Off to New York

Our trip to New York is fast approaching. We will fly  from Denver Airport on 4 June.

On Friday 31 May we drive up I-25 from Colorado Springs to Denver. It is a nice drive. As we leave the city we can see Pike's Peak clearly in the sun; the snow is gradually melting.
We have a bit of a win with fuel today. We fill up at Rudy's in Colorado Springs - $3.69 a gallon. Only 2 miles up the road we see it for $3.89!

It is good to be back on the road. We only have about 75 miles to drive but the forecast is for strong winds in the afternoon so we want to be well and truly in place by then. There is a high fire danger too.

Twenty miles out of Denver we are into 4 lanes of traffic, then 6 lanes!! A bit of a shock to the system!! It has been several weeks since we were driving in a big city. We can see the skyline of Denver in the distance with the Rocky Mountains as background.

I told him to be careful!

We will stay in Denver for a few more days when we return from New York. For the moment we set up at the South Park RV Park in Englewood, a suburb of Denver. Time for some housekeeping jobs!!

Denver is located exactly 5,280 feet - one mile -above sea level at the
base of the Rocky Mountains, a fact that is used extensively in  all kinds of advertising and the promotion of tourism.

Monday 3 June finds us on our way to the airport. We have a few things to do on the way. We have a difficult drive around the suburbs looking for a Wells Fargo bank and then trying to get in and out of their car park! Doesn't bode well??

By 12.30 we are definitely on our way to the airport. Only thirty one miles but it has its moments.
Lots of traffic - they can't all be going to the airport!! Then I turn us off  to the airport long term parking an exit too early - oh dear!  Not quite what Trevor said!!





Denver International Airport is the 5th busiest airport in North America and the 10th busiest in the world.

The peaked Teflon-coated fibreglass roof of the airport - seen in the photo here - resembles the snow capped peaks of the Rocky Mountains and evokes the early history of Colorado when  Native American teepees were located on the Great Plains.

It is a great sight. We are also delighted to see the sign for Pike's Peak Shuttle Parking, a long term parking area which accommodates oversized vehicles; at a cost of only $8 a day!

We set up easily. We can 'push out' - we will sleep in the RV. It is hot - 100F - so we run the generator and
the air conditioner. Then we pack the suitcase!!
I hadn't thought of aircraft noise but it is not too bad.


It must be the excitement of sleeping at the airport for we don't sleep very well. We get up at 3.30am (we had showers last night) and are waiting for the shuttle to the terminal at 4.00am. It runs every 10 minutes even at that time in the morning. Our flight doesn't leave until 6.55am but we have been advised to get to the airport  a couple of hours early. We are amazed how streamlined the whole process is, even enjoyable! We are through security by 5am and thinking about breakfast. Plenty of time. Our flight leaves right on time too.

We get to New York in 2 hops - first a 2 and a half hour flight to Houston, then 3 and a half hours to La Guardia, NY.  With the 2 hour time difference we arrive at La Guardia at 4.30pm.

We have booked a share transfer shuttle to our hotel from the airport - in hindsight a mistake!! First we wait at the airport for other shuttle passengers, then drive all around Manhattan - or so it seems - in peak hour traffic dropping everyone else off. We are second to last to be dropped off!! We finally arrive at the Roger Hotel on Madison and E 31st at about 7.30pm!!

Our friends Kerry and Jo are waiting for us. It is so good to see them again! They arrived in New York 2 days ago and have checked out the pubs and restaurants around the hotel - a drink and a meal and we are 'good to go!'  The Crooked Knife pub and restaurant on E 30th St will become our 'headquarters' over the next few days!

Kerry and Trevor have been invited to be volunteer boat crew for some of the swimmers from Perth entered in the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim on Saturday 8 June. It is a 28.5 mile swim around Manhattan Island, the longest annual swim race in the world.

The Flatiron Building

We meet some of the Perth swimmers, their families and supporters the next day when we all attend a baseball game at Yankee Stadium. The NY Yankees play Cleveland. It is a fun day! The game itself was close with the Yankees winning. There was a large crowd - it was a Wednesday - pretty exciting to be at Yankee Stadium. Getting there and back and meeting up with the Perth lot worked well even in such a large crowd. We caught a cab uptown to the stadium in South Bronx and travelled the subway back downtown after the game. People are very helpful with directions and information especially when we are all looking lost!!

It is so neat to be spending time with friends from Perth. We travelled to San Francisco with Kerry and Jo in 2011 when Kerry and Trevor swam from Alcatraz to Fishermans Wharf and the next day competed in a leg of a biathlon, swimming from Alcatraz to the Golden Gate Bridge.
We had a great time together then and I know this is also going to be a lot of fun!!


It is also great to be back in New York. We visited New York in late September and mid October last year. Now we are here in spring/summer.
The weather on our first 2 days is beautiful.

We walk across Brooklyn Bridge (with everyone else in the world!) Looking up the East River we think of  the swimmers on Saturday and what they have in front of them. We can see the current swirling the water in a fast stream. There is also a lot of rubbish at the river banks.
Kerry and Jo train in the same pool in Perth with a number of the swimmers. Trevor and I had not met any of the swimmers before but already we feel involved with their challenge.

Our walk across the Brooklyn Bridge is magical! In Brooklyn we continue to wander around the riverfront. We then catch a ferry to lower Manhattan.

Kerry takes a helicopter ride around Manhattan Island - a promise he made to himself some years ago











The Brooklyn waterfront is very pretty. We can see bridge workers on the support wires of the bridge working high up above the bridge. They look like tiny birds!



We have great views to uptown Manhattan and even better views of lower Manhattan.

After the helicopter ride - which Kerry enthuses about!! - we  take the Staten Island ferry - I think the rest of the world comes with us!
On the way to the ferry we find a beer and a hotdog in some back streets near Wall Street.

And then we are back on lower Manhattan. What a great day!

Trinity Church cnr Wall St and Broadway 

Colorado Springs

I type this post with the knowledge of the horrendous fires in Black Forest near Colorado Springs which began approximately a week ago and have only now been 100% contained. The fires resulted in the loss of more than 485 homes and killed 2 people. We were in Denver when the fires started on 11 June. We had just returned from our week in New York. We flew back to Denver on 10 June.

Prior to going to New York, we spent a week in Colorado Springs. It was wonderful!!

Our drive to Colorado Springs was fun. After climbing to Monarch Pass we descend into Fremont County, although 'descend' is a bit of a misnomer. We gradually drop elevation to Salida at 7000 ft and then drive through the Bighorn Sheep Canyon and  Royal George Canyon with a river running through  - the Arkansas River. It is the most rafted river in the world, starting at the Continental Divide near Leadville, Colorado and dropping 10,000 feet in the first 125 miles.

We see rafts going down the river and its almost continuous rapids at every turn of the highway.

And after our challenges today what better place to stay the night than at the 'Retro Cool' classic campground - the Starlite - at the Royal Gorge. It is a vintage camper park in every sense of the word! It has shady, level pull-through spaces for those with their own RV but it also has a variety of classic trailers for hire including a 1970's Kencraft - a 26ft aluminium time capsule with lava lamps, shag carpet and bead curtains.



A classic 1973 Winnabago turned into a Tiki Lounge!

It's hard to avoid the retro feel of the place. Pink flamingos, tiki torches and plastic
memorabilia.






The owners are vintage trailer fanatics. Over a number of years they have hunted down old - vintage - trailers and spend their winters doing up the treasures.
They have more than 8 restored vintage trailers available for nightly rental; they are much sought after during the season from May to October.

A future project!

They have some vintage motorbikes on display - Trevor took photos!

We enjoy nosing around! Even the gift shop is full of kitschy 50's paraphernalia.





We are in the high plains. The Sangre De Cristo Mountains out to the southwest provide a scenic boundary to our views, still with snow on the tops of the highest ranges. I walk toward the ranges; another of those 'Forest Gump' moments.

And then we are driving into Colorado Springs and Colorado's most populous county, El Paso County. We have a rental car booked for 12 noon. We are staying at the GoldfieldsCamp RV Park on Hwy 24.

Colorado Springs is the second largest city in Colorado; it is located 65 miles south of Denver and stands at an elevation of 6,035 ft. It is situated at the base of one of the most famous American mountains, Pike's Peak on the eastern edge of the Southern Rocky Mountains.

Pike's Peak

As soon as we pick up the car we drive to Manitou Springs to book seats on the COG railway. Manitou Springs, just a few miles up the highway, is one of Colorado's premier National Historic Districts. It was founded for its scenic setting and natural mineral springs to be a scenic health resort.





It has a population of approximately 5000 which swells considerably in the summer season. It is a pretty town.

We find a bar at a Mexican restaurant called The Loop. Trevor has a mexican beer and I have a margarita. They also serve bottomless corn chips and salsa. It was fun.

The train trip to Pike's Peak was truly great!
We were up early. We had to be at the Manitou Springs Depot by 7.20am for the 8am train. We are all set for cooler weather but nothing prepares us for the dramatic change in temperature we experience at the top of Pike's Peak.

I guess that at an elevation of 14,115 ft it is going to be cold. It is 32F with a wind chill temp. of 17F!

The train is full and we were lucky to get seats when we booked. The Manitou and Pike's Peak Railway is the world's highest Cog railroad reaching 14,115 ft;  it climbs as much as 25 ft for every 100 ft travelled- a grade of 25% - and has the largest elevation gain of just over 7,500 ft. The round trip takes about 3hours and ten minutes. We spend half an hour at the top.

The view from the top of Pike's Peak is spectacular. In the late 1800's it inspired Katherine Lee Bates, an English teacher from Massachusetts to write the words of  'America the Beautiful'.

You can see 4 states on a clear day.

We buy donuts and hot chocolate. We both experience some difficulty breathing and light headedness which we are warned about on the way up. I think we are only a couple of thousand feet lower than Base Camp at Mt Everest!!

We could have taken the Pike's Peak Highway and driven to the top but the Cog railway had been recommended to us as a 'must do'. It is great to both be able to look out of the window as we climb up the mountain. We also have a narration along the way and learn of the history of the railroad and the area generally.
Incredibly the train has been running for well over 100 years.

Lunch in Manitou Springs completes a great morning.

Tiny hummingbirds at their feeder!

Our RV park is within easy walking distance from Old Colorado City where 'Territory Days' are in progress. Held every Memorial Day weekend in historic Old Colorado City, Territory Days began in 1975. It commemorates Old Colorado City as the first capitol of the Colorado Territory in 1861.

It has grown over the years from a small neighbourhood craft fair to a 3 day street festival which hosts upward of 180 booths and is attended by at least 150,000 visitors.
There are lots and lots of people all having fun while they wander from booth to booth.
We spend some time watching a band  called 'Brulee', one of the top-selling and award winning Native American adult/rock music groups in the country.

They are accompanied by traditional American Indian dancers; even a guy on horseback!!


Trevor introduces himself to Paul, the founder and producer of the group. Our friend Ron had told us about Brulee. They also perform in the Black Hills and will be doing so this summer. They have a great sound. We look forward to seeing them again.  We buy a couple of their CD"s.






This is the 38th annual Territory Days. There is a definite 'Old West'  flavour with wild west gunfight re-enactments, live blacksmithing, period costume characters, pony rides and gold panning.

A favorite anywhere!

We also visit the Garden of the Gods, a National Natural Landmark and public park. Entrance to the park is free which accords with the wishes of Charles Elliot Perkins whose children donated the land to the city of Colorado Springs in 1909. It is a popular place for hiking, rock climbing, road and mountain biking and horseback riding and attracts more than 2 million visitors a year.

Pike's Peak framed by rock formations.

The park covers 1350 acres with many red sandstone rocks sculpted into unusual and steep formations, one of the most popular being a large balancing rock known as ... Balanced Rock!!

The name of the park comes from the impressive rock formations - a fit place for the gods to assemble - thus Garden of the Gods.

The Trading Post and Visitors Centre are both worth a visit.
Art galleries and gift shops abound but there are also many interesting displays and exhibits on the area's geology, ecology and cultural history.






While we still have the rental car we visit Seven Falls along the South Cheyenne Canyon; a 181 waterfall cascading down 7 distinct steps. An 'internal' mountain elevator takes us up to a great view.














Memorial Day  is 27 May - a day of 'National Mourning' - a sacred day to all war veterans.  "Sacrifice is meaningless without remembrance".
Trevor attends a Memorial Day Service; nothing like our Anzac Day - poorly attended especially by young people.

 I spend the morning at Macy's!!

We stay in Colorado Springs for several days - they are easy and enjoyable days. I do quite a bit of walking. The streets around Old Colorado City are great for walking. Its always nice to feel a bit like a local when we stay a little longer. We have a meal at a local pub; find nice coffee.