On Saturday we first went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. The one downside to this zoo is that it is on a mountain so you definitely get a workout walking up and up and up and then back down. The super great thing about this zoo is that you get to feed the giraffes. You can buy crackers, which are only 3 for 1$, and the giraffes eat them right out of your hand. Our kiddos were giggling their little heads off at the huge giraffe tongues grabbing crackers out of their hands. Then we saw all of the usual zoo animals like the elephants, gorillas, monkeys, hippos, tigers, lions, bears, penguins, and you get the idea. A lot of the big animals were sleeping but the tiger was awake and playing in the water. Then dad let the kids ride the train and the carousel at the zoo, which made it a perfect zoo outing.
Our next stop was the Cave of the Winds. We had a 40 minute wait for our tour to start so we went outside and did some panhandling. The kids found lots of cool stuff like gems, arrowheads, and fossil teeth. Then we didn't hear them call our tour number and we almost missed it but luckily we caught them just as they were leaving. The kids were a little nervous to go that far in a cave but we took them on a Discovery Tour that is fully lit so they could see everything and they really liked it. We went on a 3/4 mile tour and our guide said the deepest our tour went was about 200 feet into the mountain. The history behind the cave was really interesting and our guide was a lot of fun.Then after a full day we were hungry so we went to Fargo's for some pizza. Fargo's is the world's largest family pizza restaurant. It can seat over 500 people inside. Some of the employees are dressed up to go with the whole Victorian theme of the restaurant. Our three little kids finished off a whole pizza between them so I guess they were pretty hungry! Then we had to get some yummy ice cream to finish it off and it was back to the hotel for more swimming.
On Sunday we went to the Garden of the Gods, which is absolutely beautiful. We went for a little hike and then we went to see the balanced rock. It's a big rock that is kind of sitting on a point and it should fall but it doesn't. Of course several years ago they went in a put a little concrete under there to make sure it doesn't fall but it is still neat to see. The kids found some cool tunnels to crawl through for a while. Then we were all tired and the kids said it was time to go home. You know they're tired if they want to go home. All in all it was a great trip! I would highly recommend any of these places to you for a trip of your own sometime!
