Me Time!

When you only get one day off a week, you try to make it count. I needed to get off the ranch or I'd go nuts, I guess it's the LA in me... I needed to drive on a freeway somewhere. I decided to do some touring around the area, starting with a hike in the Garden of the Gods.

Deer at the freeway exit. Don't the cars scare them? I guess not...

View of Pike's Peak from the Garden of the Gods Visitor's Center. This mountain is visible everywhere around the area... you can even see it from the ranch when you climb to one of our little mountains that border our valley.

Old Town Colorado Springs. Found a store that totally made me think of my beloved church, Epic, since we support the same causes. "Yobel Market is committed to empowering and promoting the value of exploited, displaced, and impoverished people groups of the world through the provision of sustainable economic opportunities by marketing beautiful, handcrafted products utilizing micro-financing and fair trade principles. Our hope is that through awareness and equitable trade, marginalized people of the world may be offered the hope of freedom and abundant life." Yobel is the Hebrew word for "jubilee", which means freedom, release from captivity, cancellation of debts, the turning of tables, stabilization and restoration of land, redemption for the poor, and celebration. This is SOOO Epic!

PEZ dispensers!

Cute honey cottage. I just love the store front colors... it's so cheery!

Guy at the park setting up chess games. I was tempted to play a game with him, but didn't.

Garden of the Gods is really... accessible. Look, a huge paved walking lane for those that can't hike trails. My mother would love this :P It's really nice, though, for those that must use wheelchairs to get around, since most other places in nature aren't wheelchair accessible :P

I wandered off the "beaten path" into a aspen grove. Did you know that aspen groves are all one organism? The roots of all the "trees" are connected as one tree. They say the largest living organism on the planet is an aspen grove in Utah called Pando.

I'm ashamed to admit that I don't know what happened to this leaf. My guess is bugs? As a biologist... I should know better. Biologist fail, haha. But the type of aspen that grow in the Rockies are "Quaking Aspen", so named because their leaves "quake" when the wind blows through them. It's funny to think of trees shivering, eh?

A western scrub jay in a juniper tree! So blue! So pretty!

See the two girls hiking to the top? I want to do that before I leave!

Hiking trail... one person at a time.

Juniper berries... smell so good! Good food for the furry animals around here.

Another hiking trail, quite dusty.

The Balanced Rock on the way out of the garden and towards downtown Manitou Springs!

I don't vandalize walls, but what happy vandals roam the streets of Manitou Springs... spreading joy! Stopped in here for a cup of wintermint tea... so good!

What a pretty mosaic tile!

At a Glassblower's Shop.

Saki, haha.

Books and wine... sounds like such a great combo... if only I wasn't allergic to alcohol...

Reading nooks! I LOVE places like this... if it didn't take 1.5 hours to get here, I'd come every day!

Speaking of reading, I've been reading like a maniac here (there's nothing else to do)... and I've done something I usually don't... I'm in the middle of 5 books, reading them all a bit at a time. They're not stories, so I'm not compelled to find out how it ends. They're more like conversations that I can pick up when I like, and continue later when I've had enough for the moment. Sort of like this blog :) Speaking of continuing later...