Our American Travels

Our American Travels
Our Journey Across America

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Back In Oz



Hi Ya'll we're back!

We arrived back in Brisbane rather exhauted after our 14 hour flight, checked into our Motel, then Dave went & got our car out of storage. We slept most of the afternoon :)

The next day we took a drive up to Maryborough to give the car a good run after three months of just sitting in storage.

On Thursday it was time to pick up our Van, we left it at the Spinifex Factory to get a few Mods done:
Leather Lounge, 2 more internal lights fitted, 2 fans, steps either side of the bed etc.

We drove to Lawnton Showgrounds to spend a few days -  great spot, handy to everything!
My Sister Kaye & her partner Sue came up & spent a night there too.
We had a really good time, enjoyed a great roast Lamb dinner on the Baby Q - didn't have that in America! Also enjoyed quite a few Bundy's!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kaye & Sue - just chillin!


Dave showing Kaye his knife collection - Gotta love America!
It was a great weekend & a good welcome Back!
Thanks Kaye & Sue xx
 
Cheers all,
Dave & Shell


Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Texas to Colorado Springs Colorado

Hi Everyone,
We took our time to get to Colorado, we spent 3 days driving through Oklahoma & Kansas.
We got stuck in a traffic jam pretty much straight off in Texas.
It only lasted about 15 mins!
We had a bit of scenery after we crossed into Oklahoma - but that soon changed!



It was just wide open spaces & not much to see over the next 2 days in Kansas



Windfarm
Buffalo Farm



Wide Open Spaces














But that all changed when we got close to Colorado Springs:





I love the Rockies - really love it when we get back to Colorado
 We were too early to check into our Motel so we went looking for a  park to have lunch, we pulled up in a suburban street to check our map & look what walked across the road in front of us:





Then when we had a closer look - there was a whole family of Deer on someones front lawn! - How Cool!



We had Dinner that night at an American Institution!
When in Rome! -Yes it was Dave's choice!

Day 2 in Colorado Springs - Another first for Dave & Shell, we went horse riding for 2 hours through the Garden Of The Gods;

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Getting Fitted in the stirrups!



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Pretty steep in places!

On the trail
This was a lot of fun!










Dave loved it too!
























Day 3 in Colorado Springs, we went on the Pikes Peak Railway from Manitou Springs to Pikes Peak.
It is the Worlds longest & Highest Cog Railway.




The Cog System





the Train


The scenery on the way up was beautiful:

Rock formations



timberline - where trees stop growing!










Lakes











When we reached the summit the temperature had dropped dramatically with the wind chill factor it was down to 34 f which is 1.1 degrees Celsius - we were freezing our butts off!
14,110Ft!

Bloody Cold!!!!!!!!



















Pikes Peak Summit
Another great day. Tomorrow is our last day in Colorado Springs & we are going to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo - should be good!

Well we had our visit to the Zoo, so you get to see some photo's of live animals in this post :)
The first Animal you see is the Giraffe, & for $2 you can actually feed them!


They love the Lettuce Leaves!









Overlooking the Giraffe & Zebra enclosure

Meercat







Mountain Lion

Gorilla







Cheeky Grizzly!









Moose

American Bald Eagle


















The Zoo is set on the side of a mountain & the view is magnificent.
It has a chair lift ride & lookouts:


what a View!




OK it's not real :)










We had  wonderful 3 full days in Colorado Springs.
Now we are back in Denver with Jo & the kids for our last week left in the good old USA!
Our 3 months have just flown by again & we have had an absolute ball.
So until next post bye for now & happy travels to all,
Dave & Shell