Megan’s Take
Today was more of a day for the kids, although I got joy from their excitement. We went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, which was voted #5 Best Zoo in North America by USA Today Readers’ Choice Awards. I figured we had to check it out since it is rated that highly. Emilia and Emmett were SO excited. When we arrived, Emmett clasped his hands together and said, “I so excited!” He told me repeatedly that the zoo was “so much fun” and that it was really exciting. He bounced around the zoo, running ahead and around the exhibits, and it was the first time in public that we’ve actually had an issue with him taking off. He was very enthusiastic.
Emilia was excited also but more subdued, although they were equally as excited about feeding the giraffes. The zoo has a herd of 17 giraffes, and we bought leaf bundles to feed to them. Both kids giggled when the long giraffe tongues swept the lettuce leaves out of their hands.


Both kids enjoyed visiting with the goats. Emilia spent a long time brushing the goats. I think she needs some kind of pet soon, because she seems to want to nurture and take care of a creature. Emmett liked seeing the goats, but he initially thought the goat area was a playground for him. He wanted to go up the ladders, hop on the stumps, and walk the boards, and when I told him no to all of that, he cried. The goat keeper came to see if he was okay, and I told them he was sad that it’s a *goat* playground. We consoled him by giving him a brush and a job to do.

Another favorite moment was seeing the penguins up close. Several penguins came up right next to the sidewalk. Emmett and Emilia crouched down to watch them, just inches away, face to face. I was impressed that Emmett heeded our warnings and didn’t try to touch. I was slightly worried that his face might get pecked, but all turned out okay.

After the zoo, both kids napped in the truck. We drove to the Garden of the Gods, but it was too hot to hike or explore this afternoon. Plus, Phil and I just weren’t very impressed. We should have added Colorado Springs to the beginning of our trip and not the end. We’ve already seen more rock formations and geologic beauty in the other places, so this park can’t compare. Also, the campground here is claustrophobic and we can’t wait to leave. Overall, it’s an okay *city* campground, but it just has a whole different vibe than all the other campgrounds. It’s my least favorite place that we’ve stayed, but tomorrow we move onwards to a different campground.
Phil’s Take
I’ll try to fill in some details of things Megan forgot from the day.
We got to see one of the hippos relieve some pressure. It’s clear why this glass has the smears it does, and it’s also clear that the smears aren’t mud.

They had some natural play areas that showed how much our children have adapted to playing with nature. They have had so much experience now that I’m not sure they even need a traditional playground anymore. There was even one point where Emilia pointed out that there was a “playset” and it was just a huge fake tree that was like a house.

There were also the slides. They had a tower with two slides built onto it. One of the slides was shorter and basically a single flight of stairs high and looped around 180 degrees. The other slide was another flight of stairs up and had more like almost 2 whole loops in it (so 720 degrees). They both opted for the tallest one to start, and then Emilia was the only one brave enough to do the tallest one again. I think Emmett did the shorter one once also, but Emilia went down several times on the tall one.
I agree with Megan that Garden of the Gods just isn’t that amazing to us, at least right now. We’ve seen it, granted that was nearly 11 years ago, but I do remember it clearly. It also has rock formations that can be found nearly the same in Arches, but multiplied by 30. Clearly its popularity is based on its proximity to Colorado Springs. I’m not so sure that visiting it early in the trip would have changed much.
Here’s the gallery of today’s pictures.
Agree on Garden of the Gods. If you’d never been out west, flew to Denver for a weekend and that was the extent of your experience – sure. But we also went to Colorado Springs on our trip that took us to Utah/Arches and were similarly underwhelmed.
The zoo looks great though – love the up close and personal encounters with the animals! Emilia is welcome to come brush our dogs anytime