I Lived (by One Republic)

 It's our Fun Day

Wednesday, July 15, 2026

Today we started by waking up to the lights coming on at 5:15.  This was to let people know that now is when you should begin getting ready if needed. We ate breakfast burritos prepared the night before by Brian, Caleb, Pam, and Zack to give us fuel for the day.  At 6:25, we loaded up and at 6:30 we headed off to the Garden of the Gods where we saw many sites like the Kissing Camels, Balancing Rock, White Rock, Pikes Peak, North Gateway Rock, and Pulpit Rock. There were tons of beautiful views including an upper loop path that Tyler notified us about for hiking. Many of the group explored this route to see this beautiful rocky area and most climbed up the rock and took pictures. After the Garden of the Gods, we headed back to the car to go take a stop to eat lunch.  Afterwards, we headed off to Manitou Springs, going to the edge of town to go zip lining. There we met Cade, who would be zip lining with us and our wonderful guides Conner and Andrea, as well as our photographer Dylan.  While zip lining, we got to do some tricks as Connor showed doing the Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps, and a relaxed man sitting back and drinking, many of which were done by everyone. During the third zip line, we were given the option to go upside down which Andrea showed us how to do properly and what not to do.  Many in the group, when given the chance, attempted and succeeded such as Tyler’s Spider-Man pose, and Joel doing an upside down outstretched pose. After that we continued on with our zip lining adventures and came back after having a fun time with Conner, Andrea, Dylan, and Cade. Continuing on with our day, we headed back into to Manitou  springs proper to go check out the area.  We stayed in for about 25 minutes where Zack, Caleb, Anna, and Cora sat down eating funnel cake. Afterwards we headed back to the church to prepare ourselves for dinner as well as have a chance to wind down.

Caleb and Zach

While Caleb, Anna, Cora, Katie, Zach, Melanie, Brian, Gene, Joel, and Tyler were off having Zip Line Adventures, Pam and Barbara explored Manitou Springs by car - driving though various neighborhoods, the main street with all the businesses, and lots of people.  We even drove up to the beginning of the cog railway where we encountered a stuck delivery vehicle - it just couldn't make the turn.  There was a traffic control person that had to explain to four different vehicles that they had to turn around.  It appeared that it was going to take a while to convince that last driver that there was no going forward so we backed down the hill until we could turn around.  We did make a stop at a thrift store, where Pam was able to find a couple of items.  After a stop to buy the potatoes for the baked potato smorgasbord, we drove back into the main part of town.  We were successful in finding a parking place, not an easy task.  We walked up the street and joined up with the rest of the group.  Everyone was pretty tired so we headed back to base camp St. Andrew.  Dinner was successful in cleaning out a lot of food in the kitchen.  We had our final devotions and debriefing for the trip.  Katie left us this evening to spend some additional time in Colorado with cousins.  

Barbara and Pam