Heading Over to Cripple Creek

Went to Cripple Creek the other day to check out their first annual Ice Carving exhibit. Rhonda, Chuck, and myself made the road trip. First time in ages I got to go out that way and not be driving so really enjoyed myself. It looks like they might have a hit with this. There was a good turnout of people and I saw a few different television crews around filming everyone checking out the ice. The kids seemed to really get a kick out of it. Hopefully it will be even bigger next year.

After we saw the ice festival we went driving around for a little while to check out the sights and find an over look that Rhonda knew about. With all the mining going on in the area they are constantly changing the landscape and we had a little bit of trouble finding it. Check out the picture of the big truck that topped a hill we were headed up. It's an interesting feeling to be driving around in a small car and have basically a moving building come over a hill directly at you. We stopped in the median of the gravel road and the guy driving stopped and climbed down the steps to basically tell us to get out of there. Seems we weren't supposed to be on that particular road, we had missed the sign telling us the proper direction to take to get to the overlook. The funny part was when we turned around to go the other way another one topped the other hill coming at us from the opposite direction. I don't think Rhonda cared for that too much, to say the least! We did find the overlook eventually and spent a little time checking out the sites. You can see the picture of all the mining going on in the area. Kind of a shame what we do for gold, isn't it?


On the road.


Pikes Peak in the distance. You can also see
the old Manitou Incline. I actually rode that
years ago before it was taken out.


Overlooking Cripple Creek


I just thought this was funny.










It's amazing what you can do with a chain saw.


Some of the colors in the ice were fantastic.






This was really impressive in person.




This is the backside view of the train sculpture.




Those are steps going up the front of the truck
just so you can get a feel for how large this truck
actually was. This thing is at least 3 stories high.


Here's the view from the overlook we eventually
found.