Zoo to the Pikes Peak View

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

Our last full day of adventures started with a trip to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, one of the top ten zoos in the US. Up on top of a mountain, this zoo had an amazing collection of animals all shapes and sizes. Maggie fed Lulu, a hungry elephant, some lettuce, zucchini and watermelon. Megan found a new favorite animal, the tree kangaroo. David helped feed the budgies on the top branch in the aviary. Other amazing animal sightings included lions, penguins, meerkats, otters, wallabies, loose peacocks and one of the largest collection of giraffes.

Pikes Peak

In the afternoon, we took a Jeep tour of Pikes Peak. The weather looked questionable at the bottom of the 14,115 foot mountain, but our guide James reassured us it wouldn’t be too bad. As we climbed the steep hill with switchbacks and limited guardrails, the sky turned dark gray. In a blink of an eye, the thunder roared in with torrential rain and hail that shook the jeep. The road was already covered with a little snow but quickly filled with an inch of balls of hail with limited visibility (see video). James wasn’t rattled as we passed by some stopped cars, too scared to move, up to the summit. It was snowing at the top when we left the visitor center with some doughnuts and a new stuffed Ram named Rocky. It snows 6 days in July every year. The ride back down the mountain was less eventful with some stops at overlooks and beautiful views. We ended the day with pizza and a movie.