Colorado Trip - 2015: Pikes Peak

I love all the green, green trees everywhere here in the deep south.  I think it is beautiful.

And on the other extreme, I think the Plains Butting Up Against the Front Range of Colorado is also absolutely beautiful.  

Our Creator God is so amazing and talented...and imaginative!

I sincerely miss the view we had when we lived in Colorado Springs.  You can always see Pikes Peak. From Anywhere.

And it is spectacular.

(Not to mention the help this peak gives to drivers.  Want to know which direction you're heading?  Pikes Peak is always to the west.  This was so extremely helpful to this girl...and I didn't really realize how helpful until we moved to the deep south and I had a magnificent canopy of trees everywhere...but no mountains to help guide me!)

At just over 14,000 ft it is not the highest mountain, even in Colorado, but the way it stands out is what makes it so noteworthy.

As we neared the last couple of hours of our ~32 hour drive there, Jas and I spotted Pikes Peak way off in the distance.  All the children were snoozing at that point, so we excitedly whispered and I started taking pics like a mad woman.  

Pikes Peak meant we were almost there!

It steadily got closer/bigger...as we got closer to Nai Nai's house:

And over the next few days as we were out and about, I would snap pictures of the peak.

We want to take the children to the top one day.  We would likely take The Cog Railway to get to the top with them (sometime when the peak isn't covered with snow!):

Jas and I have been to the top before.  We hiked up (and back down) over a weekend with some crazy friends back when we were all in college...camping on the mountain for two nights.

And then several years later (I was 28?) I hiked up with Jason's brother Jared and some others.

We did it in one day.  One very long, very tiring day.

Jas passed on that hike (the smarty-pants), but he drove up and met us at the peak, and drove us back down the mountain (I think we slept).




I apparently took this beautiful site for granted during the years we lived there...

...and I am glad to see it now with fresh eyes, to properly appreciate His masterful handiwork!