Day 5 - Colorado Springs, CO

Well, after a good night's sleep I can finish up yesterday. Not much to add. Had a nice dinner with old friend and golfing buddy Steve. So much to talk about we probably could have kept going till they closed the place.

Once again we managed to sleep all the way 6:00. I just don't get this waking up so early.

A breakfast sandwich for each at Panera followed by a stop at Starbucks got us off to a good start. Most of the morning was taken up with a drive up to Cripple Creek and when I say up I mean up. An old gold mining town about 45 miles from The Springs it's at an elevation of 9,494 feet. In 1848, Winfield Scott Stratton discoved the Independence Lode, which would become one of the largest gold strikes in history. Over time an estimated 23.5 troy ounces of gold came from the Cripple Creek District. Today gold is around $1205 an ounce.

Not too long ago the Cripple Creek claim to fame was as a ghost town. That all changed in 1991, when Colorado voters legalized gambling and the town became an out of the way place to play the one armed bandits. As I remember when I lived in Colorado there were ony three towns with gambling, so out of the way really wasn't a problem.

I'm a reluctant gambler, cause I just don't like losing money. But I do like the slots. So, I will only play the penny slots and will play no more than $20. I like to quit a winner, which means when I get a few bucks ahead I quit. Today it was the Double Eagle Casino and after about 5 minutes I left with $23.05. Barb did her usual and lost $5. Pretty much business as usual. A quick drive through the six or seven blocks of downtown and we headed back to The Springs.

For lunch we headed back to the Marigold Cafe. Once again I had the French onion soup, while Barb opted for the split pea. Lunch converstaion centered around whether or not we should cancel Santa Fe and spend an extra day in Goodyear, Arizona, plus an overnight in Flagstaff, Arizona on the way. That conversation continued into the afternoon back at the motel. On the one hand Santa Fe is just about our favorite place to visit. So much to see on foot and great food. On the otherhand, an extra day in Goodyear would give us a chance to do a little more looking at some of our favorite retirement sites. About 3:00 the decision was made to skip Santa Fe. Barb switched reservations and I worked out a new travel route.

Dinner was with some old friends at Biaggi's. When I retired eleven years ago my retirement dinner was at Biaggi's. That dinner was the beginning of something wonderful. Barb and I split Chicken Parmesan, which was excellent.

Mike, I hear you are traveling along with us. Wish you were still in Olathe cause we would be there tomorrow.

Tomorrow we are off for a half day drive to South Fork, Colorado for a short visit with Frank, yet another old friend.

For some reason Day 4 seems to have disappeared. Here are a couple of photos from our visit to the Garden of the Gods.

Red Rocks and Blue Sky

Pikes Peak - 14,110 feet 

Been to the very top of that one

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