As you may have read in my recent post, I have been going a tad stir crazy!
I have never been home so much in my life! I have never spent so much time on the couch! While I must admit, I do enjoy spending my time at home, I have a love-hate relationship with being home.
Mark and I always used to go away for Labor Day Weekend. The long weekend was the perfect opportunity to explore somewhere new! Labor Day was approaching fast and we had no plans. I wanted to go away so badly but we were hesitant due to recent issues with our cat. We actually canceled our last few weekend trips.
LeeLee is an adveture cat at heart. She loves new places and new experiences and new things. I had the idea to take her with us! I proposed the idea to Mark and he was down! The planning began….
There were so many obstacles in planning, Covid-19 for one. I didn’t want to go anywhere that most things would be closed or anywhere that would be super crowded and unsafe. And because we were taking LeeLee, we had a very difficult time finding accommodations. A ton of Airbnb’s and hotels don’t allow pets, which was shocking! The wildfires: Half of Colorado was on fire at this point. Where did that leave? The South.
After looking into it for a while, I decided on Manitou Springs. I heard its quite lovely and magical and it would be the perfect weekend getaway.
We finally found an Airbnb that allowed pets. The airbnb was horrible but that’s another story. Thankfully we weren’t there a majority of the time.
Maitou Incline
The incline from afar.
The Manitou Incline is a mile straight up to the sky. It is approximately 2,744 steps! I say approximately because there are a few signs with the amount of stairs and they all say a different number.
Normally you don’t need reservations for this hike but because of Covid we needed to make a reservation for a time slot even though it was free because they are trying to limit the amount of people on the stairs. I was actually happy about this because this hike gets packed! I felt more secure and not as anxious because there weren’t too many people. I think if it was more crowded I would have felt nervous on the stairs. I hope they keep this reservation system!
We parked at the ISC parking lot. You can park farther and take a shuttle or walk but I felt the lot was worth the $10 to not have to deal with any of that first thing in the morning.
We had a funny interaction at the lot. We pulled up and I told the man we had reservations. I told him my name and that it was for 8:15am. He said “Desiree?” I confirmed. He said my name wasn’t on his reservation log. I told him I could pull up the confirmation in my email. He said there were no reservations under my name and he only had someone named Desiree for 8:15am. I said “yes, ummm that’s me.” Shocked, he replied, “You’re Desiree?” I guess he didn’t hear my name the first time even though he repeated my name to me?
We parked and I had to use the bathroom so badly! I spotted a porter potty and ran for it. I went in and only lasted half a second. It smelled so badly that I burst out of the doors gagging. Thankfully there were more bathrooms right outside of the incline.
We started on our adventure at 8:35am.
The incline was absolutely gorgeous. It was an unreal sight! My eyes couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It was quite the sight.
I loved that every hundred or so stairs, they had the number of steps. It was fun to pose with them and the whole way up we could hear people yelling out the stair numbers “800!!!” “900!!!” And everyone would cheer. It was so much fun even though we were all falling apart.
At step 500 I started dying a little bit. My heart was pounding, my legs were burning so badly, I couldn’t catch my breath, and I could feel the elevation sickness creeping up on me. I had experienced elevation sickness once before so I could tell I was heading in that direction, even though the first time I experienced it, it hit me like a ton of bricks out of nowhere.
We took a break about every 100 steps or so and we would stop for about 10-15 minutes. This helped with my legs burning and also helped to prevent elevation sickness. Once we passed the half way mark, the altitude didn’t seem to bother me as much.
Because Mark and I are such slow hikers, everyone usually passes us but not this hike! On this hike everyone around us was falling apart too. We were united in our misery. Everyone we saw had a bright red face, everyone was doubled over, gasping for air. Everyone took breaks every few stairs and we all searched for shade together. One girl even threw up! Strangely, this comforted me greatly. It felt like we were all in it together and we were all helping each other and cheering each other on. The camaraderie was amazing and it kept it fun.
One guy said aloud, “My heart rate is168!” An older man passing by said, “Oh man, that would kill me!”
A little more than halfway, there’s a trail to get off. You can either go down toward the parking lot, use the bathroom or enjoy the lookout. There’s a sign that says there are 1,000 more steps. People yelled 1700!! About 1,000 more!
I legitimately thought I was smiling in this photo.
After this point, the stairs get tall and narrow. For a while, it’s more like high knees rather than walking. I was having trouble getting up so I used my hands to kind of crawl up.
Mark and I both packed 2 liter waters. We both started running out of water when we were almost to the top. I saw some people that didn’t pack water at all! I couldn’t believe it.
We only had 144 steps left but I couldn’t bear to take another step. As Mark and I sat in the shade, a little boy was cheering on his mom. He yelled, “Come on mom! We can do this! Only 144 to go!!” So cute!
I stood up and slowly made my way to the top. The crowd of people at the top was cheering everyone else on. As I slowly walked up, people were shouting, “Almost there!” “Come on, you got this!” Once I actually stepped foot on the top, a girl shouted, “You did it!”
We sat down on a rock and ate some granola bars. We sat up there for about 20 minutes then made our way down the Barr Trial because you can’t hike down the incline.
The hike down was beautiful but I was so done and just wanted to get to the car so I couldn’t really enjoy it.
We were disgusting but starving. We went to town to grab some lunch. Thankfully, I thought ahead and had baby wipes and a change of clothes in the car. I did a quick clean up in the car.
For lunch, we went to Border Burger Bar. We sat outside under one of those cute umbrellas. It was quite a wait but it was worth it. I must have been so exhausted that I couldn’t tell I had taken a horrible picture of our food! I ordered The Japanese burger with a Beyond meat patty and a side of sweet potato fries. I absolutely inhaled my meal.
After lunch, we walked around and explored the town. I absolutely loved it! It is just the kind of thing I love. Adorable shops, dessert places, street art… I was in heaven.
Mineral Spring Walking Tour
Something very cool about Manitou springs is visiting all 8 of the mineral springs: 7 Minute Spring, Cheyenne Spring, Iron Spring Geyser, Navajo Spring, Shoshone Spring, Stratton Spring, Twin Spring, and Wheeler Spring.
The springs were each gorgeous in their own way. They were each unique. We tried the water from each spring and every single one tasted different. We felt the one that was most intense was the water from Shoshone. Mark liked it so much he filled his water bottle with it, as were many others. It was a very cool experience.
Of course we had to treat ourselves to ice cream! Because I have been trying to be dairy free we were on the hunt for dairy free ice cream. We stopped at 2 or 3 other places before we found Pikes Peak Chocolate and Ice Cream. They only had 2 dairy free ice creams but that was better than none and it was delicious so win- win.
7 Minute Springs Park
The last spring was a bit out of the way so we hit this one up before we headed to our last destination for the day. This park was super cute.
Green Mountain Falls
Our last stop of the day was Green Mountain Falls. It’s a beautiful park with a pavilion out by the water.
We were quite confused when we pulled up and saw giant blow up monsters. Interesting…
I walked toward the pavilion where I saw an elderly couple sitting together. The man asked me to take a picture of them together. He told me it was their anniversary. They had just gotten married the year before. It was so sweet.
This park is beautiful. There was a playground and there were people fishing on the bridge to the pavilion. We saw a lot of fishing lines in the water which was very sad to see because there are so many ducks in the water. We tried to get it out but we couldn’t reach it and it was tangled in a tree branch. Very sad to see that in such a beautiful park.
Bishop Castle
The next morning we headed to the infamous Bishop Castle. If you haven’t heard of Bishop Castle you need to read about it! It is such a fascinating place. It is also a ticking time bomb. I cannot believe a place like this is allowed to exist. As an engineer, Mark said he was equally impressed and terrified of this place.
Bishop Castle is a photographer’s dream. This would be an incredible place to have a photoshoot. It is unique and gorgeous. There are stained glass and incredible swirling iron stairs all over.
Though we had a good time and are happy we visited, this is definitely what I call a “one and done”. I did not feel safe whatsoever. There were many areas Mark and I wouldn’t walk on or go to because it felt so unstable. Many stairs had patchwork done. I felt like the whole castle was going to come crashing down at any moment. Visit because it is so unique but be very careful!
Also, don’t bring your dogs! So many people brought their dogs but they were clearly terrified. We saw many people holding their dogs because they wouldn’t walk.
Back to town!
We just couldn’t get enough of town. We had to go back! We went to Mate Factor to get a delicious peach tea, we got chocolates and some ghost chili jam at one of the shops, I got an ornament from a Native American store, and we got a delicious lunch at a Greek restaurant, Sahara Cafe. I ordered the veggie platter and it was amazing!
Pickle Shack
One thing on my Manitou bucket list was the Pickle Shack. I’ll be honest, it was a little bit of a let down. I have no idea what I expected but this was literally a small room with a few shelves of pickles. We did get 2 jars and they were really delicious!
I really wanted a picture with their giant pickle but there was a man sitting in front of it for the longest time. We actually waited in the car for a long time to see if he would leave but no such luck.
Cave of Winds
For Saturday evening, I made reservations for a Lantern Tour at Cave of the Winds. The tour started at 5:30pm, it was $34 per person, and was about an hour and a half.
We weren’t allowed to take pictures inside of the cave but it was very cool. The tour was fun and our tour guide told us stories of the history of the cave as well as some spooky urban legends.
Rampart Reservoir
Monday morning, we checked out of our horrible airbnb and headed toward our first stop, Rampart Reservoir. This was quite a drive to get to. It was a long, dirt road that seemed to last forever. It was not an enjoyable drive. We thought about turning around many times but we eventually got to smooth ground.
This was a big adventure because we had LeeLee with us! We walk her in our yard and in front of our house but we had never taken her on a hike with us before. We carried her down the hill, which was nice and short. It was a little steep but not too bad.
LeeLee wasn’t too sure about the hike down but she stayed in our arms.
Once we got down to the beach area, I couldn’t believe my eyes! It was gorgeous!
We didn’t wander or explore too much because we had LeeLee with us. This is definitely a park I would love to return to and explore more.
LeeLee loved walking around and exploring the little caves she could walk in.
LeeLee told us when she wanted to leave so we headed out. On our way home we stopped at a Poke restaurant to get some lunch. We got it to go and ate in the car with LeeLee.
Heaven Creamery
Heaven Creamery is a unique ice cream shop in Centennial, Colorado. Because it’s so far from our house, we stopped here on our way home. They have more vegan ice cream flavors than I have ever seen in my life! It was almost impossible to decide what to get. We loved Heaven Creamery so much that we are actually going back this weekend because we will be in the area! And they are opening up a location in Denver.
Mark went in first while I waited in the car with LeeLee. He parked right outside the restaurant where there were picnic tables. We left the car running with LeeLee sleeping inside and ate our ice creams next to the car.
Delicious, dairy-free ice cream was the perfect way to end an amazing weekend.
