South Colorado, USA

After 4 years of planning, plotting, saving and tweaking. We are THRILLED to have touched down in Denver, Colorado. Our BA flight was smooth and once we’d retrieved our luggage, we caught a free shuttle bus to our airport hotel, the Microtel Denver. It was cheap and cheerful, but clean, and had a diner just across the road, so after a quick shower to wash away the long haul grime, we nipped across for a beer and a burger.

We caught the sunset over the Rockies. If you’ve not been to Denver, it’s called the mile high city due to its altitude. It also has a beautiful back drop of city against huge towering mountains, and a mainly blue sky

As per usual when we fly to the USA, we tend to have a few early mornings as our body clocks adjust. Our first day was no exception to this! So we caught the shuttle back to the airport, then another shuttle to the car rentals, and picked up our wheels for the next 3 weeks, a lovely Toyota highlander.

We wasted no time, waving bye to the airport and driving 1.5 hours south to Colorado Springs. Here we enjoyed a 3 hour scenic return journey on the Pikes Peak cog Railway, up to Pikes Peak, elevation 14,115 feet. The cog railway is the highest cog railway in the world, and has only recently reopened following a $100 million refurbishment including three new electric trains being imported from the home of mountain railways, Switzerland.

On the journey we saw Colorado mountain deer, big horn sheep, a black bear (missed the pic though!) and lots of marmot’s – large ground squirrels.

At the top we both struggled with the altitude a little bit so took it slowly, but the views were absolutely breathtaking!

We paid extra for the engineers view when we booked, we’d absolutely recommend this as you get a terrific view of the journey unfolding plus the driver is very happy to give you additional info too.

From Pikes Peak Cog railway, we travelled a short distance to the Garden of the Gods Trading Post where we picked up a map for the 3 mile scenic self driving tour through the park.

The trading post is the oldest in Colorado and the starting point for the Garden of the Gods National Natural Landmark, which features huge sandstone rock formations against the backdrop of Pikes Peak Mountains. There is a long history of American Indian Nationals travelling through as many believe(d) it is a sacred place.

It was absolutely gorgeous and we thoroughly enjoyed our drive through!

Photo fun at balanced rock!

After our scenic drive, we continued to Canon City where we checked into our motel, the American Inn Motel. Again, we’d opted for cheap and cheerful, but again it was clean so we got settled, had a quick shower and change and headed the short walk into the historical town centre.

As with most of these off the beaten track US towns, the streets are huge and often remind us of being in a movie. Most small towns have their own brew houses now too. We headed to the saloon bar, was met with a super friendly welcome and we enjoyed some time chatting to the locals.

We had a bbq dinner across the road, which was ok, before another couple of beers in the brewery, The Worlds End Brewing company.

Day 2.

By 11 am we’d already been off on some adventures! We got up early this morning (body clocks are out!) so went for a drive along the scenic drive above the town. Not for the faint hearted and a good way to get to know the size of our rental car! 😂

The Scenic drive is a 3 mile drive on a single track road / ridge! For those in UK- Think Hard knot pass mixed with striding edge!

Along the drive we stopped to see the fossilised dinosaur tracks which, once we found them, were pretty cool to see! Millions of years ago the rock in which the footprints are in would have been on the river bed floor, and so the footprints made a sort of cast. When the Mountains then moved the river bed became a canyon and therefore the footprints moved with them. You certainly got a sense of how large the dinosaurs would be!!

After our scenic drive, we went for a hike. We took the overlook trail at the Royal Gorge park and were rewarded with some amazing views of the Arkansas River and the Royal Gorge Bridge which is the longest suspension bridge in USA. The bridge is a footbridge, but it’s pricey to cross. You can also get the gondola across or if you’re feeling brave do the highest zipline in America! (Not for us thanks!)

After our invigorating hike- only because of the views, the actual hike was easy enough despite the altitude)- we made our way back to the hotel to drop off the car, and walked into town to board the Royal Gorge Route Railroad.

Having spent the morning admiring the views from

above it was now time to travel alongside the river at the bottom of the canyon.

This historic and scenic railway had been on our list for years! It did NOT disappoint. Options for the train ride included upgrading to vista dome, and also first class- both of which included a meal, but we decided to go for standard as we knew we’d want to be in the open air observation car – which we did – for the whole journey. So in our opinion not worth the upgrade as we’d have been tied to our seats.

The open car carriage was wonderful- talk about immersing ourselves into the scenery. Just exhilarating and spectacular. We were told an earlier train had spotted a black bear, so I was on “bear dar alert”, but sadly it wasn’t to be for us.

After our journey, we took a wander into town for a beer or two, got instantly befriended by the locals – our accents always a giveaway, but Brits often are well received we find. We were offered a local cocktail shot- Green Tea, which was jamesons, peach snaps and fruit juices. Wow it was lovely!

After enjoying happy hour, we nipped back to hotel to freshen up before heading back into town and to the Worlds End Brewery for another pint- I tried the Colorado gin- before dinner at the Italian, Di Ritos.

We had hugely enjoyed our time in Canon City and of course Southern Colorado.

But, it was time to move on. Where to next? Stay tuned to find out!