Colorado Springs

Since I already wrote about travelling to/from Colorado I will now talk about the trip itself. Since I knew beforehand that my sister was going to be working the whole time (except for Labor Day weekend) I didn't expect to do much other than: hang-out with my sister, eat at some restaurants that we don't have in my state and watch shows/movies on my sister's Netflix Streaming service (I can't get the streaming service on my mountain - I only get the regular DVDs.) I was in Colorado Springs for a total of 9 days and watched several full-seasons of TV shows (on Netflix) and hung out with my sister's 3 dogs. She has a puppy that really tired me out, but he (and the other two dogs) were fun to play with.

 

It was my eighth trip to Colorado Springs so I was no stranger to the city. With that said I was able to do three things this trip that I never did before. I finally got to eat at a  BBQ place and it was really good. I also got to drive through Garden of the Gods - I don't think I could hike through it though. Lastly, I went to the Colorado State Fair. It has been over a decade since I went to a fair (county or state) and so was pretty excited. We drove to Pueblo and got there right when they opened. Even though the gate opens at 10 am it turns out that the rides don't open until 12 pm (and there are no signs hanging or on the printed map they give you telling you that.) The fair was nice. It had a large section for animals, an amusement section and an entertainment section. We spent a little time seeing the animals and then saw some shows. The first was a Latin dancing group. Several kids did Peruvian dances. We then went to see a monkey show. I love monkeys and have never seen a monkey show before. Other than a really stupid woman hitting me with her umbrella as she walked by and then yelling at me as though it was my fault the show was pretty good. It was only 30 minutes long, but they had 2 adult monkeys and 2 baby monkeys (along with a dog.) After the show we got wristbands and then went on several rides.  It was the first time in about 10 years that I either wasn't a "third wheel" or "single" rider and it was nice. We had fun. Eating fried dough and gyros and drinking fresh lemonade was a plus. While I had a good time at the fair I wouldn't consider it a State Fair. If you took everything they had and placed them next to each other it would be the size of a county fair and not a state fair (unless the state was Rhode Island.) Another thing I took away from the fair (besides good food, fun rides and a monkey show) was a really nasty sun-burn all over my face and neck. Even when I try and sun tan on my balcony at home I don't get any color, but several hours at the CO State Fair and I got more than I needed or wanted.

 

Another fun thing we did in Colorado was meeting-up with my sister's friend and her husband. I had met the friend back in June, but we didn't talk much then. She's originally from Latvia and so it was nice to talk with a European as well as someone who knew things about Russia (for when I told my "Russian stories.") Her husband is American, but it was still cool to talk with him since he has travelled around the world too and we could all swap stories. I don't get to just hang-out and talk back home and even if I could the people where I live consider someone from the next town over to be "foreign" and so wouldn't understand dealing with different cultures or people.

 

Being in Colorado Springs also means being in civilization (especially compared to my state.) It's the land of 24 hour everything along with having things delivered to you - -no one delivers to my mountain - - not even the Post Office. We ate at the Edelweiss German Restaurant that I go to every time I'm in town (it was still good) and to several other good places. I get "spoiled" being there since everything is so easy and then I come back to my mountain where I can't even use a cell phone.

 

Like I said before, this was a more low-key, relaxed trip to Colorado. With that said it was still a lot of fun and I'm glad I got to go. I still couldn't see myself living in Colorado, but would go back for visits.