We had our 20th anniversary this past week.  We got in the car, ready for a 4 day vacation, with no children!, destination planned..... We got in, he looked at me, I looked at him, and he said, "y'know, we can still go see your mom..."  so, instead of heading west to the mountains as previously planned, we headed south toward the mountains instead.  That was one plan out the window before we even made it out of the driveway ;)  We went to mom's (a 4 hour drive), didn't tell her we were coming and showed up at her door, surprising her, and took her out for a nice dinner.  After visiting with her for a while, we took her home and headed for the hotel room we had already rented and had the absolute joy of my dear friend Heather coming to visit.  While we were there, there was a tremendous thunderstorm and LOTS of rain, which the area needed, and the best part was I'm sure it caused her to visit longer ;)  The next day we headed to LaVeta and took the train up to LaVeta pass and back.  It was kind of a disappointing trip, though.  We got the dome car, which was nice and met the loveliest couple (they were celebrating their 55th anniversary three days after ours, funny thing is her middle name was the same as my first name), but the air conditioning was not working and it was very hot on the way up, not to mention long and not as scenic as I would have hoped.  Supposedly we were to have an hour layover to walk around the meadow and just enjoy, however the other train we were to switch to was already coming in, so like cattle, we got herded over to the other one and went back down the mountain.  Then we went to Bishop Castle http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2047 which is an experience not to be missed if you are in the area.  Tremendous is the only way to describe it.  After that we headed to Canon City to find a motel for the night, and found a nice Super 8 with a heated pool and hot tub, of the which we took great advantage.  The next day we stopped and did something I have always wanted to do but haven't till then..... we took a helicopter ride http://www.royalgorgehelitours.org/ .  I didn't think that I would ever do it over the Royal Gorge http://www.royalgorgebridge.com/ and definitely did not bargain on a pilot who was not afraid to die and take us with him, rofl...  We dipped and dove into the canyon, turning sideways to avoid the canyon walls and then shooting straight up in the air just to level out and drop again.  My toes were firmly dug into the seat in front of me... I'm sure you can still see the indentations of my toes, and I was wearing tennies at the time, hee hee!  It scared the snot out of me at first, but by the time we were done, I was ready to do it again, and will if we get in the area once more.  It was terrific!  Next time I'm taking FRONT seat!  Of course, the camera had to die right after we got on the copter, so, nothing much for pictures from that point on.  Afterwards we headed to Buckskin Joes http://www.buckskinjoe.com/ and took their small train for a look over the gorge.  If you have ever seen any of these movies http://www.buckskinjoe.com/page.asp?id=16&name=Movies you've seen Buckskin Joes, as they have made several westerns there.  Then we went to the gorge itself and rode the tram (like being in a cracker box suspended from a plane connected with thread, but STILL not as exciting as the copter ;) ) , rode the incline and walked until our feet ached.  It was great!  After that we headed to Woodland Park, found a lovely suite that they discounted down to half price so the clerk could go home as it was the last room, rested up, then the next day headed home.  It was marvy...!

The Dome car

Ernest & Olita Faye in the dome car, such sweet people!

Bishop Castle pictures

What is a castle without a dragon?

This is the last pic I got before the camera died, and before we dipped or rather I should say, plummeted, into the canyon....