Garden of the Gods- Colorado

GARDEN OF THE GODS

ANOTHER SHOT AT THE ENTRANCE

KISSING CAMELS

ANOTHER CLOSE-UP OF THE KISSING CAMELS

ANOTHER VIEW OF THE KISSING CAMELS

CATHEDRAL VALLEY

CATHEDRAL VALLEY

ANOTHER SHOT OF CATHEDRAL VALLEY

BALANCED ROCK

STEAMED BOAT

STEAMED BOAT AND BALANCED ROCK

Trying to push the big rock while the guy who's wearing green was trying to carry the big rock hehehe

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Road Trip: 

Continuation on our road trip from Washington to Florida:  From Yellowstone we drove up to Thermopolis, Wyomng for about 2 hours and stayed there overnight.   

I was looking for a place that we can drive by and see some scenic views for few minutes before heading to our next stop.  I came across this Garden of the Gods when I was surfing the internet.  It's pretty obvious that we never had a specific itinerary hehehe (except the Yellowstone and going to Orlando) so we opted to go to Colorado instead of driving to Nebraska (we are talking here "states" on what to take to get to Florida and not specific freeways or roads hehehe).  

So while we were on our way to Colorado,  my husband asked my daughter if she wants to see her best friend in Kansas, without any hesitation she excitedly answered "yes."  Then we called our friends in Kansas and surprised them that we're planning to visit them on our way to Florida if that's ok with them (weird huh? so spontaneous lol), lucky they're very kind and happy to see us :-)

It took us 7 hours to get to Colorado Springs from Wyoming, we stayed overnight at the Springhill Suite Marriott and the next day we went to Garden of the Gods.  My husband allotted us to spend only 1 hour there otherwise we may get to Kansas too late in the evening and not to mention my friends prepared dinner for us.

June 20, 2013- Garden of the Gods,  Colorado

Garden of the Gods is located in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  It is a free public park and designated as a National Natural Landmark.

The natural red rock formations really amazed me upon seeing them, a breathtaking view to see and experience.  It really shows how great God is.

The area was first called Red Rock Corral.  One of the surveyors, M. S. Beach, suggested that it would be a "capital place for a beer garden." His companion, the young Rufus Cable, awestruck by the impressive rock formations, exclaimed, "Beer Garden! Why it is a fit place for the gods to assemble. We will call it the Garden of the Gods."- Wikipedia

We drove around and took some pictures but we never had the chance to hike on the different trails that park offers.  I missed to see a lot of rock formations such as the "Siamese Twins, " "Sleeping Giant," "Tower of Babel," "Signature Rock," and many more.  Some of them we have to walk up the trails to see them and that limit us to see only the rock formations along the road. 

It was so hot that time and my kids didn't want to go out from the car.  From Washington cold weather to real summer in Colorado, that made them feel so uncomfortable to go out, still adjusting the weather. So after driving by and taking pictures of the balanced rock we headed straight to Kansas.

it's me trying to open the Gate of the Garden of the Gods lol

Next post, Tennesee!

Yellowstone National Park- Grand Canyon of Yellowstone (Part 2)

East Entrance

Bisons

Bison along the road

Brink of Lower Falls

Brink of Lower Falls

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone- "Still Venting"

Lower Falls of Yellowstone, view from Lookout Point

Can you see the bird's nest??? It's actually in the middle of the picture :-)

Close-up shot of Lower Falls from Lookout Point

Yellowstone River

Yellowstone River

Burned Trees at Yellowstone Park from the wildfire

Add caption

Yellowstone National Park (Part 1)

Roosevelt Arch at Yellowstone National Park's Entrance

Engineer's office at Yellowstone

Mammoth Hotel

Store where we bought our souvenirs and our lunch

Mammoth Hot Springs

Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces were formed by rock fractures, heat and water with shades of orange, pink and green created by microorganisms in the water.

Liberty Cap- this 37 foot high hot spring cone is located in northern part of Mammoth Hot Springs area

Palette Spring- the water flows from a flat area and then down a steep ridge, creating a colorful hillside palette of brown, green, and orange (the colors are due to the presence of thermophiles- heat loving microorganisms) 

Another view of Palette Spring

Palette Spring

Another View of Palette Spring

Orange Spring Mound

Canary Spring

A map of Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces

Overlooking Main Terrace

Main Terrace,  a bit gloomy

Angel Terrace

Norris Geyser Basin

Norris Geyser Basin- one of the hottest and most dynamic of Yellowstone's hydrothermal areas

Fumaroles- or steam vent is the hottest hydrothermal features in the park

Whirligig Geyser- Living thermometer, orange color is around 122- 140F; green- 100-133F; "thermophile"- microorganisms that thrive in heat and living in geyser

Whirligig Geyser- green area is where the thermophilic algae lives, temperature ranges from 100to 133F while the orange area the temperature ranges from 122- 140F

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Our first stop during our road trip to Florida was at Yellowstone National Park.  We are relocating now to Florida, the sunshine state :-) so from Washington state we drove all the way to Florida, from West to East Coast, around 3,153 miles plus (if we are driving straight to our reserved hotel).

We had only few stops to see some scenic views along our way to Florida since our schedule was only limited to 1 week.  Our plan was to go straight to Orlando before heading to our main destination, which is at the northwest part of Florida, Hurlburt Field or if you're not familiar with that military air force base station, it's close to Fort Walton Beach or a 40minute to an hour drive to Pensacola.

We passed 12 states (in order):  Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi,  Alabama, Georgia, Florida.

We left Washington June 17th and arrived in Orlando, June 23rd. Our initial plan was supposed to be in Orlando by 22nd but we stayed 1 day in Kansas at our friend's house and took a rest for awhile.

June 17, our first day road trip- we took Interstate 90 via Spokane WA to Idaho and then stayed overnight in Bozeman, Montana.  It took us 12 hours our first day. We were all exhausted. We arrived around 12midnight and we were so hungry just bought KFC to go and ate at our hotel.

June 18- Went to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.  This was really in our itinerary I really have to see Yellowstone, I've been dying to see this park :-)  Due to our limited time we only spent 5 hours and only saw Mammoth Hot Springs, Norris Geyser Basin and Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and some wild animals while driving around the area.

Yellowstone National Park is the first national park in the world located in Wyoming, it also extends to Idaho and Montana. It is known to many wild life, geothermal features especially the famous "Old Faithful Geyser" which unfortunately I didn't see it but luckily I was able to see the Grand Canyon on Yellowstone :-) ....at least hehehe.

I will be posting more pictures of Yellowstone on my part 2.