Manitou Take Two

We enjoy Manitou Springs so we decided to go back for another visit on the Fourth of July.  There's lots to do down there so we thought we'd hit up a few places we missed last time.

We started the day at Uncle Sam's Pancake House which, as you can see, was a perfect fit for the holiday:

Then we went to see the Manitou Cliff Dwellings. They're sort of a mini Mesa Verde. But I liked them whereas I don't love Mesa Verde.  I'm just contrary like that.  And if I'm honest, I can cross both of them off my list and don't need to go back. ;)

This is the Century Plant - it only blossoms once in a blue moon and we happened upon it at just the right time.  I want to know who figured out how long it was in between blossoms?

I was surprised how cool it was inside the dwellings! Those rocks kept the heat out fairly well. I bet they kept it warm inside for them in the winter too.

The view sure was pretty from there!

Then we went to the Miramont Castle Museum which is a pretty eclectic building and has had all sorts of uses over the years.

It also houses a fire museum inside. Dave really liked the helmet!

I liked it less...

And he was very ponderous as we went through the museum...

They had a little garden outside that we wandered through...  It was ok. It has a lot of potential but I'm sure they don't have the budget or manpower to really make it as pretty as it could be.

And this is the real reason we went back to Manitou - so that Dave could get some MATE (pronounced mah-tay)!  Mate is a drink that everyone loves in Argentina and he yearns for it every now and then. Unfortunately this wasn't the same type of mate he was used to so he was a little bit disappointed.

This is one of the many springs you can find in Manitou - but can you find Dave?

We really like Manitou so I'm sure we'll be back again! And there's still plenty that we haven't explored down there.