We said goodbye to our faithful cabin this morning. It served us well and we'll definitely be back, but it was time to make the turn towards home. We stopped at a few of the shops along the main street in Grand Lake and then we headed south to Granby and a City Market/Kroger to refuel and replenish. It was oddly comforting to be back in a real, live grocery store with good lighting, tile floors, and plentiful options. Fraser, Winter Park, and Empire were soon behind us as we made our way back to the Red Rocks Amphitheatre. I called earlier and learned it would close to visitors at 1:30 today so our arrival at 12:30 was perfect. I was the only one in our group that had visited here before so it was neat to see the others react to it. Music was being pumped through all the speakers (a sound check, I guess), folks were running laps and jumping up the stairs, and the temperature was about 95: quite a change from our short visit on Sunday. The CCC constructed the amphitheatre and it was dedicated in 1941. The sandstone ledges that make up the "walls" date back to the Jurassic period, or 160 million years ago. Besides the beauty of the environment, I was struck by the geometric design the seats made when viewed from a certain angle.
A quick bite to eat and off we headed to Colorado Springs. Our hotel is on the east side of town as that was all I could find for a reasonable price, but we made good time and arrived mid-afternoon. It's Caroline's 40th birthday today and we decided to celebrate by taking her to an early dinner at The Melting Pot in downtown. Even though we were slightly underdressed, we had an amazing meal. We often do fondue for dessert at home, but even the kiddos thought it was fun to experience fondue for an entire meal. Cheese to start, then entrees, then dessert. Everything we had was a hit (the teriyaki steak was so-so) and we left content and full! We hadn't yet played miniature golf on this trip so we decided to head to one tonight. Laughs abounded as we putted our way through "wonders of the world" and we were even treated to an amazingly colorful sunset. Happy birthday, Caroline! I hope this was one of your best yet.
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