Occasionally, I have the opportunity to go to some nice places through work. And in July 2023, I needed to go to Colorado Springs Colorado on business and decided to go out a day early do a little sightseeing and photo taking.

My first destination in Colorado Springs was Pike’s Peak.  It was about a 20 minute drive to the entrance of Pike’s Peak from where I was staying in downtown Colorado Springs. 

From there it easily took about 20 minutes to drive to the top.  It was an <ahem> exciting drive.  I’m not particularly fond of heights and there were several spots where, as you ascend the mountain, you drive very close to the edge of the road – no guard rails.  I pulled over and got this shot:

The real views come once you reach the visitor’s center at the top of Pike’s Peak:

Yes, that’s snow…in July.  It was pretty chilly up there.

On the way back down the mountain I stopped at several lookout points which offered some absolutely stunning views:

I grabbed some lunch then started hiking through the Garden of the Gods:

In sharp contrast to the weather at the top of Pike’s Peak, July in Garden of the Gods is beastly hot – upper 90’s that day.  Bring plenty of water if you hike in Garden of the Gods. 

This was perhaps one of if not the best one-day sigh seeing I’ve ever done.