Greetings from Salina, Kansas! We've had an eventful day but I'll begin with this morning, which was our final destination: Pike's Peak. The peak is located on the west side of Colorado Springs, CO. It was found by an explorer of the southwest, Lt. Zebulon Montgomery Pike in 1806. At first sight, he termed it as the "Great Peak." He never reached the summit himself and did not believe anyone else could ever scale to the top. However, an altitude of 14, 110 feet did not stop me or Matthew today!
This photo was taken from the summit. It was a beautiful day with a very blue sky filled with clouds. The beauty of the summit inspired Katharine Lee Bates to pen the words of "America the Beautiful." Up at the top, you get a 360 degree view of this beauty she wrote about!
The drive to the top was very pretty, interesting and a little nerve-racking. It is a 19-mile drive with more winding switchbacks with very few guardrails. We did not exceed 10mph during the curves. Around 11,000 feet, Matthew began to feel sick. He started to feel a shortness of breath, dizzy and began to get a headache. These are symptoms of "altitude sickness" or "alpine syndrome" as he referred to it!
When we reached the top, we were shocked by how cold it was. A sign read it was 35 degrees! We dug out our jackets. Up at the summit there is a gift shop and small cafe. We got some hot cholocate to help warm us up.
We were a little nervous about how our car would hold up but the "pinto bean" did great! Here you can see Matthew resting from the harsh drive up. I was afraid I would have to drive us back down the mountain but he perked back up and started feeling much better. By the end of the winding road, he was back to his 'ol self.
This photo was taken from the summit. It was a beautiful day with a very blue sky filled with clouds. The beauty of the summit inspired Katharine Lee Bates to pen the words of "America the Beautiful." Up at the top, you get a 360 degree view of this beauty she wrote about!
The drive to the top was very pretty, interesting and a little nerve-racking. It is a 19-mile drive with more winding switchbacks with very few guardrails. We did not exceed 10mph during the curves. Around 11,000 feet, Matthew began to feel sick. He started to feel a shortness of breath, dizzy and began to get a headache. These are symptoms of "altitude sickness" or "alpine syndrome" as he referred to it!
When we reached the top, we were shocked by how cold it was. A sign read it was 35 degrees! We dug out our jackets. Up at the summit there is a gift shop and small cafe. We got some hot cholocate to help warm us up.
We were a little nervous about how our car would hold up but the "pinto bean" did great! Here you can see Matthew resting from the harsh drive up. I was afraid I would have to drive us back down the mountain but he perked back up and started feeling much better. By the end of the winding road, he was back to his 'ol self.
At some point in the drive, we were completely above the surrounding treeline. There were evergreens and some aspens. But in this photo you can see that we were high enough to where no trees could grow. At the bottom, you can also see a shot of the meandering road.
Up near the top were sloping fields of quartz rock.
After we left Pike's Peak, we headed westward and soon crossed over into our 13th state, Kansas. This part of Kansas was flat, agricultural ground where there were lots of corn, milo and some sunflower fields. We were not in Kansas very long before we heard of bad weather nearby via radio. The sky to our north began to get dark. We started getting heavy rain and 3 large hailstones struck the car. Matthew had already reminded me that Kansas was "twister territory" so I could not help but think that one was headed our way. We pulled into a rest area and waited several minutes for the storm to pass. We had intended to spend the night in Wichita, due to the weather we stopped early in Salina.
After we left Pike's Peak, we headed westward and soon crossed over into our 13th state, Kansas. This part of Kansas was flat, agricultural ground where there were lots of corn, milo and some sunflower fields. We were not in Kansas very long before we heard of bad weather nearby via radio. The sky to our north began to get dark. We started getting heavy rain and 3 large hailstones struck the car. Matthew had already reminded me that Kansas was "twister territory" so I could not help but think that one was headed our way. We pulled into a rest area and waited several minutes for the storm to pass. We had intended to spend the night in Wichita, due to the weather we stopped early in Salina.
We've enjoyed all the nice comments so far but we'd like to do roll call so, please, drop us a line.
~Amy
Matt glad to see you are with Amy i was wondering if you were even there, lol
ReplyDeleteGreat blog, we read it first thing every morning.I am afraid you may get FLATLAND sickness today. Can't wait to see you both! Love Momma Connie
ReplyDeleteLord have mercy crooked roads tornada alley clifts no guard rails i will be glad to see you get home.But i am glad to know Carrie Lynn is not the only one in our family that lives on the edge ha can't wait to hear everthing.love you
ReplyDeleteWe can't wait to hear all the stories and see all the photos! Matthew, I feel for you, with my fear of heights, I would have been sick as a dog, laid out in the back seat with my head hung out the window, but having the time of my life! I am proud of you. I am glad you all will be out of Kansas today, I know Amy DOES not like storms. Can't wait to see you, love you both.
ReplyDeleteMom
Your blog has been a blast to read. You have made me feel like I was on the trip with you. And just think, I didn't drive a mile!
ReplyDeleteWe have missed you both sitting behind us at church. Can't wait to see you and hear from you in person! Continue to be safe and see you in a few days.
I'm glad you two are safe, we had to out run a tornado when we were in Kansas, it was terrible. I've been so very happy to be traveling with you.
ReplyDeleteI have thoroughly enjoyed your entire trip. Of course, James and I have been to all of the sights personally over the course of several trips, so it was great to see you enjoying them as much as we did (and plan to do again). I was particularly glad you went to Canyonlands that we had not heard of until we went. The canyon within a canyon rivals the Grand Canyon as far as we're concerned. We had to wade the snow on Pikes Peak; you're right--it's cold up there. Have a safe trip back home. You'll have memories, photos, and, of course, this blog!
ReplyDelete