Colorado Springs: Wrapping Up Our Stay

Thursday, 26 July 2018
Peregrine Pines FamCamp — USAFA … Colorado Springs, Colorado
Temps: 72F (22C) / 56F (13C)

Two weeks at the USAFA famcamp in “the Springs” — as the locals refer to Colorado Springs — has flown by.  I figured I had better write a quick summary of our time before the memories become fuzzier than they already are … and before we begin the trek back to Houston, Texas tomorrow.
We left our site at Cherry Hill State Park in Aurora, Colorado on the 13th … but not before being visited by the resident deer again.  This time they brought a fawn with them … what a delight.

Fawns are born with their camouflage spots and start losing them at 90 to 120 days old.

Our drive down to USAFA was short — about 60 miles (96 km) … mostly on I-25S — and uneventful.  Since we arrived well-before the noon check-in, we had to dally a bit by the famcamp office, but by 1:00p we were settled into our assigned site … #93.  This 50A FHU site is spacious, with neighboring sites more than a comfortable distance away.  No sites in front of us … and a hole in the tree canopy to get a satellite signal.  What more could we ask for?

We’re delighted with the site we’ve been assigned.

Our time here was very busy … hence today’s summary write-up.  A good chunk of our time was spent checking out planned communities — single family and patio-home.  When we weren’t visiting model homes, we were talking about our exit plan from full-timing … the when, the where.  We re-visited in our minds our “we can potentially live here” list … scratching off some places permanently … adding others.  I’m happy to say that we have a plan now.  But that is for another post … another time.

When we weren’t focused on said exit plan, we enjoyed fun times, visiting some favorite haunts here at the Air Force Academy, and walking a couple of the trails we missed when we were here in 2015.

The weather cooperated beautifully with our outings.  We mostly had blue skies and sunshine, with occasional rain storms coming through late in the afternoon … usually when we were at home.  One storm was a doozy, but its impact was felt more in nearby Manitou Springs, where the residents found themselves having to heed a mandatory evacuation order for flash floods.  The temperatures ranged from 91F (33C) on the high end to 60F (16C) at the low end … most days falling somewhere in the middle.  Perfect weather … and little to no humidity.

I opted to keep my camera tucked away when we re-visited some of the places we had previously explored.  But fear not, here’s a post from 2015 that has a bunch of words and photos if you want to check them out.

Since our trail walks were intended for exercise, I only had my phone with me.  I’ll share a few of the shots I took just for documentation purposes.

This small section of the Santa Fe Trail …

… winds its way by Ice Lake and …

… an arroyo that has a bit of water as a result of recent rains.

This retention pond near the famcamp serves as a mirror for the beautiful scenery.

And that wraps up our stay at USAFA.  Not necessarily looking forward to returning to Houston — the high there today was a humid 96F (36C).  But we have to take the Phaeton back so we can prepare for our overseas adventure … which begins in early August.  We have four nights planned on the road … maybe we’ll get lucky and the temps will drop by the time we get to our Houston base
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