Now yesterday I told you about our Slip n' Slide exploits and explained to you that for about 60 centavos per kiddo you could make a throng of 30 children very happy. Well I am happy to report that today our exploits were as follows, and again, it took very little money to make the kids happy.We took the day camp down to the Springs today. Our adventure started at America the Beautiful Park. This is one of my all time favorite parks. What it lacks in shade it
makes up for in play ground equipment and a huge water fountain art piece not to mention the most incredible view.
The park has been remade into a very hip little park. The playground has what I call "a futuristic playground" with crazy swings, spinney things, log rolling rings, and many other cool things. Today a group of us tried to balance on the log ring which is really a rotating plastic disc. But it reminds me of those lumber jack competitions where you try and roll your opponent off their log. 2 adults and about 8 kids jammed this disk as we got beat up by falling. Oh what a fun time.
Also the kids played in the big art water piece. This thing is massive and shoots out torrents of water. Below it they have a collecting pool that the kids can play and run around in. The kids enjoyed this as well. Though I am not sure the day camp kids fully appreciated the water area, my kids and I personally love this place.
So after ATBP, we moved onto a sleepy little tourist town located up the road called Manitou Springs. We went to the old time Penny Arcade there and here's where the very little money part comes into play. This place has games from the turn of the past century through today. Games range from a penny to a dollar plus. The kids primarily played ski-ball and bought the massive jaw breakers that every kid loves. I got to play my own personal childhood favorite, Tron. What a blast from the past not to mention that I got to play Asteroids as well.
This place has everything from Funnel Cake and Ice Cream to restaurants all around. It is one of my all time favorite Colorado Haunts. There are many art festivals and activities throughout the year. Be forewarned though, it is a bit of a hippie town. I'll leave it at that.
So, for about $5-$10 dollars per kid, we had a great time and most of the kids were happy as a pig in a blanket.
Who says money can't buy happiness?
2 comments:
that place looks really fun! i'll bet nat would have a blast there, especially in that water thing-a-ma-jig. Colorado Springs you said?
Yup, just west of Downtown Colorado Springs. I think on most maps the park is marked as Confluence Park. You have to kind of backtrack from Bijou exit to get there.
If you go there, you can go west on Colorado Ave. up to Colorado City, another cute and quaint town before you get to Manitou.
T
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