Manitou Cliff Dwellings
175 miles, 3 hours
We enjoyed brilliant hospitality and a perfect little 2-room cottage at the Willow Springs Motel. We put Camille to bed, and Kim and I enjoyed the front porch swing in the evening.
Kim liked the coziness of the cottage, and the country decor.
After packing up the Jeep, Dustin and Camille set out on a nice little, 1.5 mile walk from the cottage into town. There was a trail along a spring fed creek leading all the way into the town of Manitou Springs.
Kim drove and parked the Jeep in town, doing a little shopping while Dustin and Camille hiked.
We all met up in town, where several fountains serve up the eponymous Manitou Springs.
The water had an interesting taste. Mineral water, certainly. But it was even a little effervescent, which was interesting, and unlike any spring water we've ever had.
From town, Dustin and Camille walked about two miles uphill to the Manitou Cliff Dwellings. Quite similar to the Mesa Verde National Park cliff dwellings (which we would visit later this trip), this particular park is still privately held.
We had previously only seen cliff dwellings in books and on TV. In person, these ancient structures are absolutely incredible!
We really got a huge kick out of this 1000-year-old equivalent of the functionally identical baby backpack Camille was in! Incredible!
Camille enjoyed the cliff dwelling tour, touching the stones and walls and mortar to her delight.
It was a nice sunny day, and perhaps just a little warm.
Kim climbed up to the second story, and peaked into a couple of the upper apartments.
After the cliff dwellings, we drove from Manitou Springs to Longmont, Colorado, eventually finding Oskar's Blues Home Made Liquids and Solids restaurants. Oskar's Blues is a microbrewery Dustin really enjoys. On our previous roadtrip, we actually went to this restaurant, but didn't eat there, having mixed up two different Oskar's locations.
Unfortunately, Camille was an absolute disaster :-( She did not want to stay seated in her high chair, and couldn't be entertained. In retrospect, we desperately wished that we had brought Camille's own booster seat, as she's far better behaved in it. Bummer.
All that said, we did eat good food, and Dustin had a sampler of beers, and we broke up a long drive with a nice stop.
After lunch, we let Camille play around in the fenced yard behind the restaurant.
A couple of hours later, we finished our evening in Cheyenne, Wyoming. As we rolled into town on the fumes and looking for a gas station, we got caught by a long train, and in a nasty hail storm!
Pea size hail came raining down for a good 20 minutes. No damage to the Jeep, thankfully...
:-Dustin
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