WANDERINGS - BOULDER PART 3

I must try to fit the rest of my travels into a couple of posts otherwise there will never be any more WOOLLIE!!

Some of you may be wondering how I met my friend Tracey and certainly many of her friends were asking us when I was there. Long story short - we both met whilst gate-crashing a wedding in Guatemala in 2001! She with her sister and brother-in-law (he went to grad school with the groom) and me with my friend Keith (the groom's brother). We had a ball in Guatemala and then later in the year met again when I went to visit a friend in New York for Thanksgiving. Then with my work I went to Augusta, Georgia in 2003 and 2004 and spent a few days each time visiting with Tracey who was living in Atlanta at the time, then in 2005 we met in Paris when she was in France to learn French before she moved to Colorado and then last year she came to Scotland. So many emails, 6 visits and 3 continents later it was time for me to visit Tracey in her new home, Colorado!

Tuesday - I hired a car for a few days and went to Manitou Springs for a night. I visited the the Garden of the Gods an amazing alien-like landscape of red rocks with names like the kissing camels, the Three Graces, cathedral spires, the Siamese Twins and the Scotsman - red sandstone rocks with fabulous views of Pikes Peak. It was named in 1859 after Rufus Cable, who on visiting the site, stated "why it is a place fit for the Gods to assemble. We will call it the Garden of the Gods!"



After a night in Manitou Springs I went to visit the Manitou Springs Cliff Dwelllings - Anasazi Indian dwellings that were moved to Manitou Springs in 1905 from a site that was about to be flooded. You are able to wander in and out of the buildings at will and as I couldn't make it as far as Mesa Verde it was nice to be able to see some Anasazi dwellings.



After Manitou Springs I headed to Florrisant Fossil Beds with their petrified tree stumps, some of the largest in the world - site of the former Florrisant Lake, volcanic eruptions and a climate that helped to create one of the most fertile fossil beds in the world with over 1700 different species identified.



Then I drove back to Boulder via mountain passes and flat plains - including South Park (where do you think the creators of cartoon South Park came from?), ski resorts and gorges, in time for sushi and a beer.