Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs, Colorado!

 This is the beautiful Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  These pictures were taken October 9, 2010 which was the date of the annual Southern Colorado  AIDS Walk in the Garden.  Bear in mind that as I was taking these pictures, I was also walking the 3 miles that were required to fulfil my committment.  So if the pictures are a little blurry, and not centered, please forgive me.

The first picture is the shot of where we are going.  There were a total of 200 walkers so this is going to take a little while to do.  If you look closely at this picture just off center is a tiny white dot.  That, my friend, is a human!  That dot is about 2 city blocks away on a twisty, turny trail.  My goal is to catch and pass that dot and all the other dots ahead of me!

 This is one of the many formations in this Garden of the Gods.  There is just no name that could have been given to this place that would fit any better.  I have driven through the Garden, but there is nothing to compare with walking these trails.  I wanted to do this for a long time and when I got the opportunity to be a fundraiser and get to walk, it was just more than I could have ever  asked for!

 As we got further into our walk we came a lot closer to some of the formations.  This particular shot is where we crossed a parking lot and we are now about half way back to where we started.  I did not think I would ever be able to walk 3 miles in this thin Colorado air, but I think I could have gone a lot further!  May do it some day for no reason!  

I want you to pay particular attention to the sky in all of these pictures.  Have you ever seen anything more beautiful?  It is like God picked the most spectacular day of the year for this walk, but that is not true.  Everyday in Colorado is a true miracle to behold.  When I came to this part of the country 34 years ago, it was just some where to go.  Just a place to be, but now it has truly become my home.  People say "Where are you from?" and I tell them proudly, "Colorado, via Kansas!"

And here we are on the final leg of the walk.  Well, not us, those are the people in front of us.  We are back here with the camera.  We started out behind 200 people and we ended up with 15 ahead of us.  Pretty good for an old lady, but this old lady is just now hitting her stride, so watch out world, Here I come!!