Colorado Springs - Day Three

On our third day at Colorado Springs, we drove to Helen Hunt Falls. The drive itself was gorgeous. 

The falls were very pretty. The water was ice cold! We could barely dip our feet in!

Above the falls

They had mining pans there so we could mine for gold and gemstones from the gravel near the stream. We were hoping to hit it rich but no such luck. They did find some pretty rocks though.

A pretty deer checking us out. 

The lady at Helen Hunt Falls told us we should really take a tour of Old Gold Camp Road. The drive was amazing! The views looking down were incredible. The road is supposedly haunted, but we didn't see any ghosts.

The rock tunnels were cool!

This guy didn't drive quite as carefully as we did. The road was pretty scary. It was unpaved and had no guard rails for these drops.

After the scenic drive, we headed out to the Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center. Lizzy's favorite animal is the wolf so she was really excited about this. It is about an hour out of Colorado Springs, way up in the mountains. Just as we were headed out of town, our battery light went on. While we were debating what to do, suddenly all the lights went on and the ac stopped. Thankfully, the car made it to the mechanic where we were able to get a new alternator put in in about an hour. We were very lucky, because if we had made it to the wolf place, it was way up in the mountains on a dirt road - that would have been an expensive tow and on a Friday evening, it would have been difficult to find a place to repair the car! We missed our tour, but we were able to reschedule it to the feeding tour which was more fun anyways. Lizzy loved it!

This place rescues wolves that cannot be put back in the wild, mostly because they were kept as pets. For some reason, the lady said people love to have wolf pups as pets. Then one day, the adorable puppy eats the cat and they no longer want it. So they get to come here. The workers were very sweet and their care and concern of the wolves is obvious.

They had two adorable Artic wolf pups that were 8 weeks old.

Foxes

We met the mayor of Divide, Colorado. A beautiful wolf named Shunka. Divide is a very small town so they always elect an animal as their mayor just for fun!

This wolf was very sad because her mate had died last week. 

Since we were early for the tour after missing the one before, we had plenty of time to check out the gift shop, so Lizzy was able to beg Grandpa for a stuffed wolf.

I have a neat video of all the wolves howling at the end of the tour, but it's on the other computer. I'll try to put it up soon.

We saw more deer on the way back to the hotel.

I can't leave Colorado Springs without giving a shout out to our hotel while we were there. Hotel Elegante was beautiful and the room was great - the extra sink makes it so much easier for families. But what really stood out to us was the service. We got an upgraded room which included breakfast and cocktail hour with hors d'oevres. The food was great - especially the omelets, but the staff was amazing! If you are ever in Colorado Springs, we highly recommend this place.