Denver

 We decided to take a detour on our way to Denver to see the Royal Gorge Bridge before we left the Colorado Springs area. It is south of Colorado Springs, but we had all day to get to Denver.

The bridge is over 900 feet above the river and is the highest suspension bridge in the US. It was pretty far down a winding road and we weren’t sure what to expect. Conrad is afraid of man made heights and we were unsure if he’d be able to cross the bridge. We paid to enter the park and Conrad walked across the bridge quickly and without looking straight down, while I trailed behind taking pictures. We met on the far side and looked around and then did the same thing on the way back. The views were spectacular. The bridge was lined with the flags of every state. Below the bridge you could see a train running along side the river, and there were Gondola cars crossing the gorge off to one side of the bridge. 

View from the bridge

Looking down at the River from the bridge

View from the bridge

View from the bridge

After reaching the far side we had good views of the bridge

Views from the far side of the bridge of the gorge

View of the bridge from the far side

Walking back across the bridge – this is the Pennsylvania Flag

View of the bridge heading back. It is made of wooden slates with gaps in between the boards.

View of the bridge heading back

Looking down at the river from the bridge

Observation platform after getting back over the bridge

Observation platform after getting back over the bridge

Gondola over the gorge

After we left the gorge we headed towards Denver. We realized along the way that we were passing the Super Max prison in Florence Colorado where El Chappo, and Ted Kazinski and the Boston Marathon Bomber are held. It was a really non-descript building in the middle of a flat area of land and didn’t really even appear to have very many fences around it. 

The trip to Denver after that was nothing to speak of but we headed to the Red Rocks Amphitheater outside of Denver before heading to our hotel. The Amphitheater was impressive and there was a Comedian playing that night so they were doing a sound check while we were there. It would be a really great place to see a concert. 

Red Rocks Amphitheater 

Red Rocks Amphitheater 

Red Rocks Amphitheater 

Red Rocks Amphitheater 

Red Rocks Amphitheater 

Red Rocks Amphitheater 

Red Rocks Amphitheater 

Red Rocks Amphitheater 

Red Rocks Amphitheater 

Red Rocks Amphitheater 

Red Rocks Amphitheater 

Red Rocks Amphitheater 

Red Rocks Amphitheater 

After we left the Amphitheater we headed to the hotel, checked in and took our rental car to the return spot near the airport. We took a shuttle into the airport and then a shuttle back to the hotel. It was kind of a pain but it would make getting to our early morning flight tomorrow a lot easier. 

We spent some downtime in our hotel, the Embassy Suites, and then went down to dinner at their restaurant which wasn’t much to speak of but it was easy. 

We had a great trip, and it was beautiful.