out of Durango, we loaded up on frozen roasted green chiles at the Albertsons. They were very nice, helping us load everything into the cooler, pack ice around things and then top it off with dry ice. This will keep everything frozen solid until we get home. We figure we have enough frozen chiles to get us through until our next trip west. While we were loading up, Pleep was busy running around saying goodbye to his cowboy friends at the hotel. He spent a little too much time hanging out with Black Bart at the Diamond Belle Saloon and got involved in the gunfight. Now he's on the wanted list in the Durango sheriff's office.

It's about 315 miles from Durango to Manitou Springs on state roads. The drive is very scenic as you climb up and down through several mountain passes. We passes through a lot of cattle ranches and small towns. It is an interesting thing in Colorado the towns never list population - only elevation. Delete kept seeing elk signs but the signs that bothered him most were the ones advertising "We process, package and ship your elk meat."

The most visited mountain in North America and the second most visited mountain in the world behind Japan's Mount Fuji, Pikes Peak forms a stunning backdrop for the drive into Manitou Springs. We made the turn onto US 24 and with 100 miles to go, you could see the Peak. At an altitude of 14,110 feet above sea level, Pikes Peak is the 31st highest peak out of 54 Colorado peaks. It is the farthest east of the big peaks in the Rocky Mountain chain, which contributed to its early fame among explorers, pioneers and immigrants and made it the symbol of the 1859 Gold Rush to Colorado with the slogan, "Pikes Peak or Bust".

We pulled into The Cliff House in Manitou Springs. The Cliff House is a great, historic hotel; originally founded to support the stagecoach traffic, it has housed many famous guests including Wild Bill Cody, Teddy Roosevelt, and Clark Gable. They have suites named after famous guests. Pleep tried to get us into the Bill Cody suite, insisting he was personal friends with Bill Cody. We finally convinced him Tyler's dad, Bill Cody, was not the same guy the suite was named after. We did get a great room with a view of the foothills around Pike's Peak. Pleep really liked the heated toilet seat.

Because the town is at the base of Pike's Peak, you can't actually see the peak. It was too late to take the Cog Railway to the top and the ND-Washington game had started. We saw the end of the first quarter as we unpacked. Once we had the room organized, we headed down to talk to the hotel staff about the best place to watch the game.

They sent us to a local pub, The Townhouse Saloon. It was a locals place with a lot of tvs and fresh beer. The crew here was serious about football and consumption. Nearly everyone followed the shot & a beer approach to ordering and smoked cigarettes. The one guy was still rolling his own cigarettes. As he explained, he's 67 and he's been doing it this way for a long time. Plus, it means he has more money for beer and cheap whiskey.

The game was nerve wracking but ND pulled it out in overtime. Pleep wanted to celebrate so he headed over to the small amusement area in the center of town. It has old time coin operated rides, skee ball and other games. We pulled him out of there and headed to The Loop to sample the local Mexican food. After a long day, everyone was glad to hit the bed. We will definitely return here when we can spend more time visiting the area around Manitou Springs and make the trek up to the top of Pike's Peak.