August 14, 2013
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Epic Road Trip, Day 6, part 1
My sister and her husband fixed a great breakfast for us, and we headed out soon after. Quin had hurt his wrist before we'd left, and then fell again, hurting it more, so our first stop was to get him a brace in case he fell again before it healed. We were also in their car so I didn't have sun screen, so I bought an additional bottle of that while I was there at Walgreens. We're from Washington, we can't handle the sun! Well, I rarely burn and never use sun screen but that doesn't mean I can't develop good habits for the kids. Ok, fine. I'll admit I only remembered to slather them up maybe 3 times the entire trip.
Whatever.
Our first stop was Garden of the Gods, a 480 acre park in Colorado Springs that has some spectacular red rock formations. We literally had to stand in a line to get our turn for the photo op at this sign. We waited in the hot sun for about 15 minutes, ran up, had my BIL shoot off a couple pictures, and dashed off so someone else could have a turn.
There were a lot of earthcaches there but I was in a mood to go with the flow and if I managed to get the right pictures and information, great, if not, I'd either make it up and not claim it. I knew I wanted to see the Kissing Camels. Seriously, who wouldn't?
That's them, up there. I was confused, too. It took me a while to see them. I eventually did and you'll see them front, back and side by the time you finish this post. Unless you lack imagination, that is. I can't really help you with that.
The red rock formations were cool, but I enjoyed the green rocks and the white rocks as well. Sometime we could walk on a path and to our left was green rocks and to our right was red rocks. It was kinda weird. But really beautiful as well.
Oh, look, the camels are kissing. Pretend along with me.....
Bison in the gift shop! 
A lot less damaging than a bull in a China shop, so the kids had to ride on one. The gift shop was easily the most expensive one we shopped in the entire trip. Well, as least as far as post cards went since that was all I could afford, anyway. Here, they were 75 cents each. Most other places were between 25 and 35 cents, with the latter usually having a "buy 3 get one free" sale. I did buy a tear-away pack of them while I was there, just because I figured they might be better than my own photography.
We parked at a scenic overlook, and then walked into the park itself.
Quin was in pain from his wrist and was a bit afraid of his uncle so he was quite the grouch today. He hung back from the others, growled, and was generally mean to anyone that came near him, fighting with me about why he had to come on this stupid trip and why he couldn't have just stayed home to play on the computer the whole time. So, I stayed with him, recognizing where his anger was really coming from, even if I missed out spending time with my sister and BIL. Kendrah hung out with them while Quin and I walked together behind them, and soaked up the scenery.
Great example of tafoni on the left,
and a hole on the right 
Meanwhile, let's play a game called "Spot the climbers". There's one in each picture below:
There's the backside of the lip-locked camels (top, left of center). And the striking difference between the red rocks and the green trees and the silver sky.
Here's some examples of the white rock hills. And a close up of a climber with no ropes and no safety gear (and about 1' off the ground).
I got a lot of great pictures on this day and it will take a couple days to post them all.
Be back soon.
