Colorado Springs

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Took the bus monday morning Aug 18 to Colorado Springs about an hour and a half's journey- quite normal people on the bus for a greyhound. A woman who was from London helped us get off a the right stop for our motel. It's right by a park called Garden of the Gods which looks like something out of a western movie with orange sandstone rocks and shrubs everywhere. there are loads fo traisl for hiking and you can walk a fair distance - it feels like you are in the middle of nowhere but there are roads through it and all the trails are marked. Our motel is less than 10 mins walk from there. We also have a poolwhich has been much needed the last couple of days, it's not been that hot in terms of temperature - about 28-30 the last 2 days bu the sun is so intense and the UV is very high. On monday we just did a short walk in the park and then went in pool. We found a mexican restaurant along the main road which is great - have been there twice now( today's friday 22nd)the owner of the motel (Ron)is very friendly and we chat to him most days- he's hardly been anywhre here as he's always working! On tuesday we did an 8 mile walk in the G.O.Gods - it was quite cloudy which made it easier.I felt like I had adjusted to the altitude by tuesday - tis 7000ft here and you notice it. You have to drink loads of water to adjust even if you are not thirsty or if it's cool. On wed we caught bus into town which is nice but nothing special and then chught bus past our motel to Manitou Springs which is just under 2 miles from our motel. It's very touristy- it's an old spa town but it's just full of souvenirs! Lazed by the pool all afternoon. we have both been running( me jogging slowly) on GOG - it's such amazing scenery! Will put some photos on here soon,have taken about 170 so far which isn't that many. Yestgerday we went on the cog railway up Pike's Peak which is 14000ft - really felt the effects at the top! We took so many photos for people up on the top- a couple were from Hawaii. Everyone is so friendly here and ask where we are from. Teh woman sitting opposite us on the railway was really nice adn we talked to her on the trip back down. She was staying very near us so she gave us a lift back to our motel and we showed here where GOG was- she was from New Mex. That's another strange thing - people keep asking us for directions to places adn most times we are able to tell them as we've there longer than they have! So today we have walked part of the way up Pike's Peak- Mike a lot more than me- its' very hot today and am just in the library typing this. This is probably one of our favourite places so far though- just for the scenery. Really liked NY and chicago though.

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