Colorado Springs and the Kealas!

Today was a really relaxing day!  We took some time this morning to catch up on laundry and rearrange some of Lindsey's things.  We needed the car to get around Colorado Springs, so some of her stuff had to find a place in the RV.

We went to two very interesting places today.  The first was "The Garden of the Gods".  It is a scenic loop drive through the red rock country.  The colors were impressive.  I really want to go back again and take several of the hiking trails, and maybe do a little easy rock climbing!  You need to get a permit in advance, but we could do that  :)   From there we went to the town of Manitou.  It is a very historic town with lots of charm.  From town it is a short drive up into the mountain where you can view ancient cliff dwellings.  The rooms were actually big enough to go inside!  They even had hallways behind the rooms that were on the face of the mountain.  You could see how the families were able to walk from place to place within the mountain! 

Next we went into Colorado Springs to visit with Amy, Kurtis and the kids!  We had such a fun visit  :)    The kids were very excited to show Lindsey their home, and what a great home it is!  We took a stroll out their backyard to a really open meadow.  I love the way each yard just melts into the neighbors yard, with very few fences.  You feel like you are in the woods!!  Rich and Kurtis were in the garage looking at Kurtis's new E-Bay purchase, when Tyler realized that Rich missed the meadow walk.  So, he grabbed Rich's hand and said, "Come on, I'll take you!"  They had some real guy bonding time!  We talked and looked at pictures and even pet the cat.  Trust me, that was BIG.  Kitty is really, really shy.  

When dinner time came, we put it up to the kids for a vote as to where to go.  Almost unanimous, it was "Famous Dave's Award Winning BBQ".  Good choice guys!  We had a great time.  The kids were really excited and quite entertaining!  Ashley said straight up that we should get the huge sampler platter to share.  Well, we got two and more than did them justice.  Ally was BBQ sauce from her elbows to her finger tips!  Tyler made sure that we all tried some of everything on the platter, but he was pretty selective as to what went on his plate -  ha ha ha .  We talked and laughed for a couple of hours!  It was a really great evening!  

After dinner, they all drove back to our RV park to drop off the high chair that they had borrowed from us when Ashley was a toddler.  There is a lot of history in that chair!  Nine children have used it.  We gave them a quick tour of the RV and the highlight was Rich's miners flashlight.  Tyler put it on his head and went exploring in the dark outside looking for scary things.  Not sure what the neighbors thought, but Tyler was having a blast!  The girls huddled with Lindsey on the couch and played guitar hero on her i-phone.  Kurtis and Rich talked RV talk,  and Amy and I just enjoyed everyone interacting - good times!  It was a school night, so they had to get the kids home.  Hard to say good bye, but so glad for the visit!

We are heading out early tomorrow for somewhere in Utah.