Stamps Like Champs: 50+1 Anniversary Trip!

We were supposed to be on this trip with Steve's family last August to celebrate his parents' 50th anniversary. Obviously, COVID had other plans for that trip, so we delayed it to now. We're only 3 days into this trip, and I have a lot to talk about, so I'm going to just dive right in!

Day 1

We got into our VRBO rental in the wee hours of Friday morning. We quickly settled in and went to bed, but the time difference had us wide awake only a few hours later. We went with Steve's parents to the Calhan Paint Mines Interpretive Center, which was a nice little scenic vista. The scenery reminded me a lot of Badlands National Park in South Dakota.

After the Paint Mines, we went to Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site - our first National Park site of the trip! The fort was a trading post in the 1800's. It's interesting to see a whole fort reconstructed, and providing reenactments. We also chased around a peacock.

We had a 2 hour drive to and from the fort, so that pretty much took up our day. We ended the day with tacos from T-Byrd's Tacos (HIGHLY recommend), and a game of 99 with the family.

Our rental

How cute are the fairy lights above the bed?

This has been the running joke all week!

Paint Mines

Pretty scenery

Bent's Old Fort

Fort

Peacock

Playing 99 with the family

Day 2

The weather has been off and on rain the whole time we have been here, so we had to get to Garden of the Gods early yesterday to dodge raindrops...and the crowd. We had such a nice walk throughout the park with Steve's parents.

We grabbed lunch at Cerberus Brewing Company in Colorado Springs. Can you believe it took us a day and a half to grab our first beer sampler?! We're out of practice. After lunch, we went to a liquor store that had a lot of Colorado whiskey available. We made a few purchases and enjoyed some of it back at the rental on our deck.

We had a fantastic celebratory dinner with the family at the Briarhurst Manor - a restaurant in Manitou Springs. The Manor is the home of the founder of Manitou Springs who spoiled his wife with a gorgeous mansion (hint hint Steven). Steve ordered an elk entree, and I tried a bite of it. I couldn't believe how tender and yummy it was! I was expecting gamey and chewy like venison.

Steve's parents and us at Garden of the Gods (Kissing Camels formation behind us)

Gorgeous scenery at Garden of the Gods

Garden of the Gods

Balanced Rock at Garden of the Gods

Sampler at Cerberus

Dinner at Briarhurst Manor

Using our custom-made masks to celebrate the occasion (thanks cousin Paula!)

Family picture

Day 3

Today may have been my favorite day of vacation so far. We were in Manitou Springs when we drove across the country back in 2012. The day we left Manitou Springs, we found out there was a Wolf & Wildlife Center where you could schedule "Meet & Greet" sessions with some wolves. We were super bummed we missed out on this that year, but we were so glad we were able to do it this trip. We were not disappointed! We did our meet and greet with Vance and Joanna (Steve's sister). We got to play with, pet, and receive kisses from Mackuee (pronounced Ma-coo-ee) and Keyni (pronounced Keen-eye). They were both super friendly and loved getting the attention. After the meet and greet, we met Steve's parents and our nephew for the tour of the center and learned the backstories of all of the wolves, foxes, and singing dogs that they have.

After dancing with wolves, we went to Florrisant Fossil Beds National Monument, which is actually a repeat park for us. When we were here in 2012, we were chased out by a thunderstorm (which when you are a mile closer to storms, it is a little scary). The ranger was even coming out on the trail to get us, so we didn't get to do anything there other than see a couple petrified redwoods right by the visitor center. We got to redo that trip this year, so we did the Petrified Forest loop trail and went to the Hornbek Homestead.

We had dinner tonight at Phantom Canyon Brewing Company. Pretty good beer and food. We ended the evening with a delicious frozen custard from the Colorado Custard Company.

All in all, a great trip so far, and there's still plenty more to go!