Church Trip 2023

Denver, Coors Field, Colorado Springs, Garden of the Gods

Day 1

Welcome to the beginning of our travels! This blog is on about a 2-3 week time delay, since it takes a while for me to edit photos, etc. Today was primarily a travel day as we headed out west, but we managed to squeeze in a few sights along the way.

Travel

We left Granite Falls around 06:00EST and headed to CLT to catch our flight. We dropped Mom, Faith, and Walker off at the airport, and then Dad and I parked the car, gathered the remainder of the luggage, and rejoined the rest of the party. We scrambled through security, and boarded the flight with no issues. I was pleased to confirm that you can, in fact, check both a car seat and a car seat base. The flight over to DEN was rather uneventful, other than a rather rough descent and landing. We landed a little early, around 11:00MST, but quickly lost all that time trying to fetch our rental car.

We gathered our remaining luggage from the baggage claim, and boarded a shuttle to head to the rental car lots, which turned out to be quite the lengthy ride, followed by an even longer wait in line at Enterprise.

Coors Field

After finally getting our rental car, we left the airport and drove downtown, where Mom and Faith dropped us off at Coors Field and then headed off to find some lunch. Dad and I watched several innings of the Rockies and Giants game – mostly just to say we’d visited that ballpark. We split a foot-long hotdog and a bratwurst during the game, both of which were pretty good. During the 5th inning, we got to see a flyover from a group of fighter jets (picture below).

The Giants scored 8 runs in the 6th inning, so we decided to leave early, since we had many other things to see. It turned out that the Rockies ended up mounting a significant comeback after we left, but still lost 11-10. Here’s a game recap from ESPN, if you’re interested.

Coors Field is a nice venue, and is huge compared to other baseball stadiums I’d visited. It was great to be able to check another MLB park off our list. If you’re in Denver, it’s worth a visit; tickets are cheap and the stadium is in a very accessible location.

Dutch Bros + Target

Mom and Faith picked us up about a block from the stadium, and we made two quick pit stops before heading south. First, we went to Dutch Bros to grab a cold drink, since the weather was quite warm in Denver. I got my usual (a Tuxedo Dutch Freeze), Dad got an iced mocha, and Faith got one of their seasonal drinks – an iced Sweater Weather Chai White Coffee. All were delicious.

Leaving Dutch Bros, we headed south, stopping at Target in Lone Tree, CO to grab some supplies for the rest of our trip. Our pit stops complete, we headed south on I-25 towards Colorado Springs.

Colorado Springs

Once we got to Colorado Springs, we dropped our luggage off at our Airbnb, a guest cottage on a small ranch on the north side of town. It was a beautiful place to stay, and very spacious. The only downside is it was right next to the train tracks, which was fun during the day, but not enjoyable at 03:00 when the train woke us all up in the middle of the night.

North Cheyenne Cañon

After settling into our cottage for the evening, we drove southeast of the city to North Cheyenne Cañon, a place Faith and I visited last summer. I figured it’d be a nice quick scenic drive, since Mom and Dad hadn’t been. At the end of the road, we enjoyed a view of Helen Hunt Falls, which wasn’t flowing particularly strongly since it was late summer.

Garden of the Gods

From North Cheyenne Cañon, we drove north to Garden of the Gods, drove some of the scenic loop roads in the park, and then stayed to watch a beautiful sunset.

Dinner

Leaving Garden of the Gods, we headed back up to the north side of town to get some dinner, stopping at Trader Joe’s along the way to purchase snacks for the remainder of the trip. We were short on time, so we stopped at In-N-Out for a quick dinner, and ended up eating outside because the weather was so nice. Tired, but no longer hungry, we drove back to the Airbnb to head to bed in preparation for an early start in the morning.

The Best Things we Saw Today

Isaac

The best thing I saw today was… “sunset at Garden of the Gods”.

The best thing I ate today was… “my drink from Dutch Bros”.

Faith

The best thing I saw today was… “sunset at Garden of the Gods”.

The best thing I ate today was… “the Sweater Weather drink at Dutch Bros”.

Jerry

The best thing I saw today was… “sunset at Garden of the Gods”.

The best thing I ate today was… “Isaac’s drink from Dutch Bros”.

Amy

The best thing I saw today was… “sunset at Garden of the Gods”.

The best thing I ate today was… “In-N-Out burger – I’m glad I got to experience it”.

Conclusion

Tomorrow, we’re headed up Pike’s Peak, and then driving north through Breckenridge towards the Frisco Reservoir.

– Isaac & Co.

6 Responses

  1. Absolutely beautiful!
    Loved The Garden of the Gods.
    So exciting that you and your Dad are visiting the stadiums… such great memories!
    Thanks for sharing!!

  2. Always enjoy your trips. Thank you for sharing. And now with your baby!!! And mom and dad! Pictures are wonderful.

  3. Thanks for sharing your trip! Always enjoy hearing about your travels.

  4. We went there too ! Saw a game at Coors Field also. Garden of the gods looks like the Flinstones house and Bedrock!🤣🤣🤣. Glad you’re enjoying the trip! Have more fun!😎

  5. . Thank you for sharing. And now with your baby!!! And mom and dad!,,
    Pictures are wonderful.

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