Day 5 Still Cold

Hey guys Dustin again.... how's it going? I'm doing pretty well, but today was without a doubt the hardest so far. We woke up feeling extremely grateful we decided to sleep in our car and not in our tent. Our car was covered in frost, including the insides of our windows! The camp site we chose was at the foot of a mountain range, and it snow stormed on us. We high tailed it out of there, but I had to go out in the middle of the storm to collect our chairs I left outside. It was kinda fun, but I had no idea my hands could get that numb. Here's a picture of what we saw in the morning.

THIS WAS LESS THAN 20 MILES FROM A SAND DUNE PARK!

After driving through a snow storm for an hour and a half we arrived in the charming town of 

Salido, CO. Deer were chilling all along the sidewalk, eating grass and hearing everything with those ears. Our first and only quest for this town was simple... Find gloves. We met many nice people in all the shops we visited, and even found the perfect set of gloves for each of us.

Right in the middle of town we found a huge river. I of course had to walk out onto the rocks... I honestly don't know why, the river didn't get any more rivery once I got in the middle of it. 

My beautiful and sensible wife took a more reserved picture. Isn't that hat just the cutest? Many thanks to Mom for donating that hat and jacket to us. This picture reminds me, we got some delicious coffe from a local coffe shop called Brown Dog. They deliver online, and I recommend their house blend.

Yoshi wanted to play in the park, so we hooked him up with a prime snow covered swing. 

Clearly a great idea. Miss Smooth Mcgroove over here doing her best to balance on a... boat swing?

Very fun park.

We got a cool picture of some vultures picking some poor carcass clean. Those goofy bald heads are barely visible, but you see them if you're a cool kid. 

This is what they were eating. That be a deer to my eyes, or at least what's left of a deer. Probably hit by a car since we found it by the road. 

This is a picture of Garden of the Gods. If it looks like the name over sells what ya get; you feel the same way I do. It's a very Disneyesque park. It's pretty, but so clearly manicured to pull in maximum tourism. They don't let you walk around any of the park, you get one path. The difference between this park and the others I've spoken about is this; an abandoned house with a wild flowers growing all around, and a home that is being lived in with a mowed lawn and plants put into places decided by the home owners. Sure it's pretty, but have you ever gone adventureing in someone's freshly mowed lawn?

Now here's all the photos we got of Pikes Peak. Isn't it just amazing? Yeah I thought the same thing when I didn't get to go... BECAUSE THE SNOW STORM HAS IT CLOSED DOWN FOR DAYS! But whatever man, I'll be cool. I'll check out the town around it. Hunter told me that when she came here 7 years ago, the town was super nice and charming. Well guess what got legalized in the last 7 years. Sincr I'm sure kids are reading this I'll let you adults do some creative problem solving. Here's a hint, it rhymes with Buana. So now the town of Manitou Springs is a tourist attraction for traveling junkies. You now pay for every hour of parking, 9 stores all within 10 blocks selling the Buana are booming, every other shop is now a snack shop, the junkies have zero regard for the people around them, and there is cigarette butts and Buana butts littering every street corner. 7 hours of this we were  done. We then tried to go to a park to camp, but all of those parks wanted ridiculous fees for camping... no doubt responding to the massive tourism generated in the last 7 years. Rough evening for ya boy.

This was the one great thing about this town. If you ever see a Dutch Bros and you love coffe, stop and get some! This was the best coffe I've ever had in my life. They even have dairy alternatives that taste delicious. 

That's all for today, overall a good day, but come on Colorado. As my Sister Amber would say, Get your ish together.

Distance traveled 193 miles

Elevation rested at... Not 14,122'! (The height of Pikes Peak) 

P.S. The new Gorillaz album came out today. I am a huge fan of their music, and it must be said... it was a colossal failure. Do better Damon Albarn.