Garden of the Gods & Durango, CO.

 Saturday, July 7th, 2012:  Garden of the Gods

We started our morning off with a great hot breakfast:  scrambled eggs, make-your-own waffles, sausage, cereal, toast, parfaits and lots of wonderful food.  Then we were off to see the beautiful Garden of the Gods.  The weather was beautiful in the low 70's.  It was just a week ago that the park was closed due to the Waldo Canyon fires.  We were not able to see much of the burned area, but there were lots of signs up everywhere thanking the firefighters for all that they did.  We did talk to many people who were evacuated for

5 or more days.  It was obvious that this has been very hard for the community.  At this point, the fire is out which is a huge blessing as we had read that they thought it could continue until mid-July.  We are thankful that we were able to come and see this gorgeous area.  We started with a hike that we had done with the whole Barrett family 12 years earlier.  GORGEOUS!!!!  Pictures cannot begin to show you how beautiful all the formations are and all the colors.  It has been a great part of the trip to see all the different terrain, colors, textures and rocks that God uses to paint on his wonderful canvas.  This was the first hike for the camelbaks that the kids had.  Dave had been skeptical that they would really drink more water, but 1/4 of the way through our first hike, Annika had downed her 50 oz. water which then posed another problem for us (how to find a bathroom).  But we all agreed this was better than dehydration.

 

 Around each turn, it seemed we would see even more amazing sculptures and formation.  The kids loved climbing up the different rocks and would often scramble up quite high.  We found little caves, crevices and lots of places to hide.  In the distance we could hear rumbles of thunder- love that sound!  The ranger said that they were expected to get around 3 1/2 inches of rain sometime during the weekend, which was actually not a good thing as it was too much, too quick.  We did not get any rain on us while we were hiking but are glad that they are finally seeing some rain. 

After about 2 hours, we headed to the next hike to see the "Siamese Twins".  It was a fun hike with more challenging terrain.  These are some of the pictures that we saw when we got to the top of the hike.  On a clear day, you are able to see a wonderful view of Pikes Peak.  Unfortunately, it was covered in clouds.



The Siamese Twins





Sitting in the hole at the

Siamese twin towers

We saw a couple of tours going by on horses.  We were not sure this was a trail we would want to ride on... as Josh said, we like having two feet on the ground.  Some of them looked like they had minds of their own.  We had a great time finishing the hike.  On our way out of the park, we stopped at the famous "Balanced Rock" to get pictures.  It is amazing to see all these rocks and you just have to wonder how God got them there.



Balanced Rock



We stopped by the Trading Post to grab a bite to eat before getting on the road.  It was yummy but we have to wonder if the kids were getting enough to eat as Jonathan was munching down everyone's extra lettuce and onions- YUK! :) 



Well, we waved good-bye to Colorado Springs and turned our car to Durango, Co.  It was about a 5 1/2 hour drive.  The scenery was absolutely stunning and we loved the drive.  We had hoped to get to Durango early as we were staying at the Durango Riverside Resort.  We had changed our plans a little and decided to go to the Grand Canyon BEFORE we went to Utah, so that cuts into our time here.  The Brosius family was here recently and loved this place, so we are disappointed that we have to move on so quickly but we won't be able to see all we want to. 



Setting up in the dark & rain....a true
Barrett Adventure!



We did have some rain as we were driving along (which we were again thankful for) but as we got closer to Durango and we had already seen the gorgeous sunset, it was still raining and now it was coming down harder.  We were not sure what we were in for and honestly, I was not looking forward to setting up a tent, sleeping all night and then getting all packed up again in the morning....IN THE RAIN!!!  I sent out an SOS email to my sister to be praying for us!  I had also read that they have strict restrictions on food and items with scents due to the bears.  So, I was a little nervous about making sure that we were all safe.  Now we had to set up in the dark and the rain.  Well, we found our campsite and in the dark, it looked very nice.  We all hopped out to help get the tent set up (still in the rain) and wouldn't you know, just as I open the back door to the van, our box of Raisin Bran tips over, spilling cereal all over the back of the car and the ground (in the rain!!!)  You should have heard my YELP as I am envisioning all the bears in the county visiting our campsite to catch up on their Bran flakes!!!  Well, it was closing on 10pm and we managed to get the tent up, sleeping bags in and teeth brushed (all with no kids or parents crying).  God blessed us and as soon as we were in the tent, the rain stopped.  It was a cool evening (50's) and perfect for sleeping.  As it turned out, it did not rain again the whole night and everyone slept well.....but it did start raining again when we had to pack up the tent in the morning :)  But God answered our prayers for a great night sleep!!!!  AND NO BEARS! Thank you Lord!!!!