Bridge over Lovely Waters

The grand finale weekend of our “summer of fun events” dawned early Saturday morning at 4 a.m. We had penciled the Colorado Balloon Classic on our calendar back in June, unsure of what the summer would bring and whether we would actually be able to make it happen this year. In fact, up until Wednesday, we had toyed with the idea of a last-minute quick trip to Texas to help celebrate our twin nephews’ first birthday. But when it came down to it, the Texas trip didn’t really seem do-able for many different reasons, and we decided to stick with a less stressful route for our three-day weekend together.

So at 4 a.m. on a Saturday, we bounced out of bed, too rushed to make coffee and too early for Starbucks. It’s mornings like that that I realize I don’t really need coffee, as much as I enjoy it. :-) By 6:15, we were in downtown Colorado Springs in search of a parking spot, and it was quite cold and windy. But as we fought traffic, we realized that cars were driving away from the park, and people were walking away from the park. We asked a police officer, and sure enough, the event had been canceled due to 40 mph gusty winds! Apparently you can only fly hot air balloons in winds less than 10 mph (or 11.5 “knots,” said in a hoity-toity voice). :-)

We were so disappointed! So…what to do, an hour away from home, at 6:30 on a Saturday morning?? We decided to go out for breakfast, but everyone else had the same idea. We tried three different Denny’s/Village Inns before we found a wait time we could live with.

After breakfast, we headed southwest for the next part of our plans…The Royal Gorge!

But first we had to had to take a detour at Skyline Drive, which Ryan and I both had childhood memories of driving with our families. It’s a very high, narrow road with scary drop-offs on both sides at times…

View from the top…

Ryley was not too pleased with the situation!

The next stop was the Royal Gorge Bridge. Neither of us had been since we were teenagers, so we were really excited to show Ryley!

Look at that! Doesn’t it make you feel so small and vulnerable??

We decided to walk across, and Ryley was very leery of being out  of arm’s reach of one of us at all times. (Like we could have helped if the bridge collapsed!)

Ryan shows Ryley how you can see the river between the slats. And of course, the bridge is swaying the whole time!

The Arkansas River…

I love the shadow of the bridge on the canyon below.

Look how casually I’m leaning against the ledge! At the time, it felt pretty safe, but when I look back on it, what if the railing had failed??? Interesting factoid: They replace 250 wooden floor boards on the bridge each year. Ryan noticed some were missing bolts.

Whoa, Ryley….Don’t fall over the wall!

Of course we took the cable car across….

Then we took the incline railroad to the bottom…

Sidenote: While we were in line for this incline railroad, we were right behind this mushy sugary-sweet family with four little kids. They all had matching shoes (even the parents), and they were constantly hugging, kissing, and dancing around to the music playing nearby. I mean, we are the mushy, huggy, kissy, dancy type as well, but this was over the top. The dad was even keeping a dance beat at the bottom of the gorge, where there was no music. Then his wife would join him and dance to his beat while swinging their baby around. Oh wow. Ryan and I were having trouble keeping ourselves from dancing to their beat!

So I noticed their son was wearing a shirt advertising a chiropractic practice. Well, seriously, who buys a chiropractic shirt for their kindergartener? Unless you are a chiropractor! I took note of the name, and get this: when we got home, I googled it, and I found them! Both the husband and the wife are chiropractors for this practice in another state. I found out their names, and I found Facebook pages and kids’ names, etc. I know I’m crazy, but these people just fascinated me! It is amazing what you can find on the Internet. And kind of scary, too.

And now, whenever Ryan or I start tapping a beat, the other of us starts dancing. And Ryley joins in. ;-) It. Is. Awesome.

Ryan had some fun with a new panoramic app on his phone! More on that later!

It was a perfect day in so many ways. Even though our balloon plans fell through the cracks (pun intended), the trip to the Royal Gorge was really nice. We had perfect weather, and we were all in good moods. Haha!

But the weekend wasn’t over just yet! More fun was in store for Sunday as well. Stay tuned for Part 2…