Kanorado

Another day, another state. This morning we awoke to a cool breeze and a gentle rain. For this dyed in the wool Southerner, it sure was chilly! Honestly, I was pretty excited. The idea of a day in July when I don't work up a sweat is every Mississippian's dream! Kansas to the west was fairly similar to the rest of Kansas- wheat. Interestingly, there are sunflowers on every highway sign, yet there was nary a one on the highway. Disappointed...

Crossing into Colorado, I naively expected to immediately see mountains. Wrong. It just looked like an extension of Kansas. Eventually we took the road the "the Springs," a two-lane highway through a whole lot of pasture land. Seemed a little strange to me that the fastest route to CS was a two-land road. Anyhoo...we headed straight to the US Olympic Training Center. Wow! I consider myself a little bit obsessed with the Olympics so this was just the place for me! Just the preview movie had me tearing up. Between Kerry Strug, Eric Jantzen and the Miracle on Ice, I was in heaven!

We watched a preview movie showing a little bit of the facility. After the movie, we were given a tour of the facility. It was awe inspiring. We saw the pool where Michael Phelps trains...yeah, that's what I said. Cool! Our guide showed us the catwalk over the lanes where the coaches walk while they are working out. He told us they love to throw a rope down to the swimmers, have them climb up the rope, do pull-ups on the catwalk, drop back into the water, and finish their laps. Who does that??? They also have belts they wear tied to rope with weights attached that pull on them as they swim. The tour guide said he has seen them pull up to 90 pounds while swimming! We went to the training gym next where the basketball, trampoline, volleyball and men's gymnastics train. The ceilings are 42 feet high- required for both volleyball and trampoline. I asked if the pros practice basketball there. He said they do, sometimes. Again, cool! He also said that the reason the female gymnasts don't train there is because most of them are under 16, which is the minimum age for residents at the facility. We saw the wresting facility, dormitory, shooting facility and the weight room. I loved it! Did I mention the weather??? Seventy-five degrees and breezy! So nice! 

After we were done, we made our way to the hotel- complete with sleep number beds, a game room, pool and hot tub! After settling in, we headed back out for dinner. Jack made the call and we found an Italian restaurant that we all loved. Now we are about to head to the pool. Early and big day tomorrow- a train ride up to Pikes Peak, a hike through Garden of the Gods and then a baseball game! Of course, the weather will be insane...lows in the 50's and highs in the 70's! Cool!