Bridge and Park

This past weekend we took the kids to the Royal Gorge Bridge and Park. It was a lot of fun! This is the largest suspension bridge in the world, or so they say. the bridge was 1053 feet above the Arkansas River below it. Campbell was a bit nervous walking across the bridge. She has a bit of a fear of heights. Cars are also allowed to drive across this bridge. So as you are walking across cars may drive across at the same time. The cars really make the bridge sway.

The kids got to pet goats. I grew up with goats so this is really no big deal to me, but my kids seam to think that goats are the bomb. While in the little petting "zoo", which was only goats, I got yelled at. You see, there was a cute little donkey right next to the fence where I was squatting. I stuck my hand through the fence to pet him. Apparently you are not allowed to put your hand through the fence to pet the donkey. You can however put your arm over the fence to pet the donkey. Semantics I guess. Whatever...

After petting the goats we walked through the wildlife exhibition. They had buffalos and elk in fences for your viewing. I got yelled at again because I apparently got too close to the fence while taking a picture of the buffalo. These people may want to put up signs listing these rules.

The kids also got to ride on donkeys. They were both thrilled beyond belief. Aaron and I thought that Caleb would get scared and freak out. He did not get scared at all. He followed the donkey guide's instruction perfectly. While going up hill he was to lean forward and while going downhill he was to lean backward. While leaning backward Caleb tilted his head back as well. He was going to make sure he was definitely leaning backwards. It was so very cute.

After the donkey rides we went and had lunch. As is usual fore these types of places, lunch was way too expensive. Next time we will pack a picnic lunch. On our way to lunch Campbell fell off one of those parking cement blocks. She was using it as a balance beam, but she forgot to balance. She really gauged her leg on that fall.

After lunch we did some gold mining. The kids did get some fool's gold. We then went for a ride on the horse drawn wagon. This ride ended way to soon for Caleb. I think he could have stayed on that ride forever. It was naptime, so he probably would have fallen asleep in another 10 minutes. We had three more rides to complete though.

We headed over to the skyride. This is a little car that is suspended over the gorge with a cable. You ride the car from one side to the other. The views from the skyride were incredible! Once we reached the other side of the gorge we headed over to the elevator. The elevator ride takes you from the top of the gorge to the bottom of the gorge. It is set at a 45 degree angle and takes about 5 minutes. Once we reached the bottom of the gorge we were allowed out to view the Arkansas River up close. We then headed back to the top.

Once we got back to the top we headed over to the last ride. The last ride was a carousel. Every good amusement parks needs one of these. We dutifully put our kids on and let them ride. Once that was done we headed back into town to the Abbey.

Aaron has joked periodically that when Campbell hits 12 we are going to send her to the convent. This trip to the Abbey was not part of our search for the perfect place to send her. Actually, they have a winery so we were going to do some wine tasting and purchase some goods. We were lucky enough to stumble upon an art festival that was also taking place. It was a small art festival, but it was nice to walk through and we got to listen to some nice jazz music. We ended up purchasing 2 bottles of wine for our enjoyment.