Colorado Vacay: Tour Day 2 Edition

Our second full day in Colorado Springs was an adventurous one. Charlie had made plans for us to visit The Garden of the Gods, and even better, he had made reservations for us to take a horseback ride through the Garden of the Gods. If you aren't familiar with this park it is gorgeous, so beautiful in fact that, America the Beautiful was written atop Pike's Peak while looking down on this beautiful natural area.

When we arrived at Academy stables bright and early we got the bare bones cowboy version of how this 2 hour ride was going to go. Most of us had NEVER ridden a horse before so it was a little anxiety producing (I have ridden before but, the horse's name was Spook, I was 4, it didn't end well.....can't. talk. about. it.) Anyway, they made us sign 17 release forms, in triplicate, handed us helmets, assigned us horses, and wished us luck. Since this was our first peak and it ended up being Pike's Peak we really couldn't complain!

Here we are getting all saddled up. A little help from Cowboy Todd and we were all ready to go!

Whoa...cowboy Todd who helped you get into them there Wranglers? They are a smidge tight....this is a family ride!

Here is everyone patiently waiting for mom to get on her horse. Unfortunately, being the family photographer meant bringing up the rear of the group, and unfortunately, bringing up the rear of the group meant I was privy to all the business going on in front of me...and unfortunately, horses do a lot of business. Not a pretty sight people. Anyway, I looked up and found this amazing view. For two solid hours, we enjoyed, sunshine, family time, beauty and peace that is hard to come by elsewhere.

We were on some narrow and vertical trails, both going up and down the trail and it can get a little hairy sometimes.

But moments like this made it worth the scary parts.

I mean it was just miles and miles of these beautiful red rock formations everywhere.

Definitely worth doing if you ever have the chance.

Upon arriving back at our hotel after our horseback ride, and lunch, we saw this view from our hotel room balcony.

And so, between the lake and the mountain view, we decided to go down and have some fun.

First we did some sailing...

Then we did some kayaking.....

and some more kayaking....

and then Miles and I left the others on the beach and decided to go check out the tennis courts.

We played on the regular courts, their clay courts, and inside on their indoor courts. Super fun!!

When we finished dinner that night we all had the same sentiment...let's get some sleep. We were seriously exhausted from a busy few days of travel and sightseeing.

Rest Brooke, because it's almost time to turn this train around and head back to Texas!