Once the Pikes Peak Cog Railway deposited us at the top of Pikes Peak, 14,110 feet above sea level, it was clear to all of us that Day Five had just won the vacation, if not our entire vacation history.

The views from all directions effectively narrate themselves.

Where we came from:

Some souls were brave enough to venture beyond the immediate plateau and into the cliffside rocks. Good scary family fun!

As a test of mettle for the advanced adventurer, this plaque was perched precariously by the precipice. Don’t ask me what it said, because I’ll never know.

Incontrovertible evidence of just how high we were. And also how woozy. Thin air was not our friend. In retrospect, it’s probably for the best that the Railway only allowed us forty-five minutes to wander the peak before returning us to Manitou Springs at a mere 6,571 feet above sea level, where low temperatures and altitude sickness would no longer try to kill us.

Enriching our exhilarating mountaintop experience: the world-famous Pikes Peak donuts and decaf.

Our stay was all too brief and breathtaking beyond words. I wish I’d written a bucket list before we left home and put Pikes Peak at the top of it. Then I could cross it off and beam with pride. In fact, if we could all pretend together that that’s exactly what I did in the first place, that would be grand. (As was the mountain itself.)

To be continued!

[Link enclosed here to handy checklist for previous and future chapters, and for our complete road trip history to date. Thanks for reading!]