One of many statues at the Residance in Wurzburg, Germany. 

The Royal Gorge

---

Some pics I took at todays adventure at the Royal Gorge

More to come on this  on the web site.  However, I thought I might start with these. The ones here don't really show you the depth of the canyon but those on the web will.  The day was awesome - temp perfect.  The bridge in case you don't know is the longest suspension bridge and is over 1000 ft from the canyon floor.  The Arkansas river created this canyon - well, a long time ago - even older than I am if you can imagine.    You can walk or drive across the bridge and as you walk you will feel it sway and bounce.  Pretty erie, but I guess you get used to it.  People have been doing it for years and so far it hasn't broke.  One of the park workers told us that on a windy day you can see the bridge bounce up and down and sway.  I think that would be time for me to just watch.

In some of the pictures you'll see the "Coaster Ride".  This is like a huge swing you and up to two buddies can enjoy.  They harness you into this thing, pull you way up in the air then let you go.  You swing out over the canyon while laying prone in the harness.  I was ready to go, but no one from my party wanted to give it a try.  I'm probably a better person for not doing it.. I think you need a strong heart or a weak mind.  Probably both! 

Check the picture from the bottom of the canyon toward the bridge - right into the sun.  One of those speciality things.. trying to be artsy.. sort of an interesting shot I thought.  The clock at the bottom is only one of 4 working water clocks in the world.  You'll be able to see the exact time / date / year ... pretty neat as clocks go.  The other picture here - of the snow capped mountian - I was walking down the road when I happened to notice it through those trees.. .so, stopped to take a shot through there.. again, I thought it was interesting.   Hopefully, you will too. 

I'm still working on the web site at this point and am attempting to create an album with just the Gorge, and I've not figured out all the little quirks of Photobucket.  But until then... thanks for checking in.. enjoy the pictures and let me know what you think.

Joe

---

Pikes Peak Trip

Took a train trip up Pike's Peak.  The train car is in the picture at some point on the album.  I included a couple of pics here - the rest can be found on the PhotoBucket site - http://photobucket.com/albums/y237/traveler25/     Feel free to browse.  

The trip was Ok... Coming back down the seats started to get hard - wooden seats tend to get uncomfortable after a while.  Anyway, still had  a  good time.  Got into the cloud (i.e. fog) up about the top of the peak so didn't get many good shots.  But here's a few ... enjoy.

Shrine of the Sun

Some views from the Will Rogers Memorial here in Colorado Springs.  That's me.. and Colorado Springs in the background and the big Rocks are part of the Garden of the Gods.. which is probably around 5 - 8 miles from this location.  I'm up about 8,000 feet and the memorial is a site built by a local businessman back in 1937.   The story goes that he wanted the shrine to himself, but people told him that wasn't in good taste.  So, since he was  a good friend of Will Rogers he dedicated the memorial to him.  Even though the businessman and his wife are buried at the shrine.. actually called the Shrine of the Sun. 

So, I took a quick trip up there this evening (Friday the 13th) and got some good pics of the area.  I placed them out in a different site .. http://photobucket.com/albums/y237/traveler25/    I may use this one for a while. .. see how it works.  I might be able to get pictures directly to the blog this way.  So, this is a bit of an experiment with blog and pictures.  

In any case,, enjoy ... check the url for more pics and let me know what you think.  

Oh,,, by the way... when I leave Colorado Springs next week, I'll go to San Antonio for a couple of weeks prior to going to Germany.  A change of scenery is in order I suppose.  We are about wrapped up here at Ft. Carson and next week there will only be 7 of us onsite.  I guess they were leaving the best for last.  That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Enjoy thepics... and thanks for checking in.

Joe

Some views from the Will Rogers Memorial here in Colorado Springs.  That's me.. and Colorado Springs in the background and the big Rocks are part of the Garden of the Gods.. which is probably around 5 - 8 miles from this location.  I'm up about 8,000 feet and the memorial is a site built by a local businessman back in 1937.   The story goes that he wanted the shrine to himself, but people told him that wasn't in good taste.  So, since he was  a good friend of Will Rogers he dedicated the memorial to him.  Even though the businessman and his wife are buried at the shrine.. actually called the Shrine of the Sun. 

So, I took a quick trip up there this evening (Friday the 13th) and got some good pics of the area.  I placed them out in a different site .. http://photobucket.com/albums/y237/traveler25/    I may use this one for a while. .. see how it works.  I might be able to get pictures directly to the blog this way.  So, this is a bit of an experiment with blog and pictures.  

In any case,, enjoy ... check the url for more pics and let me know what you think.  

Oh,,, by the way... when I leave Colorado Springs next week, I'll go to San Antonio for a couple of weeks prior to going to Germany.  A change of scenery is in order I suppose.  We are about wrapped up here at Ft. Carson and next week there will only be 7 of us onsite.  I guess they were leaving the best for last.  That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Enjoy thepics... and thanks for checking in.

Joe

Photobucket

This is a test post from Photobucket.com

Springtime in Colorado

Ok, enough already with the friggin snow. It's the 1st of May. It's still snowing. I think it's God's way of getting even with me. Last year I spent a good portion of the winter in LA. I recall talking to people in Oklahoma at the time - (January - February) and relating the fact that in LA the temp was in the 70's or so, while at home (Okla) they were freezing, cold, and having a general winter of it.

So, now, here I am still in Colorado and it's still snowing on May 1st. While the weather is somewhat freaky even for this area the locals indicate that snow this time of the year is "not all THAT unusual"... Enough already.

I did take a quick ride up the mountain this morning. It was dry here at the hotel when I left and a couple of my co-workers and I took off for a short adventure. The idea was to run up to the Broadmore Hotel. A local landmark that was built in the early 1900's and is one of those old great hotels, still running and is a nice place to stay. We did make it to the hotel and did a short walking tour of the place and it is an impressive place. The owner of the place built a shrine for him and his wife way up on the side of the mountain. According to the local hotel folks, it was decided that it wasn't in good taste to build yourself a shrine - this is where he and his wife are buried. Anyway, since it wasn't a cool thing to do, the owner dedicated the location to Will Rogers - of Oklahoma fame. Apparently they were pretty good friends.

Today you can take the tour of the "Shrine of the Sun" as it's known for about $12 bucks - which we did attempt to go see this morning, but due to snow / fog and probably generally bad roads the place was closed. Maybe next time. I'm not sure I want to spring for the fee in any case.

In order to at least salvage some of the morning we did take off up the mountain. The truth is we thought we were headed to the Shrine, but took the wrong road. We don't need no stinkin maps! That trip took us up and around the mountain where I did get a couple of photos that will be posted out on my Yahoo site. ( http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/kwh5999/my_photos )

As the altitude rose and the temperature dropped the road became some what slicker and we got to a point the tires were just spinning. So rather than risk sliding off into the ditch we opted to turn around and ease back down the trail. And it was a trail as we were on a fairly narrow dirt road and the car - a little Ford Focus which by most car standards isn't really considered an 'off road' vehicle. Even though it is a rental. I thought rentals were always 'off road vehicles'.. .guess not. I did, however, manage to get dirt and mud all over both sides of the car. Gives it a lot of character. Hertz has people to clean them, so I’m not too worried. I feel it is my give to Hertz to help people remain actively employed. It’s the least I can do.

Well, Guess that’s my latest update for now… Y’all take care out there.. and thanks for checking in.
Joe

Another trip to the Garden of the Gods

The other evening after work I went over to the Garden of the Gods hoping to get a few more pictures and maybe try to catch the sunset. Once the sun drops below the mountians it gets dark pretty quickly. Anyway, I went over to the park, walked down some of the paths and took a few shots. They are posted on the site... http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/kwh5999/my_photos so, if you have a moment and nothing to do.. feel free to browse. Lots of rocks to climb on, and as you will see there is a fellow up on one. I passed him and walked on.. and when I returned about 45 minutes later he was in the same position. I didn't know if he was going up or down, it was starting to get dark, but I figured he knew what he was doing. I didn't hear of anyone spending the night on a rock out there.

I'm hoping to get up to Pikes Peak next weekend. There is a train that runs up there and I'm told it's a nice trip. So, a few of us may ride up and see that sight. Pics to follow on that trip.

Else not a lot of exciting things to report. Another round trip to Tulsa and back. Makes for a quick weekend - Home Friday night.. then back Sunday. But, in another month I will most likely be headed to Germany - looks like that will be the next site - at least as far as I'm told now.

Ok,,, wrapping for now.. thanks for checking in. Y'all take care.

Joe

Cripple Creek and Cave of the Winds

Things have been pretty busy here in Colorado Springs lately. Due to a snowstorm the weekend of April 10 I could not get back on time. So another night at home and then back to Colorado Springs Monday the 11th. Several people that went home that weekend and got caught at home. Most were able to stay home rather than being stranded in transit which makes for a long trip.

So the week wrapped up with pretty much more of the same regarding work. I'm starting to get a bit more comfortable with the software but still learning. One always wants to be able to answer all the questions that may come up and for the most part I'm starting to get there. In any case I was able to finish the week without major issues. The team is good to work with and anytime I can always call someone or get help from the experts.

Saturday I met up with a couple of fellow trainers and we took a road trip do a little town west of Colorado Springs - Cripple Creek. An old Gold mining town that has pretty much stopped most of the gold mining and turned main street into a row of casinos. So now that's where everyone goes for a different form of gold mining. The drive is scenic so I took a few pictures which of course is out on the web site. http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/kwh5999/my_photos so feel free to browse if you have a mind to.

From Cripple Creek we drove to the little town of Victor. Victor is what Cripple Creek used to be prior to bringing in casinos. It was like driving back into time and felt a bit odd when we arrived. Nothing much there, very small so we just kept driving through. From Victor we took off south through Phantom Canyon and had a great drive on a two lane dirt road that wound down from roughly 10,000 feet to the canyon bottom which was around the 6k foot level. It was a nice slow drive, great scenes and of course no guard rails. This made for some uneasiness with the passengers when you could look out the window of the car and basically look down into the canyon. Then, when the road winds around blind corners and squeezes into a one lane turn it can be a bit dicey.

However, it was a great trip, had a good time and really enjoyed the ride.

On Sunday Bob and I took a tour through the "Cave of the Winds" which is right here in the Colorado Springs area. The cave was discovered back in the 1880's and tours were started pretty quickly. I've posted pictures out on the site so check them out when you want to.

The tour was ok. We decided we paid $16 for an $8 tour, but I guess they need to rake in tourist fees some way. The reason for the name is that at one point the wind would blow through sink holes at the entrance of the cave and would make a sound like someone blowing over a soda (pop) bottle. When they built the structure over the entrance that blocked the air flow and they don't have the sounds any longer. Back when tours first started they would enter through the sink hole area be given candles and away they'd go. Must have been a very interesting trip at that point.

Still it was interesting as caves go, so enjoy the pictures.

That's about it from this end. Thanks for checking in.

Joe