mothers day at pikes peak.

for mothers day, we decided to drive up to the top of pikes peak, a 14,000+ foot snow capped mountain overlooking colorado springs. we were pleasantly surprised when we got to the tollbooth and were informed that moms were free, saving us $15 (which we then turned around and spent on overpriced souvenirs).

the drive up was stressful. i was riding and i was stressed, so i can only imagine derek’s nerves were shot.

at the top, we immediately felt the effects of the lower oxygen levels at the high altitudes. i had to rush kids to the bathroom and carry one particular kid who was grumpy with the wind conditions, and i was quickly short of breath and feeling lightheaded. but we managed to take in a bit of the scenery, without passing out.

if you don’t want to drive, you can take the cog railroad that shoots up the side of the mountain. it was a bit more expensive, so we decided to shave years off our life expectancy with the treacherous drive. anyhow. here’s the end of the line for the train, with distant scenery in the background.

we obviously lined up our kids for an obligatory picture with the summit sign.

hazel was still grumpy about the wind.

then we strolled over to a ledge, to wait our turn for a picture with the distant scenery.

we were so high, it felt like being in an airplane. the stuff below was hard to make out at all.

derek likes to commemorate our adventures with a selfie.

inside the visitor center, we found refuge from the wandering flocks of visitors in the photobooth area.

we picked out our commemorative sticker and some postcards and started the journey back down the mountain. (it’s about 20 miles and takes about an hour). we didn’t stop for pictures on the way up, wanting to save our energy, but on the way down, we took a millionty shots.

the rocky mountains (i think?) in the background.

derek took pictures of me taking pictures.

i like this one, because it shows the windy road on the way down. and that bit of water just behind it, is a reservoir that is about 1/3 of the way up. (you’ll see up close pics in just a sec).

anna hopped out of the car with me at each stop to take pictures for her very own. 🙂

i took pictures of anna taking pictures.

and we took a selfie, obviously.

at one of our stops, there was a big rock clump that it looked like we might be able to climb a bit.

so we did.

once up and inside, there was a neat little place where the rocks formed a little window, overlooking the landscape below. anna took this shot of me. it was pretty windy and i was having a hard time balancing while waiting for her to take the picture.

and, one of theannababy in the same spot.

another selfie.

another cute anna.

we were low enough at this point so that the scenery at least looked like something. almost down to the tree line.

back to the drive. way less stressful coming down.

scenery.

back at the visitor center near the reservoir, we stopped for bathrooms, snacks (which we didn’t get because $$), and commemorative patch for a future quilt to remember the lidbom rambling roadshow someday. and we took a bunch of pictures, with the top of pikes peak in the background.

my peeps. photo by derek.

and then, we rolled the rest of the way down the mountain.

and thus concludes our pikes peak adventure.