Colorado Springs ----continued

It's been a busy three days since we went to the Garden of the Gods.
Wednesday we visited the Air Force Academy just North of downtown.

The Academy is set against the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains in the shadow of Pikes Peak. The campus is at nearly 7000 feet elevation and it's majestic and pristine.

The Chapel is one of the landmarks of the campus for good reason. The structure is magnificent and stands like a beacon.








The  inside was just as impressive. I would love to attend a service here just once.
After a self guided tour and watching a movie which took us through the first year of a cadet's life I have a better appreciation for our commissioned officers.










we spent the rest of the afternoon resting and at 5:20 pm caught the cog railway train bound for the top of Pikes Peak.

The cog train is one of only three in the US and runs from Manitou
Springs to the top some 9 miles.
The trip up took 1 hour and 10 minutes and gained about 8000 feet.

The propulsion is Diesel over hydraulic driving a gear under the train which fits into a gear (cog) in the middle of the track as you can see here. At this point we are on a 25% grade meaning we are going up 1 foot for every four feet we go forward.

To give you a idea of a 25% grade consider that while going up the first seat on the train ( ours) is three stories higher than the last seat.... we got there first!
You can see the track as it heads to the top.




We made it! Walking at 14,114 feet is slow and we were careful not to over do it




We had 40 minutes to look at the view and of course visit the mandatory gift shop. You can see Colorado Springs way down there.
Then it was back on board for the trip down the mountain. What a great trip!




Thursday we drove down to Royal Gorge and found this water clock at the visitor center.





The gorge is cut by the Arkansas River and runs some ten miles from end to end. It's about 1100 feet from the bridge to the river below.

We walked across the  bridge and viewed a movie in the theater on the other side. Back across the bridge and then off to home. Tomorrow our excitement is laundry and grocery shopping. Can't wait!