JZ had to fly out to San Francisco for work. He flew out Sunday and I packed up the rest of the Zoo into our trusty Subaru and headed south to Colorado Springs. The idea was to stay with my family while he was out of town, for moral support and all that jazz.

It was fantastic! Aunt M and Uncle T showed me the sights and spoiled us rotten. They took us to the Golden Bee for a half-yard of beer, and drove us up to Victor to see the changing of the leaves. I have never seen so many aspens before, and especially not full of so much color.IMG_5337 It was truly beautiful. Little Monkey and I also got to see our cousins a lot. I made more super food for V2 and this time made a diet version for V1, which I’ve decided is too chunky for a Vizsla. Dogs aren’t really allowed off leash in many places in Colorado, so finding ways to run them was challenging. I finally found the best dog park that I’ve ever been to- Bear Creek Dog Park. If you have dogs and are in the Colorado Springs area, take them there! This made life a bit easier because once I knew where to go it became part of my daily routine.

When JZ was finished with his San Francisco business, he flew back out to Colorado and met up with us in Colorado Springs. To give us an idea of what if would be like if we moved to Colorado Springs, Uncle T drove us around to some neighborhoods, focusing on where my cousins live out in the country. We are very interested in someday living on a nice piece of property and so it was very nice to get a good idea of what our options would be if we settled in Colorado Springs.

Colorado Springs was jam packed with activities. Aunt M and Uncle T watched Little Monkey one night and when Jake got off work the two of us biked around Garden of the Gods. JZ went back and hiked there with the dogs on his lunch break the next day. Our family date day at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo was our favorite family activity during this road trip so far. The zoo is incredible and Little Monkey had the best day of his life, I think! We did the marathon version of the zoo and saw every animal. Feeding the giraffes and seeing the grizzly bears were our top picks. Interestingly, the zoo held it’s grand opening for the tapir exhibit that day. Tapirs are unique looking creatures from…South America! We were pretty excited. There was tons of family time with all the cousins. Visiting with Aunt M and Uncle T, seeing Little Monkey interact with his cousins, and getting to catch up with mine, has hands down been my favorite experience of this road trip so far.

Although it’s lacking in the water/boating category, we do love Colorado Springs and it stays on our list of possible places to settle down someday.

On the Road Again,

Kato