Will Rogers Shrine

Our Cheyenne Mountain Zoo pass also allows us to visit the Will Rogers Shrine of the Sun.  It's a tower high above the zoo, but not quite at the top of Cheyenn Mountain.  The kids always call it "the castle" when we see it upon our approach to the zoo.  So one Saturday in early September we decided to check it out.

 

 

This is some of the silliness my family exhibited when I was trying to take a picture.

 



Ezra and Jonas looking over Colorado Springs.

 



 

It does look like a castle.  There is a chapel in the bottom and 3 or 4 rooms off the staircase on each level that showcase pictures and/or artifacts from Will Roger's life.  The shrine was built by his best friend after Roger's untimely death in an airplane crash.

 



 

A picnic and playground afterward.

 

Then, a drive through the mountains.  The aspen were already beginning to change.

 

We found some good climbing rocks for the boys.

 

Jonas, our little mountain goat.

 



 

Jonas pouting when it was time to leave.

 

I did end up getting a decent one back at the shrine.  :)

 

 

Random other picture--Jonas' preschool class had a field trip to Garden of the Gods.  It had snowed on Pikes Peak the night before, so after we were done with our hike we parked at this overlook to watch the clouds part over Pikes Peak to catch a glimpse of the first snow!

Colorado Balloon Classic

On Saturday morning (7am!) and evening we went to the 36th Annual Colorado Balloon Classic.  Started in 1977, it has grown to be the largest and the longest continuously running hot air balloon festival in the Rocky Mountain Region as well as the State of Colorado.  The weather conditions were great, so we got to see a lot of balloons!

 

There were so many cool pictures I couldn't decide which ones to post.  I did whittle it down from how many I took, but there are still a LOT posted here.  I mixed morning and evening pics just to vary it a little. 

 

In the morning, we got to see the balloons layed out, inflated, and launch.  They flew over the trees and over a little lake.  The more adventurous pilots took their balloons back down and skimmed the surface of the lake, then lifted off again.

 

During the night time "Balloon Glo", the balloons inflated, but did not launch.  The loud speaker lady would initiate a countdown every few minutes (for 30 minutes) and all the balloons would fire at the same time creating the glow.  So cool!

 

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1---GLOW!

 

 

 

 Eating some kettle corn at the balloon glo.

 

This was one of the first shots of the morning.  The balloons inflated on the grassy area, flew over our heads, over the trees, and across the lake on the other side of us.

 

Here is the "cowboy" balloon skimming the lake.

 

"Smokey the Bear" balloon.

 

Jonas with a ring side seat during the inflation of one of the balloons.

 

Ezra!

 



 

Flying directly over our heads.

 

 

The boys got to play in the bouncy castles and the Judith got her face painted with a unicorn.

 

We were headed back to the car, but stopped on the way to see a parachuting (?) guy.  He was strapped to a giant fan and was flying a around with a sail over him.  I'm not sure what that's called...  After he landed, 3 planes flew overhead dropping 4 real USAF parachuters.  Three of the guys made designs with red smoke and the 4th guy had a US flag and POW/MIA flag attached to his feet.

 

 

 

Watching the parachuters.