Last Friday, as I think I mentioned was planned, I went to the zoo with an EverQuest friend from Canada and her family.  That was the start of a truly Awesome Day.

 

I left the house a little after ten, as I was supposed to meet them at the zoo at about eleven.  The zoo is on the side of a mountain, so the entrance is at the top of a hill.  Well, not the top, really, but it is on a mountainside so there’s a significant climb to the entrance.  Somewhere past the one mile marker to the zoo, a car passes me by, honking.  It’s my friend and her family, who I had hoped to be ahead of, but even though I was pretty early, they were earlier.

 

My friend brought her friend from a Denver suburb, Aurora.  Said friend–I’ll call her Aurora–paid for everyone’s entrance into the zoo.  That meant my EQ friend (I’ll call her Kile), her husband (we’ll call him Dragon), her two kids (Sci and Frenchy), herself and me.  That came to over a hundred dollars, so it was not a cheap deal.  Kile and Dragon tried to object, but the deed was done and we were in for free.

 

We fed giraffes.  We got to see a lot of different animals.  The Cheyenne Mountain Zoo–one of only two mountain zoos in the U.S. and the other one is in the hills…er, “mountains” of Virginia–is an amazing place.  The animal’s habitats are as natural as they could make it.  Sure, it could be better for them, they could really be in their natural habitats, but none of the animals seemed unhappy.  The tiger we saw liked to pace a bit, but perhaps he was just trying to figure out how to get to the snacks–us humans–who kept walking by.

 

We finished our zoo visit by taking the “Sky Ride”–something like a ski lift but without the skis, ski slope or snow–to a high point on the mountainside and back down again.  No animals up there, but there was a nice view.

 

After the zoo we were all hungry, so we went (on my recommendation) to a place called Meadow Muffins.  This is a tasty place on the west side of town.  I am happy to note I beat my friends there on my scooter and I pegged my speedometer going down one of the hills on the way.  That means I was going about forty-two, which isn’t fast but I rarely manage it on my little putt-putt-putter.  Everybody liked their food and the atmosphere was interesting, so it was a good choice.

 

Next we went to the Garden of the Gods.  We got out and walked around one area, marveling at the rock climbers and the beauty of the area.  I then led them to a good picture-taking place and then to the Balanced Rock, where more wandering was done and pictures taken.

 

We then went to Manitou Springs.  Technically, it’s a suburb of Colorado Springs, but it’s different enough from Colorado Springs that it’s really hard to classify it as a part of the town.  Mostly, it’s a tourist trap, but a good one.  Lots of good souvenirs.  Everybody got something, including myself.

 

Finally, we went to the Colorado City Creamery, a tasty ice cream shop.  Old Colorado City, where it’s located, is sandwiched between Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs and is a good blend between the two.  More like the latter than the former, but still a bit of a blend.  The ice cream was good and we sadly parted ways afterward, an Awesome Day behind us.  And I had the sunburn to prove it!  I knew I was going to burn, but after the amazing, funtastic day we had had, I really didn’t care.

 

Of course, there were other things which happened during the past week.  Nothing compares to that day, so I am going to leave it at that.  See you tomorrow with a bit of poetry.