Day 4: Pike's Peak

We started the day early so we could get some breakfast on the road before driving to the summit of Pike's Peak. We stopped at a yummy mexican place for burritos. We thought they were breakfast burritos with eggs, but they were regular burritos. Kind of different for breakfast...but delicious! And messy....

We couldn't stop saying, "Amazing." With every turn, our view kept getting more and more marvelous. Pictures can't really capture it. On a humorous note, one of the first signs we saw was concerning big foot. Apparantly, there have been various sightings over the years. So at our first stop (at about 9,000 ft.) we loved that there was a big foot statue to commemorate this legend.

This stop also had some cold mountain water running that Camden had to check out (over and over...obsession with water) and a very cold rock that she also loved touching (over and over...obsession with touching everything).

As you can see from Lora's jacket, the temperature was already starting to drop as we gained altitude. The sign at the entrance said that the temp at the peak was 39 degrees!

The vistas at this point were unreal. This pit stop was by one of the three lakes/reservoirs on the mountain. It actually is so unbelievably breathtaking that it looks like a fake backdrop in school pictures...

A little bit further on the road, we saw a turn off to one of the reservoirs. We decided to take the loop. What an adventure. Again, so beautiful (despite the unflattering picture of Kevin and I). Plus it was off road. Kevin couldn't keep from laughing at the twists and turns on the dirt road.

Then back to the climb. We'd go around a corner and just marvel at the views. We loved seeing the lake and the reservoir get smaller and smaller.

We stopped just shy of the alpine zone (12,000 feet above which no trees can grow) for a few pictures of the remaining snow and pines.

From that point on, the twists and turns were hairpin to say the least. Even at 10 mph they seemed daunting.

We finally made it to the top, where the altitude really bothered Kevin and Camden. Kevin had a really bad headache and Camden got progressively worse the longer we were up there. Her eyes were droppy and red lined, she was excessively grumpy, and when we made it back to the car, she kept pointing at her head.

We each had a world famous donut (not suppose to be able to cook well at 14,000 ft....although they just seemed like regular donuts to us!). We watched as the clouds descended all around us and we no longer had a view.

But just before the clouds overtook the peak, the coolest, most memorable thing happen. Two men dressed in airforce gear were standing off to one side in a small crevice of the mountain. Several people sat around them listening. We weren't sure what was going on until the younger gentleman raised his right hand and the older gentlemen started speaking. The one was being sworn in as an U.S. Air Force Officer. Seconds later, we heard a roar that progressively got louder. Before you could blink, a fighter jet went flying by about 25-50 yards away at eye level. It flew past the gentlement and then banked back into the clouds. AMAZING! Camden immediately started saying, "more, more, more." It happened so quickly no one got a picture. Truly one of the best sights.

The trip up the mountain was something to always remember...and so was the trip down. We had car problems. We were driving Pop's minivan and it did not like the altitude either. We were supposed to descend in lowest gear, but it was not slowing the engine like it should. We would rev high RPMs at 30-40 mph...not good. We were also so worried about having to ride the brakes and getting them too hot. We never lost the engine completely, but the check engine light would come on and we would lose power. Kevin could still steer and brake (thankfully!). Above the alpine level, we had to stop two or three times because of the loss of power, shut off the car for a few minutes, then start again. Finally, Kevin decided to put it in 2nd and use the brakes. About 10 minutes of that and we started over heating the brakes. We had to stop and let the smoke stop billowing from them for about 20 minutes. SCARY. We finally got to a point where we could drive in 2nd, use the brakes, but not depend on them and made it safely to the bottom. Camden slept for most of this "adventure," but it was one of the most stressful times for Kevin - especially since he was still miserable from the altitude at the top.

No trip to the top of Pikes Peak is complete without these experiences...at least we weren't sitting backwards in a station wagon while Bob Arden drove...right, mom?

Oh, and one of my favorite memories is at some point (either going up or down), Camden kept looking out and saying, "mazing." Guess we really were talking up the view and she picked up on it. She actually still talks about seeing mountains as we are driving. Such the little observer (and mimic).