A few of you have been kind and said you have enjoyed the Colorado posts.  I love hearing that the posts remind you of trips you have made, and places you would like to see.  We did have a good time with our dear friends Betty and Bob.  The beauty of the area, and the comfortable lifestyle of the people of Colorado made for an amazing trip.

We did it.  We rode the Cog Railway to the summit of Pikes Peak – all 14,110 feet of it.  The views are incredible.

Again there were the beautiful yellow leaves of the aspens.  I could not take my eyes or my camera off of them.  They are so bright and beautiful.

They took my breath away – and it wasn’t just the altitude.

Be still my heart!  This is what we saw.

As we passed the tree line (11,500 feet) the ground became so rocky.  I never realized that this is what the top of a high mountain would look like.

Loved this view of the lake below – I think it is called the Crystal Reservoir, but I am not 100% sure.

Here is Ever-Lovin’ on top of the mountain!  I am sitting here wanting to pinch myself.  Did I really get to see and experience all of this.  There are no words to adequately describe this experience.  Yes, there was snow on the ground, and it was about 31 degrees. (When we were in the sun it wasn’t so bad.)  Pikes Peak is not the highest mountain in Colorado.  It is 31st out of 48-54 depending on who is counting.

It is no wonder that Katharine Lee Bates was inspired to write “America the Beautiful” after a trip to the summit of Pikes Peak.  This is what she wrote, “An erect, decorous group, we stood at last on that Gate-of-Heaven summit…and gazed in wordless rapture over the far expanse of mountain ranges and sea like sweep of plain.  Then and there the opening lines of  ‘America the Beautiful’ sprang into being”….”I wrote the entire song on my return that evening to Colorado Springs.”  I know how she felt even if I can not write as eloquently as she.

Blessings to you and yours,