Colorado Trip: Nil Sine Numine

We were driving back from NC to NE. Bored, I started Googling plane ticket prices for various destinations. “What about Colorado? There’s a train,” I said. Garrett’s interest was peaked. Before long, we’d made plans to spend a long weekend in Colorado and roped in some friends (Brice & Shanna) into meeting us there. The main attraction: the train.

Day 1

We flew into Denver, found Brice and Shanna, and retrieved our rental car while Garrett hopped on a conference call. We ended up at Hopdoddy Burgers for lunch where we had the most epic bowls of fancy fries and some burgers. After filling our bellies, we walked around, visited Union Station, and discovered that Denver’s bathrooms are all locked to the public because of crime issues. Think security guards and codes if you want to relieve yourself.

We decided to go ahead and make our way to Colorado Springs where we would be staying for the next few days. After exploring the house and flipping every switch to discover what did what, we made a grocery list and went to good old Walmart. Still full from burgers and fries, we decided that we would just eat snack foods for dinner that night. Taco dip, jalapeño poppers, and pigs in a blanket hit the spot while we played games. Ending the night in the hot tub was a great end to the night.

Day 2

Our second day, we were excited to see some Colorado scenery. After eggs, bacon, and some coffee, we set our sights for Garden of the Gods. Colorado’s motto is Nil Sine Numine, Latin for “Nothing without Providence or Deity”. There is no doubt that Garden of the Gods would be nothing without deity. It was absolutely beautiful and the perfect first hike of the trip. We quickly realized that Colorado air is a lot harder to breathe in due to altitude and dryness.

Kissing camels

It also had amazing views of Pike’s Peak. We were transfixed and decided then that we’d “climb that mountain.”

We ate lunch in Manitou Springs and did some shopping. We grabbed some frozen custard and made our way to Cave of the Winds Mountain Park to go deep into the mountain. Our tour guide was great and had all the dad jokes. Garrett is a sucker for caves, so he was happy as a clam. He had us laughing at his ducking and duck walking to make it through small passages.

After crawling out of the cave, we found ourselves at REI to shop. New hiking socks and water bottles may or may not have been purchased. Craving pizza, we headed to Fat Sully’s and ate the most divine garlic knots and the largest pizza ever! We waddled out of there and back to the house for slushees in the hot tub.

Day 3

On this day, Garrett was beside himself with excitement. It was train day! Shanna was also very excited because dinosaurs.

We went up the winding Skyline Drive road to find epic views and real dinosaur footprints. They were inverted, so the bumps you see on the wall are the tracks from an Ankloysaursuses.

Our train was the Royal Gorge train. We had tickets for lunch in the observatory car. Excitement was high! We followed the river in the gorge and were even able to step out into the open-air car. The trip lasted about 90 minutes. The experience and views were worth every penny!

We decided to try out a second scenic drive—Gold Mine Camp Road before going home. Normally a one way road, it was a two-way road due to partial road closures. The road was dirt, had tunnels, and was on the edge of a mountain. Dusty, bumpy, and slightly harrowing, we loved it! We didn’t have time to hike any of the trails, but decide to try and return. We had to get back to the house to cook a delicious dinner of grilled porkchops, baked potato, salad, and chocolate chip cookies. I must say that we are all pretty dang good cooks!

Day 4

After staring at the mountain for the past three days, we were ready to head to the top of Pike’s Peak. We started with breakfast in Manitou Springs and then made our way up the mountain. At over 14,000 feet, the temperature dropped from 70’s to the 30’s with snow. Snow went beyond Garrett’s knee for reference of depth.

If we thought it was hard to breathe in Colorado Springs, it was much harder to breathe at the top of the mountain. The wind was biting and frigid, but the views. Oh man, those views were incredible. I had never seen anything like it. Apparently, the lyrics to America the Beautiful were penned after a visit to Pike’s Peak, hence, “purple mountains majesty.” At the top of Pike’s Peak, there are no rails, just the occasional ropes. It was a little slippery, but not too bad. After soaking in the views, we started the trek back down the mountain, stopping at a picnic area for beef jerky, peanuts, and pastries (lunch of champions). While we didn’t climb that mountain fully with our own bodies, we did climb it with the car.

We then headed back up Gold Mine Camp Road. It was considerably more busy than the day before, but we were able to find a parking spot and stay the course of the road. Our chosen hike was 7 Bridges, an almost 4 mile hike. There were indeed 7 bridges over a mountainside creek that was partially covered by snow. We met a lost kid on the trail that Shanna walked back down to his group of friends (so really, she hiked farther than us all). We made it to the seventh bridge, caught our breath, and went back down. The hike down was scarier than the hike up because of some slippery icy patches; however, it was much easier, as going down often is.

We safely made it back to our house to clean up before getting some Mexican for dinner. Our last night at the house was spent watching a movie. We were all a bit tired from our adventures of the day. The next morning, we would head back to Denver. We said our good-byes after lunch in the airport.

Brice said it best, “there’s nothing we did that I wouldn’t do again.” It was a great trip, and we had great timing with temperatures in the 70’s the entire time. There was still snow at higher altitudes, but it wasn’t impassable.

Here’s to adventures over things, stories over stuff, friends to do it with you, and experiencing the beauty that’s out there. We’re already discussing our next adventure. The problem is, there’s so much world and so little time.