The kids had March 21-25th off of school for Spring Break and after all the illness and craziness of Ken's death, we were just planning on staying home, sleeping in and playing with friends. Then, in the middle of the week Dan mentioned to me that he was taking Thursday and Friday off of work, so we should go somewhere. Well, that got my wheels turning and that night, we booked a hotel and made plans to head to Colorado Springs the next day! I LOVE spontaneous trips, and this was near perfect...
We drove the hour and a half to Colorado Springs Thursday morning and headed right to Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. It's a zoo built right into the mountain that has the largest collection of giraffes in the United States! We arrived just in time to feed the giraffes, which was amazing. I seriously gasped out loud when we walked in. There were so many giraffes and we got to touch them and feed them crackers. Giraffes are, by far, my favorite animal at the zoo. I guess I haven't been completely scarred by a childhood experience: I had a giraffe take my sandwich at the Hogle Zoo with his long, black tongue when I was riding my Dad's shoulders as a child!
The Zoo has a live giraffe cam that is fun to see...
We also got to see the Zookeeper feeding the hippos and I have never seen so many memorable monkeys! The 3 howler monkeys were puffing up their throats, howling and putting on a show for everyone. We sat and watched them for almost 30 minutes. 
There was also this huge Orangutan that would kiss the glass when my kids did! I have never seen anything like it before!
Then there was the gorilla that was giving everyone the "bad finger," as Corey calls it! Too funny!
Last, we rode the Sky Ride to the very top of the Zoo, where we could see out over Colorado Springs. It was a bit chilly, but it was a nice view and the kids loved riding the ski lift...
After the Zoo, we checked into our hotel. You never know exactly what you'll get when you book a place online, but The Embassy Suites was perfect for our family... Huge room, pool and one of the best complimentary breakfasts I've ever seen.
Friday morning we checked out of the hotel and headed to nearby Manitou Springs to see The Cave of the Winds. Our kids had never been in a cave before and they absolutely loved it. Ashlyn said it was her favorite part of our trip.
Corey's favorite part was when the guide shut out all the lights so we could experience true dark! He's such a boy:)
After the Cave of the Winds and The European Café, where we all had crêpes for lunch, we stopped at this great little park that had some really unusual toys to play on. We spent quite a while on this fun swing...
...and this fun teeter-totter-like thing!
On the way home, we stopped at The Garden of the Gods. Unfortunately, it was really windy, so we didn't stay long.
We stopped to climb up on Balanced Rock...
Our quick trip was only 2 days (and only one night in a hotel) but I can't believe how much we did. I think we'll plan to go back to Colorado Springs again!
1 comments:
Wow what a great "spur of the moment" trip! It looks like you had a terrific time! Cute, cute pictures of your family! Thanks for sharing!!! Love you!
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