North Cheyenne Zoo pt 1

My absolutely favorite thing we did the entire trip was on Saturday when we went to the North Cheyenne Zoo. This has to be the coolest zoo I have ever been too. With it being on the mountain you have amazing views and cool exhibits. The giraffe exhibit is amazing and they were close enough for you to feed. Since it was the first cold day of the season and first thing in the morning we had an opportunity to see the majority of the animals up, outside, and playing. Many of them put on a good show for us. I have never been to a zoo where so many of the animals were moving around and playing. So much fun!!! Definitely worth going too. All three of us had a great time. Jason and I enjoyed seeing how excited Kaylie was to see all the animals. It was fun to see her brain work and match the animal with the animal sound.

Turned around to a giggling child. This is what we found.

It turned into a game of "Peek A Boo."

They have several peacocks just walking around. They did not seem scared at all. We actually had to run from one as it was working its way towards Kaylie's goldfish. We feared it's sharp beak.

I would have to say this zoo is most likely know for this exhibit. Since the zoo is on a mountain the giraffe exhibit is pretty much level with you. I am not sure who enjoyed this more. I am pretty sure I got the most joy out of watching and feeding the giraffes. Kaylie did not know what to do with them.

As you can see she would not take her eyes off of them. She had to make sure she was not going to accidentally get licked.

I LOVED feeding them. It cracked me up. Kaylie wasn't sure about it so I made sure to buy more crackers to feed them.

As Kaylie would say..."cheese!" They were really good at posing for us.

When asked she would say she wanted to feed them. When you gave her the cracker she would freak out and throw it onto the ground. They can't reach them there.

This is why it is not good to throw a cracker on the ground. It does not look very easy to pick something up. I was shock at how flexible he seemed to be.

The smaller one was a baby. Precious!!! It was hard to give him a cracker. The bigger one kept stealing it.

He is eating the wood. Apparently, they eat 18 out of 24 hours a day so when their are no crackers wood will do. It made my mouth hurting watching it. How do they not get splinters?!?

A cold front had come in the night before making these poor mearkats cold. They were fighting each other to be under the pile.

The view from the top of the zoo. How many zoos have a view like this. Absolutely breath taking!

Another side of the zoo.

The one we ran for. I was slow to react. Thankfully, I had Jason behind me telling me to GO! He was way too interested in her fish!

Tapirs...they had a lot of animals from Australia. Surprised me.

This bear put on a show for us. He started on the ground. I think he was looking for an escape route. Thanks for performing for us.

This bear looked like he was in a food coma. He seemed pretty comfortable!

The climber

Just like the peacocks the chipmunks had no fear. They would run out in front of you and your stroller. Being the person I am I grabbed a fish from Kaylie and fed him. Kaylie was quit unamused, threw her hand down on top of her fish and said, "My fish." Sorry!

He became greedy and tried to get more. He did not have any luck! Kaylie was not willing to give any more up.

Kaylie vs. the gorilla. Kaylie won. The gorilla did not appreciate the flash from the camera and took off.

If you look at the back you can see the monkey has a box on his head. Apparently, boxes are their toys of choice.

Kaylie loved this exhibit. We could not get her to leave it. When ever we did she would run back to it.

North Cheyenne Zoo pt 2

What does a monkey say? This was a picture of her answer. She was correct!

She wasn't so sure of the hippos.

Her new thing is to tell us to sit. She was very happy when daddy followed her directions.

They were incredibly active. They started play fighting with each other right when we got there.

Right when I took this they ran over our heads.

Otters...their exhibit was huge. They also have space outside of the water to play on.

The lady that took our picture said it was like the otter was saying hi to us. She wasn't kidding.

I was shocked she went in here. I would have sworn she would have been freaked out by the little cave. After seeing someone come out she went in. We had a hard time getting her out.

She is staring at a little boy. He intrigued her.

The bear was having a good ole time playing with a ball. He swam back and forth. This was as close as Kaylie would get to him.

Lunch time

Visiting the giraffes one last time. After she warmed up to them she could not stop talking about them.

Their tongue is ridiculously long!

Souvenirs for the road. We thought we would just be getting her a giraffe but after she repeated meow meow over and over we ended up with both. Spoiled?!? I guess. It was worth it to see her happy.

We knew she was tired when she asked Jason to carry her to the car. We didn't realize how tired she actually was. This picture was taken 5 minutes after we left. Passed out cold! It was worth the every minute. She had a blast.

Helen Hunt Falls and scenery

Since we were trying to fit everything in with only a short amount of time available to us we decided to go to Helen Hunt Falls after Manitou Springs. We had read about this on Trip Advisor and were very pleased by the sight. This landmark was looked in the North Cheyenne Canon Park and is well designed for tourists. It had a nice trail for us to walk up. They make it easy for people to visit and the best part was that it was free!

The noise from the falls made her nervous. She did not know what to do with herself! In all of the other pictures that we tried to take she was looking behind her!

Our family! We had so much fun!

The stairs leading to the falls. Ms. Independent did not want any help.

It was a lot for a 2 year old to take in.

One of my favorite pictures! At first she was scared of the bridge. After a few minutes we could not get her off of it. She kept running back and forth across it.

Peek a Boo

Look closely at this picture...see her arm...she has the clutch of death on Jason!

Scenery from the Old Champion Road. I was not happy about being on this. It said 2 cars could fit but in my opinion it only fit 1 and a 1/2. What Jason forgets is that I am on the passenger side with the cliffs on my side. Not happy while on it but appreciated the pictures once I was down safe and sound.

See what I mean. It does not look big enough for 2 cars. I told Jason he better love me for letting him take this road.

This road used to be an old railroad track. I think that is the only reason Jason wanted to go down it. He enjoyed the tunnels.

Scenic Overlook

Manitou Springs

After going to the top of Pike's Peak and back down we stopped and walked around Manitou Springs. This town is beautiful and with amazing weather we had a great time seeing the sights and shopping as a way to take a break before our next adventure.

Manitous Springs is in between The Garden of the Gods and Pike's Peak and are known for their 11 natural springs that are kept going by the snow peaks from Pike's Peak. www.manitousprings.org

I had to take a picture with the bear. Kaylie did not know what to make of him.

For lunch we decided to go to a mom and pop type place called Patsy's. This place had all the fair type food anyone would love. With hot dogs, fries, and drinks in hand we went and sat on a picnic bench to eat.

This place was so much fun. They had kiddie rides, food and arcade games. I guess you can say it was somewhat of a random thing to have in the middle of a town.

Kaylie loved washing her hands in the spring water. She seemed caught off guard by how cold it was.

She didn't know what to do with her wet hands so she made the executive decision to use her shirt. Shirts can make for a wonderful towel!