Winter Has Arrived in Colorado

Well, winter seems to be here and lucky us, we had planned a short weekend away just as it arrived!

Woody and I headed down to Colorado Springs Saturday after our workout. We had a Groupon to stay at the Cheyenne Mountain Resort for a night and wanted to check out the city that’s just an hour and a half south since we’ve done very little exploring outside the Denver/Boulder boundaries.

Did you know the US Olympic Committee and one of three Olympic Training Centers are located in Colorado Springs? What’s also cool is that anyone can take a free, 45-minute tour of the training center! This was our first destination when we got to town.

While we waited for the tour to start, Woody tested his strength. I think he’s going to make the next Summer Olympics. We’re just waiting for the coach at the training center to give him a call!

We got to see the gyms where the gymnasts and wrestlers train and the weight lifting room, the pool and the athletes dorm. Unfortunately we didn’t get to go inside the dorm.

There are usually 150 athletes living and training at the Training Center in Colorado Springs. Many have part-time jobs, often with Team USA sponsors, who allow them to work flexible schedules to train. Most athletes stay for an average of 2 – 4 years, training in order to earn a spot on Team USA, but one athlete stayed for eight years. You know him. Apolo Ohno! Not all athletes who train at the center end up on Team USA, but they have a pretty good success rate.

Sunday was a bit of an adventure. We woke up to this view from our room.

We did little prep for this trip but one thing we did do was purchase tickets for the Cog Railway to go up to the top of Pikes Peak. 14,114 feet up.

We got up early, had breakfast at the resort and made it through the snow and found out they weren’t going to the top. We decided to change our plans and go up sometime when the clouds weren’t sitting on the ground. More to come on that soon! I’m sure you’ve seen enough pictures for one go.

What’s your favorite Olympic sport to watch? * If you could be an Olympian, what sport would you compete in?