When Rick was a kid his family came to Colorado and went to see the suspension bridge over the Royal Gorge. So today we drove there to see if it was as cool as he remembered. The day was very cool with snow falling over most of the road we covered yesterday on the way here. I am glad that we moved on. The Royal Gorge bridge was built in 1929 as a tourist attraction. It is in an historic gold and silver mining area. The bridge is 1300' over the Arkansas River. It can be driven over, but mostly is just walked on now. The deck of the bridge is made of 8" wide planks of wood which are not entirely close together (you can see through them to the river 1300' below). The whole bridge bounces as you walk on it.
Besides the bridge, the river is crossed by a 2200' wide aerial tram. There is also an incline railway which goes 1500' down to the canyon floor. The picture is the bridge from the bottom of the canyon.
We spent the day exploring this area. We had to bundle up a lot because the wind through the canyon was bitter, but after a while the clouds lightened up a bit. There was a bungee jump that went out over the canyon but it was not in operation today - ah shucks, we could have really made you jealous!
As we returned to Colorado Springs we sought out a train hobby store that Rick was interested in. He got some train books and a couple fun box cars. Tomorrow we head east. The weather looks like it will be clear and sunny.
2 comments:
so was it as cool as Uncle Rick had remembered? Sounds cool to me!
Rick loved it - does Terry remember the trip? We both love to see things as an adult that we saw as kids. No matter if it is not quite as awesome, the old memories make it great.
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