Purple Mountain Majesties

O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,

For purple mountain majesties

Above the fruited plain!

America! America!

God shed his grace on thee

And crown thy good with brotherhood

From sea to shining sea!

These words were penned by Katharine Lee Bates after she visited Pike's Peak by Colorado Springs. We drove the 19 miles from Colorado Springs (altitude 6000 ft.) to the summit of Pike's Peak (altitude 14,110 ft.) It was so steep in places that I couldn't go over 10 mph. Part of the road is paved, and part is gravel. There was snow and fog on the way up, but the fog cleared so on the way down, we could see down the precipices and across the ranges of mountains. Coming back down, we were told to put the car in the lowest gear so that we didn't burn out our brakes! There were steep inclines and hairpin turns that made the Summits to Christina Lake look like a little winding road in the park! Just to prove we were there in the well-below freezing temperatures and blowing wind -- well above the tree line . . . (you can see that I cut the top of the sign off when it was my turn to take the photo!)

We witnessed what must surely be the most spectacular sights I have ever seen. I used up all my superlatives yesterday, and now I have no words left to describe the scenes. So, here are some of Nita's photos -- you know what they say about a picture being worth a thousand words! Too bad that even Nita's superb photography doesn't do justice to the pictures we saw with our eyes.

See the mountain ranges in the background.

This shows the summit -- and we were all the way up there at the very top!

I told you there was snow!

I will, however, have to try to describe the aspens. Remember that when I use the words "lower" altitudes, we are starting at 6000 feet! In the lower altitudes, the aspens are beginning to change colour. First, they seem to be almost a lime green. A little further up, and mixed in with the green aspens, are ones that are a mixture of green and yellow. Next, they become bright yellow, and then a tangerine orange colour. They look so spectacular because their trunks are paper white. Standing next to dark pines with black trunks makes them stand out even more. By the time we travelled further up the mountain, they had lost all their leaves and stood naked and chilly in the snow and wind. So here are some pictures of the aspens.

We're somewhere in the Rockies tonight in a little town named Dillon, Colorado. We're still about 7 or more hours from Salt Lake City if the weather holds. We hope to make it to Ogden, Utah tomorrow. We'll keep you posted.

By the way, just as a postscript -- the altitude at the summit made for strange feelings. I felt pretty uncomfortable -- a little shaky, swimmy head, and a general "not good feeling". These are signs of altitude sickness, except what I experienced was very mild. Some people cannot handle it and can become very sick. I think the combination of altitude, the special doughnuts that they can make only at that altitude (we ate two each), and the tension of the drive attacked my digestive system so that I have "suffered" every since! Not only that, but the little Suzuki also felt the altitude and had its oxygen sensor knocked out of whack. It cost $50 to have it put on the scan to find out what the warning light was all about! It's a good thing we met this very nice mechanic the previous day when I had the oil changed. We've now driven a couple of hundred plus miles in mountain country and no more warning lights. As well, a good shower and some ginger ale are working together to repair my innards too!