As promised…sharing some of the beauty that is Colorado <3
I visited Colorado Springs with my parents as a young teen. My dad had launched an Air Force ROTC program after he retired from that branch of the military in the high school in Danville, KY.
One of his first class of cadet’s actually made it to the Air Force Academy and upon graduation asked my dad to pin on his bars. We were able to attend all the festivities and ceremonies and it was an incredible experience for a young sophomore high school girl.
The charm of this city nestled against a backdrop of mountains and chock full of great memories now has a new chapter of experiences and had birthed plans to drag that husband of mine back there ASAP so we can see it together.
We stayed in Glen Eyrie Castle and Conference Center https://gleneyrie.org, which is the home of The Navigators. We didn’t stay in the castle but in the lodge, which was truly one of the cleanest, most comfortable and nicest rooms to make our home away from homes in for the conference.
The lodge was nestled at the foot of this hunk o’creation:
It was breathtaking and even Shelly, who visits here regularly for the past 20 years had to jump out of the car and take a pic before we could even park and register.
There are eight miles of trails on the property and on Saturday during the three hour free time given to us to rest, write or explore; we opted to set off on a trail.
We were already like a bazillion miles above sea level in the parking lot where we started and the trail looked like this for a lot of the way up….but we huffed and puffed and kept a’climbing and snapping pictures and laughing and oohing and ahhing until we reached a point where we were actually looking down on the very formations we had just recently been gazing up at…
and…
Did I mention I am always fighting a fear of heights?
I actually have two throat-closing, scream producing fears…and the other one, thankfully we did not encounter due to cooler temperatures….
Praise you Jesus.
While we are hiking along the top of the ridge surrounded by beauty, I couldn’t help but notice how wind and water have a power to shape the surroundings.
Like this…
So many holes just worn away in solid rock, one drip at a time. There’s a story there…for sure.
Also the way the trees grow…
and…
Like they are just twisted and curved to the pressure of the wind.
Oh that we would be shaped by the Spirit in such a way that in the end, we would show where He moved along, blowing over and around us, and how we yielded…..amen?
As we made our way down to the base and were headed back to our lodge, we saw this traffic jam…
which just was such a delight.
I already told you about the fun of meeting up with an old friend from home and hanging out with Shelly’s parents, so the only thing left to share is that I ate the best hamburger of my life right before I left.
Meet the Skirted Heifer cheeseburger that will be calling me back like the song of the sirens…
have mercy…
The “skirt” is about a year’s worth of cheese allotment melted down around the best effort a cow ever gave to become a burger.
Add caramelized onions and pickles and tomato and heifer sauce…and right there you have what will be my first stop the next time I get back to this city that has found a place in my heart ….
See you soon Colorado…you did not disappoint <3