Pike’s Peak

We drove up Pike’s Peak. We had been to a museum the day before that said that the car race record for the drive is 10 minutes. How hard could it be?

This is on the lower slope. It is a view of the lakes used to control the flow of water down the mountain.

The drive got interesting when we passed the tree line. That’s when the SO sort of started to hyperventilate. He mentioned in a very calm and detached voice that he was scared of heights. This was alarming mostly because he was the one driving! If you haven’t been there, they are no guardrails on these very narrow twisting roads. There was no place to pull over and let me drive. We got to the top and he was out of it. There is 50% less oxygen at the top of the mountain than at sea level. He was glassy eyed and not himself. I left him sitting in the gift store to breathe while I went for pictures.

I turned around from taking this shot and found him wandering towards the edge of the mountain. He had french fries and kept feeding them to me like it was the most important thing ever. I drove down the mountain since I’m not afraid of heights (and apparently don’t need oxygen to function). Friends don’t let friends drive oxygen deprived. It started to hail as we left the parking lot so that made it more exciting. You have to go slow and there are lots of signs that say “Hot brakes fail.” I was in low gear and not using the brakes but every time I moved over 20 mph his brain would wake up and he’d say, “Too fast.” It was interesting how that worked.