Quote:Besides the cog train to the top of Pike's Peak, you can drive up. We chickened out and took the train. The train took a little over an hour each direction. I was told driving was about one and a half hour each direction. Twenty miles with a hundred and fifty turns. I searched youtube on the drive, and ran across the video of Jeremy Foley's 2012 crash on Pike's Peak. The language is a little salty, so I won't post it.

 

The Garden of the Gods is a must, especially if you enjoy rock climbing. We had a local that we hooked up with that showed us around a lot of places, so we were able to climb in some of the more hidden areas of the park. The entire park is breath taking, you wouldn't be disappointed just to stroll, hike, or climb throughout the park.

 

Red Rock Canyon is a great place to hike, it has trails for every level of hiking, biking, and horse back riding. I wanted to hike up a trail on Pike's Peak called the Incline, but after a day at Red Rock, and a day at North Cheyenne Canon Park I couldn't convince anyone to go hike it with me.

 

Nightlife in downtown Manitou is a blast, there are a lot of hippies, so it is more laid back than wild partying. The downtown area is quaint, with a lot of shops aimed at tourist. We spent two days doing nothing but scouring the shops. There are open air concerts at the Manitou Library, do you like Tenderfoot? Unless you are looking for a rave, I am sure you will enjoy the late night scene.

 

The Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is exactly that. A Zoo built in the Mountains, and one of the best Zoo's I have enjoyed. I highly recommend a day at this Zoo.

 

There are a lot of Museums, pick any of them that would interest you. The Western Mining Museum is a good one to visit before going to Mollie Kathleen gold mine. If you find any gold, you can lose it just down the road at the Casino's. The Cripple Creek area is out of the way depending on where you stay, but the scenic drive alone makes it a worthwhile trip. You can see the gold mines in Cripple Creek from the Pike's Peak cog train, which is where we got the idea to drive over there. Very glad that we did.

 

Dining, or restaurants are all very good. You can get just about anything you want. Not a bad restaurant, or meal the entire trip. If you feel like staying in there are several places that deliver. We had Hell's Kitchen pizza one night, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it. We seemed to gravitate to PJ's Bistro, and Uncle Sam's pancake house quite often when we stayed in the area.

 

It was my first trip in the Rockies that wasn't at a ski resort. I had never had a reason to be driving around the mountains in bad weather, so without skiing I didn't expect to have as much fun as I did. I think we are going to look into some other locations for future vacations in and around Colorado, but only to see if there is more we are missing rather than not thoroughly enjoying the Manitou Springs area.

 .