A Whirlwind Week in Colorado Springs

The six days we spent in Colorado Springs flew by and we barely have any record of our time there, having nearly completely forgotten to take photos or videos. On Sunday night, we left our place south of Santa Fe New Mexico and drove a long day through the uneventful (some might say boring) landscape of Northeastern New Mexico and into Southern Colorado. By the time we neared the border, we could see massive rockies in the distance and entering Colorado the landscape shifted, just a little, but grow a bit more exciting with more vibrant colors and growing mountains in the distance. We had originally planned to rest for the night in Pueblo, CO… but as we approached the city we decided to keep going on to Colorado Springs. We headed towards Cheyenne Mountain State Park– in the southern part of the city– and arrived at the absolute best time. We climbed up the hill to get a spot, and what a spot did we get! We lucked out big-time, as someone had just left one of the best spots in the park and as the sun began to set, we set up shop and got a fire going.

It wasn’t until the sun set completely, and the city lights popped up below us that we realized how large Colorado Springs actually was. The city lights sprawled as far as our eyes could see… a sight we had not seen since leaving the bay area. It was beautiful and unexpected and we went to bed happy with plans to spend quite a bit of time exploring the place. 

One thing about Colorado Springs is that you don’t really get sunsets, as the sun falls behind the steep mountain peaks before showing much color. The sunrises, however, were unreal… and we had the best view from both our windows and from the patio on our campsite. We woke up excitedly the first few days to watch the city lights fade and the sun rise.

Like I said, we kind of forgot to be tourists when we were in Colorado Springs… we dealt with a lot of logistical stuff and restocked on supplies. The sale of my El Sobrante house closed while we were there, which was an exciting and definitive ending and solidified our nomadic life even further. I impulsively cut 5 inches off of my hair, and subsequently got a 15 dollar good clips cut to straighten it out (because I did a terrible job). We had two of the best burgers ever ever ever with local Colorado beef. We found some great local beer… woke up and fell asleep to the reveille echoing from Fort Carson every morning. We saw countless deer, prairie dogs, a bobcat, and beautiful falcons. We brought the pups to an awesome dog park and Bailey played with more dogs than he ever has in his whole life.

Our time in Colorado Springs was sweet and it went by too quickly. It was a place that we could have spent a lot more time, but we have plans with family through Christmas and so it is time to leave the West Coast. We have three weeks to get to Massachusetts, where we will stay put for a month before shooting down to New Orleans for the holidays. It feels real good to be heading East, and I am feeling more grounded as we pick up our home in preparation to move this time around. We have finally gotten into the swing of things… finally settled into this life where we move and then stop and then move again. While it has been nice to be close to an urban center, we are excited to get back to the wild. Kansas, here we come!

-Annie