Pike's Peak Railway

We woke up bright and early Sunday morning and headed downtown to the famous Pike's Peak Railway.

This was the view of Manitou Springs, with Pike's peak being the tallest, brown mountain in the center of the photo.

Looks like a pretty awesome mountain to go to the top of, right?

Also near the railway is a special torture device called the Incline. It's a super steep portion of the mountain that has railroad ties laid out for people to hike up or attempt to kill themselves as they climb up.

Although the tickets were sold out, we got the last 2 seats on standby for the 10:40 trip to the top. The railway has a great history, and even greater scenery as you descend up nearly a mile vertically.

We enjoyed beautiful scenery around every bend, and there was a great guide on the train telling us about all the fun facts & neat things to see along the ride.

Although many areas of Colorado are being devastated by the pine bark beetle, they haven't started destroying the trees in the Pike's Peak area yet.

There is even a very small hydro-electric plant that generates electricity for the town.

As we climbed higher, the temperatures started dropped & the views started becoming even more beautiful.

We saw several alpine lakes along the ride.

As we ascended above the tree-line, the winds started really picking up.

No trees in sight- just rocks!

We passed several other trains on their descent as we slowly worked our way to the top.

Quickly we were even with some of the surrounding peaks and looking down on everything below us.

The views from the top were simply breathtaking. And what does one do once you reach the top of mountain? Well of course, hike down!

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: I'm going other fabulous women for a yummy wine dinner tonight!