Exploring Colorado Springs

On July 6th we decided since Scott was told by the park manager at the campground we were staying at, Cripple Creek Hospitality House & RV Park, that breakfast at Bronco Billy's Casino was only $0.49, we weren't going to pass that opportunity! When we got there, we were told it would be a 30 minute wait. I think this is the casino's strategy to get customers of the diner to waste a little money. In our case, their plan backfired when Scott won $50 off a slot machine! Haha! After being seated and waited on, we were surprised when we got our food at the nice quality of $0.49 breakfast. All-in-all, 6 people ate breakfast for ~$14, pretty good I think.

After filling our bellies, a portion of our group went up to Colorado Springs to see Pike's Peak and the Air Force Academy. The view off of Pike's Peak was certainly breathtaking. This was the place of inspiration for the song "America the Beautiful" by Katharine Lee Bates.

Coming back down the pass to the summit, you must stop for a mandatory brake check where a Park Ranger uses a laser temperature gun to measure the brake's temperature. The temp can't be over 300 degrees or you will be asked to pull over so that your brakes don't overheat and fail. The truck in front of us was asked to pull over for a certain amount of time to let the brakes cool. Our brake temp was 165 degrees, relatively cool, and the Ranger passed us through.

Once back on the highway, we decided to get the tires rotated and balanced, and we had noticed that one of the tires on the Jeep had a slow leak in it and had to be aired-up at least every day. We let the tire place know which tire needed the attention and left the Jeep in their capable hands to go eat across the street. When we came back to the tire shop, they said they found a small nail in that tire and they were able to patch it easily. Thank goodness!

While we were waiting, we noticed the clouds building over the mountains and it started to get a bit darker. Once we got the Jeep back it started to lightly rain. This made a beautiful picture of mountains and rain.

The Air Force Academy is a really cool place, lots of history. Unfortunately, we didn't get to explore much due to the rain, but we were able to go see the Catholic, Buddhist, and Jewish "Chapel" areas. The Protestant Chapel was closed to the public for a wedding, so we didn't get to see the large Organ located only in that Chapel.

And then, something amazing happened... (sorry for flash and glare on photo, but you can clearly see a double rainbow, of which I've never seen before this happened on our way home)