The Royal Gorge

                          I rode in the gondola with this family. They were lovely.

Royal Gorge is in Cañon City, Colorado and is a pleasant little day trip. The bridge has recently been renovated due to the damage from the wildfires in 2013. The new and improved Royal Gorge is far less kitschy and they've added a lot of family options and quality food. It's sort of the Chipotle model of tourism. I've never been to a tourist stop which offered seared-to-order lunch entrees.

To get across the quarter mile gorge there are three options: the bridge, the gondola and the zip line. Most people ride the gondola over and walk back across the bridge. On the other side there's a kid's Playland, a theatre, museum and a sky coaster.

Naturally, we wanted to zip line across the gorge. Teague didn't meet the 100 lb weight requirement, so Sean and I took turns hanging out at the Playland bench while the other zipped. Instead of being harnessed in and sort of dangling like typical zip lines, we were strapped into canvas seats which were attached to the line. I have to say, it was pretty comfortable to go screaming across a 1200 foot gorge in a chair.

There's also the Royal Gorge railway train option, which rides down through the gorge and  offers specialty rides like a Murder Mystery ride and a Santa Express train. White water rafting in the Arkansas river is advertised too.  We'll definitely be back for at least one of those.

                       Sean (left) zip lined barefoot. I lost an earring.

Big horn sheep just hanging out.

The bridge.