We took a ride up the hill to Woodland Park. The town looked walkable when we travelled through a couple of days back. We found the best (the only) bakery in town and enjoyed a wholesome breakfast!Walking across the street, we found this memorial park and took a couple of minutes to rest.We were quickly joined by this doe. She was more interested in the trees than of us.She had no trouble stepping up to the plate right in front of us!When she ate all of the low-hanging leaves, she sauntered off, probably in search of another vulnerable tree.This was a very simplistic twin towers memorial, but it made a strong statement. Pikes Peak granite towers and a base in the shape of a pentagon.I had to look up the word “Tava” and it really does mean “Mountain of the Sun” in the native Ute language. It was the first mountain in their view that was hit by the rays of sunshine in the morning.Of course, this is the view of Pikes Peak from the memorial.I think Jason may have found the larges chair we have ever seen. This was in front of a shop that specialized in log cabin furnitureThis was one of many statues other local artwork on display throughout the town. It is also about as close as we got to spotting a moose on this trip.Jason had to strum a few bars with the big guy.After our walk through Woodland Park, we headed back to Manitou for lunch. There was still daylight so we took a trip back up the mountain to the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. Sadly, these fossils were open to picking for more than a hundred years and a majority have disappeared,This is an example of three redwood trees growing from the same stump.This is all that remains from a redwood tree that was estimated to be at least 273 feet in height, There was a forest of redwood trees in this area about 35 million years ago and they were covered (up to about twelve feet) with the materials from a nearby volcanic eruption.Until the area became a National Monument, the trees and other fossils were removed with vigor. You can see two saw blades broken off in this redwood stump. Obviously they were trying to slice and dice it on site. This is the larges example preserved.This is a closer look at the remnants of the two saw blades.You can actually see the growth rings of the stumps so they can be accurately dated as to original age.We noticed this homestead across the valley and the weather was coming in. This visiter center had shuttered down and they were expecting lightning. We decided to make a quick stop to see what we could before the storm hit.Cathy and Jason as the storm was hitting.Across the field we spotted this. It appeared, at first glance to be a mine, but we really thought it was probably a “root cellar” designed to store foodstuff and such in a cool environment during the summer months. We did not go over to investigate as the rain started coming down in huge droplets, and the hail, and the sleet . . . .
Travelling with the Schinglers 