The last day of our vacation we went to the Royal Gorge Bridge in Canon City. It is the highest suspended bridge. It was built as a tourist attraction in 1929 to help the economy. So there is nothing on the other side of the bridge but none the less you can spend a good 3-4 hours there doing lots of exciting things.
We took Jeff's family there. His mom Zita, Sister Nancy, her kids Trinidy, Jacob and Sammy. His Sister DeeDee and his niece Macaula.
The bridge is always super scary because it swings (or at least feels like it does in the middle). The allow cars to drive over for a large fee and on that day there were a ton of cars, actually big trucks. Scary!!!
Looking down you see the Arkansas river. You can go rafting on the river and some did but the water here was also pretty low.
We had our picture taken with Oklahoma, my home state!
Texas, Brent's home state and where we live! But failed to get Arizona (Jeff) and New Mexico (Caitlyn). Kind of crazy that we are all from a different state.
There were so many different angles of the bridge that all deserved their own picture but... this post is already picture heavy.
You can ride horses along the ridge once you cross to the other side but Brent opted to just try out this saddle. I'm thinking he's a natural!
The kids all panned for gold. Unfortunately they'll need to keep heading west.
Here is Jeff with his mom on his left, Deedee who has all the height and then Nancy.
The kids were so naughty that we threw them in jail. Haha!!
The petting zoo was up next, or should I say the goat stand! These poor animals were so hot. It's normally not in the upper 90's in Colorado.
I really wanted to see some elk while I was in Colorado but I didn't get to, until we were at the Gorge. But they were pinned up. They were beautiful. The bison were also there. The deer was just passing through.
Another shot of the bridge and family.
Check out this sweetie pie. I think vacation agrees with her!
We caught a magic show and Jacob was called up on stage.
Here is a close up of the deer. She was walking by along the rocks just outside the auditorium doors.
Mule deers are not as spooked as white tailed deers.
Brent loves trains!
We decided to ride the tram back across the Gorge. However we quickly figured out we had to hike up the mountain quite a ways, in the heat, to get to the tram station. It was hot!! So anytime we could find a shady spot it was welcomed. The only good thing was the line was shorter on our side of the mountain.
We finally made it and we were so happy! We also caught up with Carlos, Stacey, Silas and Gavin and they spent the rest of the day with us at the Gorge.
The ride only takes about 4 minutes. You can fit 35 people inside the tram and they did!
Lastly, we took the incline railway to the bottom of the gorge. This took a long time. The line was about 45 minutes to get down and about 20 minutes to get back up. The ride is about 5 minutes one way.
You are kind of caged in but the ride down is well worth it and well worth the wait!
This picture is hard to tell but we are getting lowered down into the canyon.
This is from the bottom looking back up at the tram, incline railway and bride.
Here is the wooden pipeline that was used to bring water into Canon up until 1974. Jeff really wanted me to get a picture of that!! Just for the record I don't think that was so long ago!
We really enjoyed watching rafters come by. This guy that is taking a break from kayaking was very skilled. He stopped, had some lunched, took pictures, then slid down that huge rock and went on his merry way. It was so nice and cool down by the river that we could have stayed for a while but family was waiting for us at the top.
It was a perfect end to our vacation! We loved every day of it and are so glad for the opportunities we had. We made it home safely! There is no place like home!
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