Our Road Trip Out West: Day Six, Old Colorado City

Hello!  This week's travel post is a continuation of Day Six.  If you missed our early afternoon visit to The Garden of the Gods, you can read about it HERE.

After hiking in the Garden of the God's we were hungry and went to grab a very late lunch.  I saw an interesting barbecue place so we decided to check it out.  Apparently Rudy's is a chain restaurant, but it is not in the area of the United States that I live in, so it was new to me.  I love barbecue so I was excited about finding this place.  We both ordered barbecue sandwiches (I know, were such risk takers!) and smoked potatoes.  We loved the barbecue,  (though we had a lot of difficulty getting the sauce out of their weird bottles and ended up taking the entire cap off), but we did not care for the potatoes.  They were not soft like we are used to, perhaps that's what happens when they are smoked and not baked?  I don't know.  The atmosphere of this restaurant is really fun.  They have picnic style seating, a condiment bar, and a wash basin (that I think is made for feeding cattle) so you don't have to go into the restroom to wash your sticky fingers.  They also had outdoor seating which we enjoyed since it was such a beautiful day.

Photo Credit

After our stomach's were full, it was time to check out the historic downtown of Colorado Springs.  I must admit I don't have a lot of great photos of this quaint downtown because I was too busy SHOPPING!  Our hands were so full of packages that we couldn't take pictures too, and the few pictures we did take were on my IPhone so they are not the best quality.  I don't usually buy much when traveling, but this town had so many nice items, and for once, the prices were affordable, unlike most tourist areas we visit.  I plan on doing a post just on what I purchased while on vacation when I am all done with this series.

 It was fall when we visited so the town was decorated for Halloween and all the trees were in full bloom.

 The sun was just starting to set so it was hard to get a real good picture.  The entire street was lined with beautiful fall colored trees and had a scenic view of Pike's Peak.

 Old Colorado City is a National Historic District in Colorado Springs.  It was founded in 1859.  Today there are over 100 shops, restaurants, and galleries to explore.

 The town is so quaint with it's beautiful, turn of the century architecture and lamp posts lining the street.

 We shopped until the stores started to close up for the night.  There was a country boot store that I really wanted to see, but those stinkers closed 10 minutes early.  I always hate it when small business owners do not keep to their posted hours, or don't keep regular hours at all for that matter.  So, we decided to call it a day, and headed for our hotel.

 We stayed at The Hampton Inn by the Air Force Academy.  It was a beautiful hotel and the staff was wonderful.  I chose a king size suite with a mountain view for our room.  It was very romantic, and we got to our room just in time to see the sun set on Pike's Peak from our balcony.

 After we were settled in, we went out for dinner at another chain restaurant called Cheddars.  I had only been to a Cheddars once before and that was at Springfield, Missouri.  It was such a horrible restaurant experience, (we waited for hours for a table because they lost our reservation)  that I really had no intention of ever trying this chain again.  However, I'm glad I did because this restaurant changed my mind about the chain.

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This restaurant made up for my previous bad experience.  We were seated immediately, and the atmosphere was warm, cozy, quiet and romantic.  Just what I needed after a long day of driving and walking.  It was also directly across the street from our hotel, which was very convenient.

Because we we had such a late lunch I really wasn't that hungry, but I was afraid if I didn't eat something I'd wake up in the middle of the night starving with nothing to eat.  So I ordered an Italian sandwich and ended up taking half of it back to the hotel and eating it later on our road trip home.  I think my husband ordered his usual burger and fries.  Everything was delicious and the service was perfect.

After dinner we changed into our swimsuits and spent some time in the hotel's outdoor hot tub.  It was my first experience being outside in the cold in a hot tub.  Even though the day time temperatures warmed up to the upper seventies, it really got quite cold quickly at night and it felt like winter.  I really enjoyed the feel of the crisp cold air for a few seconds till you step into the bubbly hot water.  I found it more enjoyable than when the hot tub is inside for the coolness of the air keeps you from getting over heated and the warm water is more enjoyable.

Well I hope you enjoyed reading about our shopping and eating in Colorado Springs.  Next week's travel post will be about another little historic town we visited before our train ride up to Pike's Peak.

Have a great day!  Amy