Family Reunion

Wildfires

SFO -> LAX

LAX -> DEN

Independence Day

Cave of the Winds

Underground

Breakfast at No. One

Garden of the Gods

Royal Gorge

Bowl of Cherries

Masala Tea

Seven Falls

Native American dancers

Broadmoor Hotel

The Creek

Helen Hunt Jackson

Castaways

DEN -> LAX -> SFO

Timber Lodge

Eats in CO

NORAD

Saturday 6 July 2002

Today we headed south to the Royal Gorge, seen here from the upper parking lot. After about an hour in the car we were happy to stretch our legs and look around. Not much to see?

The irony of San Franciscians travelling so far by plane and car to walk across a suspension bridge wasn't lost on us. But it was well worth it. It was a joy, strolling across the wooden planks, looking down into a gorge travelled by rail, boat, airplane, and helicopter.

We still don't understand the motor vehicles policy, though. At first we thought it was just the elderly and the lame, but as SUV and motorcycles joined us on the bridge, we suspected the policy included the vain and the stupid. After being forced out of the way by station wagons we amended that to include the clueless.

All that dodging of chrome and rubber made us hungry, so luckily the restaurant at the edge of the gorge was nearby. Not exactly the Restaurant at the Edge of the Universe, the food was much better than other tourist concessionares at which we've had the unpleasant misfortune to dine. We, um, gorged.

In the restaurant courtyard were several staffers, showing off the native raptors. Since we're frequent visitors to the Josephine Randall Museum (just above our house we recognise many of the species, such as that little Saw-Whet owl.

We ended our visit by taking the Incline Railway - a combination of a San Francisco cable car and a funicular - down 1500 feet (in five minutes) into the gorge. Cool and pleasant, and a refreshing perspective on the day's events.

You can see the walkway from the bottom of the railway to the river level in the middle of this picture. Much of this area is fenced off so we can't fall into the water or play on the railroad tracks.

Looking across the river we see one of the old transport tubes, now just a patched-together relic.

Lila really enjoyed scaling the fence. And once she was attached to it we found it a challenge to convince her that anything else was worthwhile :-)

My sister Felicia and her son Ziggy seemed to enjoy the silly goings-on. Adam is around here somewhere.

Looking up we can see the suspension bridge. From below it looks much more hazardous a crossing.

The cable-car is only a speck from our vantage point, but let's see if we can zoom in.

Okay, here we go. We wanted to cross with the cable-car, but we just ran out of time.

This was quite a day! More driving than we're used to. We deserve a day of rest.

previous

next