[AudieMurphy]

If you find yourself in colorful Colorado, take the Cog Railway up Pike's Peak. The railway is a nifty piece of old school engineering that lets a train climb up some really steep inclines. It's pretty kewl, and when you get to the top, you can see Inspiration Point where the "America the Beautiful" song was written. You sit up on the majesty of those purple mountains and check out the fruity plains. It's nice. They have a monument up there that has the whole song. The next verse starts with "O' beautiful for pilgrim's feet......" No wonder we never sing that part....ewwww....thinking about William Bradford's toejam doesn't exactly make me wanna scream, "U-S-A, U-S-A!" Plus, a tour guide tells you stories all the way up, and you get a lot of history and hear about the foolhardy souls that yearly race hot rods to the top of the mountain. Those guys must really have a 'need for speed' because if you mess up, that first step is a doozie as they say. Some of you might remember Jessie James on Monster Garage building and a racing a car in that race. Jessie is just about fearless, but he said it scared him.

That's one of the neatest little side trips I've taken.

vic