Dan Antion

The Amenities – #1LinerWeds

The formations are amazing
Sad shoe shelf

One of the interesting features of the over-the-top accommodations I was given at The Broadmoor last week, was a walk-in closet. I have to be honest; I’ve never been in a hotel room with a walk-in closet – I have been in hotel rooms that were the size of some walk-in closets, but I digress. One of the items in the closet was a shoe shelf. I sent a picture to our daughter. She replied: “I could fill that.”

I’ve traveled with Faith. I know very well that should could fill that shelf and probably have some spillage. The picture above is of the shoes she took to Florida for three days in the sun while I was in a series of meetings.

For the benefit of women who haven’t traveled with men like me, permit me to explain how I pack. All the pants and shirts in my suitcase go with a navy jacket, a black belt and black shoes. Since I knew I was hiking on Thursday, I wore my low-cut hiking shoes. That was easy, since those are my everyday shoes.

I sent faith the picture under the badge, and she responded:

“Aw, you made the shoe shelf sad.”

This post is part of Linda G. Hill’s fun weekly series One-Liner Wednesday. If you have a one-liner, I’d encourage you to join in on the fun. You can follow this link to participate and to see the one-liners from the other participants.

Today’s pictures are from that hike on Thursday, to the Garden of the Gods.

I was in a van with no ability to stop and wait for selfie-guy to wrap it up and leave.
The park was crowded. The main parking lot was full, so our hike would begin where we could find parking.
I’ll take that advice.
That rock formation is known as The Siamese Twins – thats our first stop.
Siamese Twins – the rock formation
Our guide offered to take pictures of us, sitting in the opening in the Siamese Twins formation. That’s Pike’s Peak behind me.
Our hike included many breaks for us to walk around and take pictures on our own.
Tough place to be a tree
The formations are amazing
Those antennae are for private/commercial use, but NORAD’s Cheyenne Mountain Complex in in that mountain.
We’re heading in that direction.
This is something you don’t see in Connecticut.
“Old Indian?” The reddish color is due to oxidation of the iron in the rock. The white areas either haven’t oxidized as much or have less iron content.
Back of the Kissing Camels.
Our guide told us to look for a big footprint. If you see it, let me know.
These formations popped up all along our hike.
It may be the fact that I graduated from the University of Pittsburgh, but I think I see a panther.
This formation is known as Three Graces.
Do you see “the kissing camels” ?
These formations have been pushed up as a result of a collision along a fault line.
They refer to the formations as “fins” since they look like fins sticking up through the earth.

85 comments

  2. I don’t recall ever having a walk-in closet in a hotel either – you lucked out, Dan! And, NO, I could not fill the shoe rack.
    I like the rock formations and once again – NO, you don’t see that in CT !! They are sort of like clouds, if you squint, you can see many different images.

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  3. LOL, I love Faith’s one-liner and the number of shoes she brought along for three days. One can never be too careful about covering all of the foot bases while traveling. At one time, I could have filled two of those hotel shelves…easily.

    I’ve never been in a hotel with a walk-in closet. Is that for the people who stay a week and bring four outfits for every day of the week? I’m usually happy with a comfy bed and pillows, a nice shower stream and a TV that works.

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    • Thanks Mary. I don’t know who stays in a suite like this one. I certainly didn’t know what to do with all the rooms or the closet space (there was another closet as well). I travel like you suggest, a comfy bed, internet, and a nice shower. I’ve actually taken the TV off the list, since most let you connect to Netflix or in my case, HuLu

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  6. Oh wow! This is one place I have to go with my camera, Dan!! AMAZING! I think I saw the big footprint but then again I’m not sure I did. This place is absolutely magical. I cannot even begin to imagine how it felt to be there. As for that shoe shelf …. your daughter cracks me up. I’d probably be in the company of you ….. a pair of sneakers. Period. My shoe days are over sadly. GREAT gallery!! Another place I put on my list for places I want to go to.

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    • Amy, I’m sure you would love hiking around there. This is the second time I’ve been on an arranged hike. Fortunately, we hiked into a different area. But because we were on planned excursion, there was only limited time to take photos. There were several places where I could have spent another 20-30 minutes.

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      • I wouldn’t do well on an arranged hike. In order to capture the magic or the feel of the moment, it is mandatory for me to wander at my leisure, stopping whenever I want to for as long as I want to.

        Short story: I went for my usual walk in a local park. Yes without my camera. I like to just get lost in what is around me and that day I was. I came upon a tree with its outer leaves this bright orange and in so seeing, I stopped in my tracks, just staring, drinking up the gorgeous sight. Two women coming towards me appeared quite concerned about my welfare asking if I was OK. Haven’t they ever seen anyone gawking at the glory that is before them? I almost laughed out loud, thinking how silly of these two women. Instead I politely replied, “I’m fine. I’m just stunned at this gorgeous tree.” They didn’t even stop to look at it. Rushing. On an agenda. That is what I avoid like the plague even when I’m not with my camera.

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  7. I must have just missed you in CO we got back from Co the 8th. Garden of the Gods is a wonderful place. I have really enjoyed seeing your posts about Colorado, the Broadmore and Colorado Springs again. I would make that shoe shelf sad too I pack only three pairs tops… Anyway, could you help me see if I have gotten my WordPress issue fixed? I have been trying to change my domain and contact email for months and I think I fixed it but I need a response from WordPress to see if it is sending notifications to the correct email address. If not I will just let the WP happiness engineers fix it.

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    • I’d be happy to do anything I can. I am currently going through almost a weeks worth of notifications. I do see a notice of a new post by you. I’ll try opening that in a few minutes. If I can, I’ll leave a comment.

      I did think of you while we were out there, but I was there on the 18th-20th.

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  9. I have several thoughts here.

    1) These photos are stunning.
    2) Your daughter is my kind of people. I have to fight the impulse to pack shoe options out the wazoo plus a spare set just in case. Which means I could fill the shoe shelf then line some up underneath for good measure.
    3) My husband is not a fan of traveling with me and my shoes. Add in MY daughter and things get nutty. :)

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    • My wife doesn’t enjoy travel, but when she did travel, she packed like you suggest. I’m not sure my car could support a road trip with her and our daughter. I’m sure Faith will appreciate your comment (I do, too),.

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  10. One pair of high top hikers would cover the shoe rack and any formal occasions on the trip. If I might paraphrase Will Rogers I never met a visual metaphor I didn’t like. Hmmm except maybe the kissing camels. I will meet you at Cheryl’s on Saturday and we can use copious quantities of erasing fluid to forget that was ever mentioned…

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  13. LOL! I love Faith’s response! I could fill up that shelf easily too. I don’t pack more than 3 pairs of shoes. I just got back from a trip in which I packed two pair of shoes, and only wore one pair the whole week. I was happy to have the spare pair and not need them, as opposed to needing them and not having them though.

    What a gorgeous park! Those Hoo-doos are so neat. I always see shapes and familiar things in them a lot like clouds. I did see the panther, but not the footprint. Did you see it?

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    • I did not see the footprint, even after the guide directed our attention to it. It’s in one of the compressed layers, about halfway up (so they say). In this case, save for the business functions, I would have been fine with just the low rise hiking shoes.

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  17. I can’t even imagine what it must feel like to live the lifestyle that requires a walk-in closet. Lol. Or having a wardrobe to fill it!!

    Photos are gorgeous, especially the Siamese Twins and Kissing Camels. Beautiful scenery.

    You rock Faith….gotta keep those tootsies happy so far away from home!
    🐾Ginger 🐾

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    • Thanks Ginger. I’m sure Faith appreciates the support. She would fill that shelf. I was looking at a lot of empty hangers in that closet. I was only there about 48 hours, but that included 5 meals, a meeting and the hike. I begged out of two after-dinner events (the days of alcohol-fueled evenings are in the past for me).

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  18. All so beautiful, makes me homesick, but I do get to ride along today down to Fort Collins and see the mountains. Heavenly! I don’t see the footprint but the Indian has two, the old one on top laying down with arms crossed and the chief in the side….maybe?🧐🤓😎😌

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  22. Great hike, Dan. Oh I could use that shoe shelf on any trip. I usually need an extra bag for my shoes…
    Love that shot of you on the rocks. Nice hat! 😀
    Hubs knew where Garden of the Gods is. He lived in Denver for awhile.

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    • I figured you would be supporting Faith’s feelings about the shoe shelf, Cheryl :-) I’d love to have a couple of days to just roam around on my own out there. It really is remarkable.

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  24. Horsefeathers Dan. You’ve really been on the go this summer. Florida, Pittsburg, didn’t you go to Iowa too? Now Colorado. No wonder you know how to pack. The bit about the shoe shelf being sad absolutely slayed me. LOL. Hugs on the wing!

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  26. I have trouble with shoes when we travel… or, maybe I should say my husband has trouble with them. I really try to keep them to a minimum, but I have been known to tuck a pair or two in where he can’t see them. Funny, I was in Nordstrom today and noticed that the women’s shoe department took up about half a floor. The men’s shoes almost looked like an afterthought, wedged into a corner. We females may be the addicts, but it’s not completely our fault… the stores are the pushers.

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    • They got you hooked with those Mary Janes and flip-flops. The first few are inexpensive, but then…

      When I have to buy shoes, I always have to hike through the women’s shoes to find the few shelves of men’s shoes.

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    • Thanks Jill. I guess I could have put my hiking shoes on it as well, but the truth is, I didn’t leave my dress shoes there very long. The Garden of the Gods is such an amazing place. I’m glad you liked the pictures.

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    • I’m glad you enjoyed these pictures, Peter. It’s hard to look at some things in nature an think that they are totally random. What amazes me almost more than the rock formations is the way some of the trees thrive in that area. It’s as if they have such a strong will to survive.

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  30. The beauty is unforgettable, eh? Because there was grass in between the rocks, I didn’t even make an effort to climb (never saw the sign you posted here!). There were a few white rocks – I thought they were even more stunning! Part of one of huge red rocks I included in a painting.

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    • I envy your ability to capture the appearance and your interpretation and feelings in a painting. The white rocks are stunning, and knowing that that might not stay white (or why they are white) doesn’t diminish that reaction. We stayed on paths that were fairly easy to hike. I would like to go back when I would have a little more time/freedom, but I appreciated that our guide built in a few periods where we could scramble around on our own.

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      • Didn’t know there were guides. We went with our host (friend) we were staying with and demanded Hubs not only work, but also took some time to see the sights. But it would be nice and worth to visit again!

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        • I would normally wander around on my own, but this hike was organized to get us out after lunch and back before dinner. There were 17 people in the group, so a guide (actually 2) was required.

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  32. LOL – I love Faith’s comment!!! I think it is funny that you made a point to hang your shoes there just to prove you used the walk-in closet. I did not see the bigfoot print – saw the kissing camels – no panther, but a guy taking a peek at mountains, yep, saw that! And that selfie-guy photo is hilarious!

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  33. The Broadmoor is where many newlyweds spend their honeymoon if they can afford it. How did you like the city of Colorado Springs?

    The southern Rockies are fun. The Cowboys and True Grit with John Wayne was filmed in South Park, which is more or less due west of Colorado Springs. Did you get far enough north to see Devil’s Head?

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    • Unfortunately, this was a non-stop drill, and we are there for our customers. Some people choose to stay an extra day or two, but I wasn’t up for that. The only sights I saw were the ones that were part of the organized activity. This year, that was the hike in the Garden of the Gods. The last time we were there, we could have toured the Air Force Academy or take the Cog Railroad up to Pike’s Peak. There’s always a nice activity, but it’s always an organized affair. It does look like a wonderful area to explore. Maybe I’ll get back out there someday (probably not at the Broadmoor).

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      • Dan, that’s okay. I figured you were with a group of some sort. Garden of the Gods is a fantastic nature hike. I think it’s better than visiting Pike’s Peak. Thanks for sharing the photos. There are times when I really miss Colorado and having photos to browse through help.

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  34. Some great shots here, Dan. I’m an east-coaster who hasn’t been west very much, and when I have, it’s been to places like California and Oregon. There’s a lot of true “west” places that I have yet to visit and explore, and places like the Garden of the Gods would certainly be on my short list.

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    • Thanks Paul. Most of my travels west have skipped everything between the Hudson and the Rockies. I hope I have a chance to see more places like this after Iretire, but a big part of me wants to be done traveling – especially if it involves an airport.

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  35. Haha! It did look a lil sad!
    On my last trip to Florida, I wore sandals and took trainers. Young me commented on how old and practical we’ve become, but wasn’t that suitcase light? :D

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