A Full Day

Sunday 8/3/08
Ed got up early in the morning and went back to Garden of the Gods to take pictures in the early morning light. Lynn stayed at the campsite and took a long walk around the park. When Ed returned we ate breakfast and set out on our day of sightseeing. The first thing we noticed was that, while it was still hot, there wasn’t the humidity we had been having. It felt wonderful.
Our first stop was the Manitou Cliff Dwellings. These Anasazi cliff dwellings, built more than 700 years ago, are preserved under a protective sandstone overhang. We wandered leisurely through the preserve and explored the ancient Anasazi architecture. The dwellings are 2-3 story structures that housed multiple families. Pretty close quarters for families plus some turkeys and other animals. There is also a Pueblo that was built on the property in 1898. This is now a museum and gift shop.
We moved on the Manitou Springs and wandered through the Garden of the Gods Trading Post. Bus loads of people were there so we looked around and decided to move on.
From there, we headed out to the Air Force Academy. We toured the Visitor Center Museum and then walked over to the Chapel. That is really a beautiful building. We were going to dinner in Denver that night so we left the Academy and went back to the campsite.
Ed had found an Argentine restaurant in Denver that he wanted to try. Denver was about an hour and a half from where we were staying. We made our way to the Buenos Aires Grill and arrived a little early for our reservation. When we drove past the restaurant, we didn’t see anyone inside so we decided to drive around. As we arrived in Denver it started raining, so we didn’t get out to walk around. We found the capital building but it was closed because it was Sunday. We looked at the sights from the truck and then drove back to the restaurant. It was still empty so we drove around some more. We finally decided to go in and there was one other family in the restaurant. We had a very nice dinner, it passed Ed’s test for authenticity. By the time we left, there were quite a few diners. You have to remember that the dinner time in Argentina is 9pm and we showed up at 5.