Garden of the Gods RV Park in Colorado Springs, CO

Since today was a short ride day (40 miles) for Chris, he didn't have to get up early and we had a family breakfast of blueberry wheat pancakes in the RV. It was a new recipe I found with oats in it, and I thought they turned out great. August loves having "DA!" around for breakfast!

We took off mid-morning and headed for Pueblo. Pueblo is one of the larger cities on the route, so I was excited to go somewhere with a large restaurant selection, particularly since we like ethnic food. But first August and I went to our favorite hangout - the library. The main Pueblo library was large, and it was a beautiful sunny day. August spent a long time playing with the train table. I am already on the lookout for the perfect train set to get him for his birthday or Christmas.

Eventually we met up with Chris at a bike shop and I took him to a special place I'd looked up - Mr. Tandoori's Urban Bar and Grill. He has been craving Indian food, so we made it happen. I loved the decor there, and the food was good, although I am always a little bummed if there's no chicken tikka masala on the buffet.

Afterwards we walked around Pueblo's Union Station, which had absolutely gorgeous woodwork throughout and lots of interesting historical detail. Pueblo has a large Hispanic population now, but in its early history was not very kind to immigrants. Re-creations of actual signs that were hung there could be found around the lobby.










I'm not sure who is allowed to be anywhere but the immigration area, based on all the groups that are banned!

We were eager to get to Colorado Springs and so went straight there next. We are staying at a really nice RV park in Manitou Springs, very close to Garden of the Gods. The place is booked up (we got the last spot!) and the campers are packed in here like sardines, but we don't mind at all.

We did an exploratory bike trip this afternoon, picking up supplies at Safeway. Chris was pretty proud of himself for bungee cord-ing a gross of diapers onto the back of my bike.

Overall we were really disappointed at how not bike-friendly this immediate area is. We had high expectations for Colorado Springs being bikeable, but it was worse than a lot of the places we ride in Indiana. There is a really nice trail nearby, for example, but it crosses a very busy road without any markings as to where or how you should get across it, or even to let you know if you're going the right way once you manage to Frogger across. The trail just disappears for a while. Likewise, in the shopping district there were only spotty sidewalks and lots of vehicle traffic that was completely oblivious to the presence of the numerous cyclists and pedestrians around. A beautiful climate here, and Colorado is known for its biking, but I guess we landed in too touristy of an area.

For dinner we visited a legendary barbecue joint nearby, Rudy's. It was delicious, and there was never fewer than 40 people in line. Chris got the smoked chicken, while I ordered the pulled pork (of course). We left full and enjoyed a pleasant ride back to the park.

Tomorrow we're hoping to make it to Pikes Peak, Garden of the Gods, and maybe the Air Force Academy here. Wish us luck in all that! It is peak season here for everything, so we're finding many things are booked up. We do not want to take the RV up Pikes Peak if we can help it.