Royal Gorge, Colorado, Visit 9/15/12

The Royal Gorge suspension bridge from the bottom of the gorge

After leaving Seven Falls and Helen Hunt Falls (see THIS post),   George and I drove to check out the ROYAL GORGE.    I encourage you to check out this site (click HERE) for some interesting information about Royal Gorge!!!!  This is one very NEAT place!!!  Be sure to click on the photos for enlargements.

Before getting to the gorge we stopped and took a  ride on a little TRAIN....  Isn't it cute????? (Just my style!!!)..

This little train (30 minute ride) took us to the west end of the canyon ---where we got our first glimpses of the Royal Gorge and Bridge.  Can you believe the people who built that bridge?  Don't think I'd want to be on that crew!!!  You?????  The suspension bridge was built in 1929 for only $350,000.   Wonder what it would cost today?????

The bridge is 956 feet high and a quarter of a mile long...

The little train stopped at an overlook for us to see the canyon and take pictures... Here is a picture of the canyon floor...  I took it with my long lens.  You can see the train tracks running through the canyon...  AND--for your information,  we were down on the canyon floor not long after taking this picture!!!!

Since we got to the park late in the afternoon,   we didn't have to pay that much to get in... AND--we saw the two things we went to see,  the Incline Railway and the Aerial Tramway... SO--everything turned out great for us that day!

First,  we took the little caged railway down into the canyon.  The Incline Railway was built in 1930/31 and is one of the world's STEEPEST railways.  It was amazing going down in that canyon almost 1000 feet.

Here is a view of the canyon as we descended to the bottom.

Once we got to the bottom,   we enjoyed seeing the Arkansas River, up close and personal.   We saw some kayakers in that river --when we were at the overlook while riding the little train. 

AND---we got lucky since a 'real' train (one MUCH larger than the one we rode--ha ha) came through the gorge while we were down at the bottom...  Can you imagine hearing the train whistle down in that gorge????   NOTE to BETSY:  Add this train to your list of things you want to do sometime!!!!   I'd love to take that train ride through the gorge.  Wouldn't you???

NOW---look at this!!!!!!  We rode across the gorge on that little TRAM (see it in the picture above???) after getting back up to the top of the canyon.  That is the AERIAL TRAM.   It was built in 1978 and is 2200 feet across and 1178 feet above the Arkansas River!

Now we are on the Aerial Tram ---and I took this picture of the Royal Gorge Bridge from the tram.  Amazing,  isn't it????

Finally,  here is one more photo from our experience at the Royal Gorge.   This picture was taken from the tram  and shows the bottom of the canyon from WAY up there... I am looking west --and you can get a good picture of the Arkansas River from up there...

Hope you enjoyed seeing our photos from the Royal Gorge.  Like most everywhere else we go,  we highly recommend this area if you are ever in Colorado.   SO---after a long and busy day (Air Force Academy Chapel,  Seven Falls,  Helen Hunt Falls, and the Royal Gorge),  we hobbled back to the motel for a good night's sleep!!!


Hugs,
Betsy

Hike to Look Rock Observation Tower (Smokies-10/23/12)

Look Rock Observation Tower

George and I spent a day in the beautiful SMOKY MOUNTAINS in Tennessee on 10/23/12  visiting the Foothills Parkway near Townsend, Tennessee... If you missed my first post showing all of the gorgeous colors up there,  click HERE.

Today I will share another post from that day.  We hiked up to the Look Rock Observation Tower on top of the mountain.... It's not a hard hike (only about a mile round-trip) and on a clear day,  you can really see a long distance from up there.  If you are ever in the Smokies,  we recommend this hike.

The picture above was taken on the Foothills Parkway---looking up at the tower....  Below are more.   Be sure to click on the pictures in order to see them larger.

Now we are on the TRAIL leading up to the tower... George took this picture of me. The Fall colors were still gorgeous here.  You can see that I am wearing my Camera Vest --with water on my right hip and my long lens on my left hip!!!!!!  I'm ready to go!!!! ha

Here is more of the pretty Fall colors on our walk!!!!  Isn't that blue sky just great as a backdrop?

We are almost at the TOP.....  Here is a picture I took of George on the ramp up to the tower... We both took lots of pictures while hiking up to the tower.

I snapped this picture of the Look Rock Observation Tower --up close and personal!!!

I took this picture from the top ---looking down at the Foothills Parkway.   That is where I took the first picture at the top of this page.

Here's George at the top of the tower.  I'd love to be up here either at sunrise or at sunset.  Wouldn't that be tremendous????

Here's another picture taken from the top of the tower.  You can see the beautiful Smoky Mountains in this picture... We were there in the middle of the afternoon ---so the sun wasn't always in the 'correct' place for some good photos... Like I said above,  we need to come really early in the morning sometime--or stay until sunset.

George took this picture of me ---on the top of the tower.  As you know,  I love being on top of a mountain.. This one is awesome!!!!

Here's a neat picture of the sun shining on some yellow leaves  we saw on our way back down the mountain...

I'm going to finish with two more pictures taken while we were on the top of the tower.  I used my long lens to get a good picture of a farm in the valley below the mountain....

And finally,  here's one more ---showing a lake in the valley below.  The last time we came to this observation tower,  it was in September of 2010 I think.... It was nice --but the Fall colors weren't nearly as pretty as they were this year...

Hope you have a good week.   As you probably know,  this is a busy time of the year for us... We are taking the week off ---so our next blog posts will be on Monday,  Nov. 12. 

Hugs,
Betsy