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

Paint Mines

Pretty scenery

Pretty scenery

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

Garden of the Gods

Garden of the Gods

Garden of the Gods

Balanced Rock at 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!

The longest and tallest covered wooden bridge in Colorado (for the foxes at the Wolf & Wildlife Center).

Keyni the wolf giving me kisses.

Isha the wolf

Isha the wolf with a snack

Micah getting a treat

Singing dog

Kekoa (the oldest wolf there)

Florissant Fossil Beds

Big Stump

Steve's parents and us at Big Stump

Pretty mountains in the distance

Hornbek Homestead

On the Trek Home

Unfortunately, Steve and I have not figured out a way to be paid while on vacation, so we had to start home at some point.  I guess we officially started our drive back home yesterday, but we only went as far as Bismarck.  We started the day in Jamestown, ND where we saw the world's largest buffalo (an Atlas Obscura stop).   This same site also has a small buffalo herd that at one time had 3 albino buffalo.  One died of old age a few years ago and another fell down a ravine last year and unfortunately did not make it due to his injuries.  The third one hasn't had reported sightings in a few years, and we were not one of the lucky ones to see it today.

Man, I really started today's blog off with a downer.  It gets better from here, I promise!  We continued driving into Minnesota where we stopped at one of our favorite parks:  Pipestone National Monument.  We were here for the first time in 2012 when we drove across the country and we thought it was a perfect combination of a scenic and cultural-historic park.  Native Americans use the pipestone to create pipes (and other crafts).  There is also a 3/4-mile loop that is really easy (it's paved and mostly flat) that takes you through a grassland, quartzite cliffs, a pretty waterfall and creek.  We loved it back then which made us want to stop again while we were already out this way.  We still loved it!

Quartzite Cliffs

Winniwassa Falls

The Smooth Sumac was turning a beautiful shade of red for the fall!

A deer by Hiawatha Lake

After Pipestone, we had a bit of a haul to the Jolly Green Giant statue in Blue Earth, MN.  This was a very quick stop because we took the picture and then left to get to our hotel.  We have a pretty long day of driving tomorrow, but still have a few more Atlas Obscura stops thrown in, so stay tuned!

Last Day at TRNP

Good evening!  Becky has had a bit too much vacation and needs a break so you're stuck with Steve again!

We got another early start this morning as we wanted to get some North Unit hiking done before it got too warm out.  We also wanted to catch the various animal herds out and about before they found their own afternoon shade and we were not disappointed!  Lots of deer, bison, and (finally!) longhorn cattle were just waking up for breakfast.

We saw the longhorns!

Longhorn up close!

A bison who thinks it is hiding.  :-)

A deer who isn't doing the best job at hiding either.  :-)

Bison reading the National Park signs.  :-)

Or chewing on them instead.  (I promise that's what he was doing.)

Staring us down after we were laughing at him.

We started our hiking day with a 2-mile hike to Sperati Point from the end of the scenic drive.  The views from the point were probably the best during our time in North Unit.  We pretty much had the trail to ourselves so it was peaceful, too. 

Our next hike was a short, 0.7 mile nature trail hike that took us to the edge of the Little Missouri River.  While we were a bit disappointed in the lack of wildlife it was a relaxing jaunt to a view that is pretty rare in the park.  

After a picnic lunch we set out on our last hike, a nature trail in a valley called a "coulee".  This was a chance to get up close with the badlands again and learn more about the unique geology and ecology.  After 1.6 miles we were pretty done for the day.  We tracked down the bison herds one more time and made our way out of the park to start our way home.  

Cannonball Concretion

Hiking in the badlands

Petrified wood

This guy was right by the entrance station to greet people coming into the park and to say goodbye to those leaving the park.

Tonight we're staying over in Bismarck before really getting some mileage towards home under our belts tomorrow.  Before getting to the hotel (and having a yummy steak dinner!) we checked out another Atlas Obscura spot a few miles away.  Bismarck is home to the gravesite of the man who invented the tags that go on license plates: Leonard Mennes.  There is a monument to this feat by his gravesite in a local cemetery. 

Tomorrow promises lots of driving, but we have a few fun stops planned, too.  Time to finish off tonight's Covid-style beer in small glasses and call it a night.