Birthday Trip South to Colorado Springs

I had my 31st birthday yesterday, and Ashley and I took a day trip down to Colorado Springs. It was a quick hour trip down. Before I left San Angelo, a former co-worker at the San Angelo Standard-Times named Paul Harris, who used to freelance at the Colorado Springs Gazette, had been telling me we had to go eat breakfast at The Omlette Parlor. So we got there and read about the history of the restaurant. Apparently it used to be someone's house way back when, and has been a restaurant for decades. It was an awesome local place to eat.







I like how it says "probably" and then it's crossed out, claiming to have THE best omlettes in the West.





It was my birthday so I had to absolutely CRUSH my breakfast...two pancakes as big as my head!





After breakfast we drove to see the building that houses the Colorado Springs Gazette. Since working at the Standard-Times, I always find it fun to see what other newspaper buildings look like. This building in Colorado Springs looks a lot bigger than the San Angelo paper. The scenery with the mountains as a backdrop is always a plus.






We decided to check out the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo after stopping by the paper. Ashley and I love going to zoos. We thought that the Denver Zoo was so cool, but after spending the day at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, we may have to re-think which zoo we like better. The zoo is built at the base of a huge mountain, so a lot of the exhibits incorporate the natural habitat of the mountain. First stop was the giraffe area. We couldn't believe how many there were and how close they got to you. for a dollar you could get three crackers to feed them.








I can't believe how long their tongues are!





Close up of a furry mouth.





Oh how we love the "hold the camera up ourselves and take the photo".





The zoo was on a huge mountain so it allowed for gorgeous vistas. This was taken on the way to see the tiger exhibit.





A family rides the air tram down to the bottom of the zoo. The changing colors of the season are clearly evident in the background.





Oftentimes when we go to a zoo it's a 50/50 chance that the animals are actually doing anything or just laying down. Luckily when we went to see the tigers, one was swimming and the other was walking around.








So cool to see the tiger playing around, at one point trying to eat a branch on tree.





Intense stare of the tiger.





Leaving the tiger exhibit we walked to the grizzly bear exhibit. There were two and they were wrestling. It was really cool because the viewing glass was right where they were playing in the water.











Another pic of the two of us taken by one of us.





A goat was standing on this steep pile of rocks.








We walked in to the hippo exhibit at the perfect time because the worker there was about to feed them. He held out a head of cabbage while the two hippos were in the water. Within 20 seconds, they smelled the food and came up into the cage. The worker gave a head of cabbage to two kids, each getting to toss it into the mouth of the two hippos. Both made it in and the hippos chomped the cabbage and the whole thing was gone in under a minute. It was so cool to see!





As you might imagine, I totally loved hanging out with the giraffes, so before we left, we made one last stop back at their exhibit. Some of them were sprinting around and it was very interesting to see how such large animals can still move quickly.





I made a new friend while in Colorado Springs. We'll probably hang out again soon.




Ashley took the camera and came up with this creative picture of the giraffe's feet.





The wildlife wasn't restricted to the inside of the zoo. Several deer were hunting for food amongst the trees in the parking lot of the zoo. Very cool to be able to get this close!



Had a great birthday trip to Colorado Springs! Looking forward to our next trip!