Delayed

Manitou Springs, CO
I would blog more often if I had the time away from "Mommy. Mommy. Whatcha doing? Mommy"

Our weekend in Manitou Springs was good. A strange town, certainly wouldn't want to live there. Friday afternoon, we got in and settled in at our motel. It was one block away from the start of all the shops on the main street. While the motel was older, it did have two rooms, so the boys were in one room and we could close the door and sleep in our room. I needed to eat quickly to get into Colorado Springs before Beth Moore started, so we didn't stay in the room long. We tried 3 restaurants (2 were closed, one was a bar) before we settled on Marilyn's House Of Fine Pizza. It was alright, the place was plastered with pictures of Marilyn Monroe. I ducked out early to drive into Colorado Springs. Before I hit the 24 (freeway), six deer bounding in front of the car, trying to cross the freeway. Two of them decided not to continue past the median, and stopped traffic. This amused me, as it did not affect me. The drive in went okay, I missed my turn, had to turn around and go back. Then the traffic was awful trying to get to the arena. At 7pm (when it started), I was still trying to get into the parking lot. I eventually got in, and 10 minutes later was able to call Cindy & Ali to find out where they were (because I didn't understand the directions. At this point it was about 7:20pm. It was a good session, the music brought me to tears, and I was looking forward to going back in the morning, not looking forward to driving back to Manitou. I got lost (I have a horrible sense of direction. Trina, you have nothing on me!), but I did find my way home around 10pm.

I slept like crap, my mind was racing, and I was cold. Geoff drove me into CS, I was happy to get there early. The sessions again were awesome. During the break, I connected with Erik to plan our lunch date. Once the second session was over, I headed out to meet Geoff and we drove towards Erik's side of town. We decided to eat at Thai Basil (Geoff's choice). The food was alright, but Miles was not happy to be there. Then we went to Maggie Moo's for ice cream. We parted ways with Erik, and we hope we'll see him & Becky come up to Aurora for a visit. Since Miles had napped in the morning, we spent the rest of the afternoon walking the main street in Manitou. Some shops had signs that pretty much said no children welcome. We didn't go in those stores, nor could we go in many stores since we had the double joggy stroller. Elijah bought himself a souvenir from the rock shop (which he lost in an hour. I tried to find it, it was gone). I was thisclose to buying myself something at the British import store (they had Irn-Bru!). I did buy Geoff's sister Meghan something at Mona Lisa's Italian Ice. (You're wondering what it is aren't you? I don't want to ruin the surprise in case she reads this. Needless to say, it was perfect, and HAD to be bought). That store was owned by a very nice woman who was thrilled to talk to another Canadian (she was from Revelstoke, B.C., but went to college in Calgary) Then we headed to the park to let Elijah show me around. Next to the park was a Moroccan restaurant Geoff wanted to try for dinner, but it wasn't a good fit for us. So I got to pick the dinner spot, on a recommendation from someone I met at Beth Moore. The Mason Jar offers yummy comfort food, the kind of food Melissa loves! I had one of my favorites, chicken fried steak and for dessert, homemade coffee ice cream. (Yes, I had ice cream twice in one day, but this was way better than Maggie Moo's.)

I was so tired, I went to bed at 8pm. We all slept until 7am. Nice! Geoff was anxious to take me to the breakfast place he found Saturday morning, The Spice Of Life. I had the very delicious cinnamon french toast. I love french toast! Following breakfast we went back to the motel to pack up and go running at Garden of the Gods. It was the perfect day to be outside. Geoff took pictures while he ran with the kids in the joggy stroller, and then we took one family picture before we headed home. (All pictures are up on Shutterfly)

Erik said Manitou Springs is referred to as Colorado Springs' liberal sister. It does have a different feel, but the charm we sought, I'd say we found. Perhaps on the next visit, we will let the kids play at the big penny arcade. In the summer, you can take a cup around town and taste all of the springs (though I was warned some don't taste so great)

Well, that was our weekend away. I need to grab a quick cat nap on the couch before the rugrats awaken.