2021 Bigger Truck across Colorado, day 9

Day 9 started with me trying to figure out what these tracks were, as something clearly found the inside of the Jeep intriguing enough to explore with its muddy paws during the night.

 

I was about to bust out the guide to footprints to figure out what it was when I realized that we have no wifi, no cell reception, no connection to the outside world. I explained what I had found to Kimberly, and she said "Oh yeah, they said they have a pretty bad raccoon problem here." That made a lot more sense when we walked up to throw away our trash and recycling. Open trash bags, food, etc laying everywhere.

The people running this place were very, very nice. That said, it is a comical caricature of something out of Uncle Buck, Summer Rental, or some other terrible 80s movie. I'm sure they mean well, so I will leave it at this picturesque image and try to remember it as such.

Our first day trip from here was to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, something we had discovered during our trip research and was at the top of Jordan's list.

I will try to limit the pics as I'm sure you realize the animals were all cute. It started with the giraffe feeding, 

progressed to this extremely expressive and disinterested meerkat, 

and led to Jordan's current obsession, birds. Her own bird Rio is back home (thanks Hayley!), so she was thrilled to see more budgies and cockatiels, like this one that took quite a liking to her.

One thing that was missing a bit from our experience was the view. Normally this would be a spectacular view of Colorado Springs and the surrounding area, instead today it was smoke. 

This zoo was definitely well equipped to handle the big boys - elephants, hippos, rhinos, etc. The elephant exhibit was impressive, 

and definitely gave off some strong Jurassic Park vibes. The indoor elephant care center just needed Samuel L,

 Newman, 

and the guy that gets eaten on the toilet. 

We also learned an interesting tidbit about the African penguins.

The zoo was an amazing experience, something we would love to visit again when the air is a bit clearer.

We stopped in town to grab a quick dinner, then headed over to check out Garden of the Gods around dusk. What a fantastic decision.

If you haven't been here, its really hard to describe. Imagine having a miniature national park in the middle of your city. That's Garden of the Gods. We could have spent many, many hours here.

The twilight made for some fantastic visuals, and it also brought out all manner of wildlife. The backdrop everywhere we looked was straight out of a postcard.

We did a few short hikes, soaked in the experience, and headed back to the campground.  Once we got into the bigger truck, things got very quiet very quickly. 

Tomorrow, I have a morning bike ride planned to let the female contingent sleep, and we explore Colorado Springs a bit more.