Long day... Drove down and checked in around noon. We all passed our medical re-checks...even us old adults! Got out tents here for the night, got the Trek plotted, went to meetings, first aid refresher, our first meal in camp, church service and opening campfire. Tomorrow, we will get our crew picture, our final shakedown, A couple musu tours, a couple other things and then load the buses at 11am. The bus will drop us at our starting point on the Rayodo River, and then we will be on our way...

We will update from here on as signals and batteries allow.  Enjoy civilization while we are gone....

It's Baldy Mountain or Bust time.....

Oh....we saw a small Elk herd yesterday as well.

Stopped in Raton, NM for our last meal in civilization.

Here is a good mistake we made yesterday....a video clip as opposed to just a picture!

Comments from here may be few and far between as we don't know what signals we will have down there.  We are heading out to New Mexico in 30 minutes...

A little hike at 14,000'!

Very little vegetation at this elevation, but we did see some wildflowers in bloom

Weather can turn quick up here....  We saw sun, rain, hail, snow and sleet.  Robby, Patrick, and Sean made snowballs and through them down a cliff.  Snowballs in July....

Remnants from the original building

And YES, Big Foot is alive and well....  He has been spotted in the Pike's Peak National Forest!

Gold Min atop the hill on the left side of the photo in Cripple Creek, CO

Gold Mine from days of old...  Notice the tracks coming out of the building.

Great day yesterday:  Pike's Peak, Cripple Creek, one last visit to REI, and a nice visit with the Brown family.  The boys enjoyed seeing and visiting Thomas and Liam! 

We have seen some wildlife while here as well.  Marmot up Pike's Peak, coyote, fox, and mountain goat.  Here are some pictures from the day.

We finally made it to the top

America the beautiful memorial.  Inspiration came to write this while looking off ot Pike's Peak.

At cloud level looking down to a couple glacier lakes, mountains, and the cog railway track

 Cog Railway....another way to get to the summit

The boys enjoyed a nice dinner of pizza and pasta last night and like the hotel.  One suggested we just stay here in the springs and play outside for the rest of the 2 weeks.... 

They are slow to get moving this morning!  I wonder if they played and horsed around until the wee hours of the night in their hotel rooms without adults last night???

We are heading out to Pike's Peak ("The Piker") in about an hour.  From there, we are going to head down to Cripple Creek for lunch or an afternoon visit (depending on how much time we spend up on The Piker.  Cripple Creek is an old gold mining town that will give them the flavor of the true old west.

One more thing.... a BIG thank you to the Brown family that left 1294 18 months ago due to a military change of station.  They let us borrow their mini van, so we only had to rent one vehicle.  That will save everyone some money.  Their AC is out, so we will give them a donation to fix when we leave.

We were able to get the boys a full buffet breakfast at the hotel today.  Mr. Powell and I were able to do some negotiating with our hotel stays, and got 8 free buffets for both days.  It save over $100 for breakfast! 

On to Pike's Peak!