The Cog to Pike's Peak

While in Colorado Springs, we took the cog up to Pike's Peak, a 14,000 plus foot mountain, famous for inspiring the words to the patriotic song, America the Beautiful. After taking the train up, we understood just why Katharine Lee Bates was so inspired to write her poem that later became an American anthem. It was a beautiful and scenic ride, although it was VERY windy and cold at the top. We could hardly stand outside for pictures. And we were only allowed to stay at the top for about a half hour because many people get altitude sickness. I definitely started to feel shortness of breath within a few minutes of being at the top. It reminded me of the 9th month of pregnancy and I was anxious to start heading back down when our time was up. Our tour guide had told us that in the 5 years she's been leading tours, she has only seen 2 bears. Well, after our trip, she can now say she has seen 3 bears as there was a big black bear standing on the railroad. I got a picture of it after it ran into the trees. If you look closely in the last picture, you can see it.


The kids were so tired, or maybe it was the altitude, but Bella and Cali fell asleep pretty quickly after leaving the top of the mountain.