No, the OTHER Left

Off today to Colorado Springs to ride the Cog Railway up to the top of Pike's Peak--the 14,110 foot 31'st highest mountain in Colorado.  (?!)  Before we did that, however, we needed to find a Walgreens or the like for some essential items like toothpaste, and, forgetting our experience at the airport last night, I asked the hotel clerk for directions.  She was very clear:  Take 6th Ave (right out the door of the hotel) west to Del Mar.  Turn left on Del Mar, turn right on Peioria, and the Walgreens is right there.  Off we toodled.  Del Mar was right where it was supposed to be, and I turned left.  We even found Peoria right where IT was supposed to be; however, it dead-ended into Del Mar from the left.  No right turn possible.  Turning left seemed futile, as it would simply send us back the way we came, and surely we could have picked some other cross street to go down if we had needed to go there, but we tried it anyway, without desired result.  So  I went back to Del Mar, thinking that perhaps some OTHER street would go off to the right, only to discover that the "Cr" after the "Del Mar" on the street sign meant "Crescent," and Del Mar shortly bonked right back into 6th Avenue one block further west.  We found a grocery store and bought what we needed.  The whereabouts of the Walgreens in Aurora, CO, remains a mystery.

The drive to Colorado Springs was much less eventful (one slowdown due to spectacularly crashed car that appears to have rolled), though it is true that the street signs in Manitou are invisible to drivers, and the sign for the last turn to the Cog Railway only exists if you are approaching the turn from the west, and we were approaching from the east, but once we got ourselves turned around, we found the place in plenty of time to eat a leisurely picnic lunch in lovely weather, surrounded by well-behaved (amazing!) tourists and about a trillion hummingbirds.

...there wasn't any pitching for 100 miles.

The round trip is about 3 hours, and it was really beautiful.  The views from the top are spectacular (as are the views on the way up), even in cloudy weather, which we had.  We couldn't see the "180 miles to the curvature of the earth," that they can apparently see on really clear days, but we could see all the way to "...that place where nothing is happening:  Kansas."  The tour guide's jokes were fairly predictable.  We did, however, acquire for $4 a book about the railway with lots of photos, including the really morbid one of a dead couple who froze to death on their honeymoon trying to hike to the top of Pike's Peak.  Everyone says the photo is morbid, but that's the one they use to sell the book, of course....

The air at 14,110 feet is QUITE thin, and the temperature was in the upper 20s, so we didn't spend a lot of time romping around the viewing platform.  We spent some time in the shop (NOTHING but totally tacky tourist crap; I couldn't find anything to buy.  I told Kenny that I'm going to tell Tim that the gift I brought him from the top of Pike's Peak is that I forbore to buy anything.)  We did, however, eat one of the "famous" Pike's Peak donuts.  "This special recipe can only be made at 14,000 feet."  Okay.  It was a donut.  A plain cake donut, a little on the greasy side.  For 90 cents and all the hoopla, I expected more.  It was hot, though, and in 28 degree weather, that's a bonus.  Wildlife sitings included Yellow-Bellowed Marmots (about a dozen, including some babies), all apparently just out of hibernation in the last couple of weeks, and the butt of a White-Tailed dear.  No sign of Sasquatch, despite the tour guide's exhortations to look for him.  That trip made for an extremely pleasant afternoon, and I do recommend it if you're ever in the vicinity.  Worth the money.  Take a camera; take extra batteries.

After the train trip, we headed to Security Service Park for the vaunted match-up between the Colorado Springs Sky Sox and the Tacoma Raniers (one of the worst names in Minor League Baseball, which specializes in worst names).  The Sky Sox are the AAA afiliate of the Colorado Rockies, and the Rainiers belong to the Mariners.  I thought it was AA ball until I looked it up on the web last night, and suffiice it to say that, based on that game, anyone would have believed me if I had said these were A ball teams.  The home team won 13-9 after a comedy of actually only one error in which neither team showed any inclination to hold on to a lead of any size (the lead changed hands 7 times, at least once it was three runs).

At the concession stand during one of the approxmiately 11 pitching changes, I overheard the clerk ask the guy in front of me how it was going.  When he remarked that it was going fine, at this point the home team was ahead--briefly--I commented that there wasn't any pitching for 100 miles.  The final tally was 22 runs, 26 hits, about 6 walks, 2 strikeouts (I think), one error, a large number of dropped balls salvaged by brilliant throws, one error erased by the fact that the throw got the guy at first, whereas there should have been an EASY double-play, three homeruns, and a whole bunch of other stuff.  333 pitches.  For awhile, it looked like the game was going to last at least four hours, but it suddenly sped up in the 8th inning, and much time was recouped.  The last half inning lasted four minutes.  Amazing.  The game-winner was a BOOMING homerun to absolutely dead center that stopped at 410 feet only because the wall stopped it; no wall, maybe the thing goes 450.  The evening ended with one of the best fireworks displays I ever saw, so the whole thing was quite enjoyable.

Colorado-Can't-Give-Directions experience continues, even at ballgame:  As we went in, I asked the ticket-taker where the nearest ladies' room was.  She said, "Just over there--turn left."  So of course I turned right, and went right in.

Other big excitment:  Just inside the entry gate is a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory outlet--the only one in a sporting arena, we were reliably told by the guy at the counter who regaled us with the location of every outlet in Colorado (two at the Denver Airport, both in the B-terminal).  Since Tim owns stock in the venture, we of course HAD to support the effort, and so I forced myself to acquire (and eat) a decadent caramel apple called "Snickers Apple" while Kenny graciously agreed to suffer through one called "Rocky Road Apple."  What we will do to stimulate the economy.  I highly recommend this experience, as well, if you ever get to Colorado Springs.

If the Mariners or Rockies are in trouble for pitching at the major league level, though, watch for them to cruise straight to last place as there ain't no hope in the minors.

Altogether:  a most enjoyable day.  Tomorrow we are off to the Denver Museum of Art to see a display of psychadelic music posters from San Francisco in the 60's and 70's and then we're meeting Tim's old friend John Jean for dinner and another whack at a ballgame--this time the Rockies themselves.  We'll scope out the pitching and make prognistications for the future of the club.