2026 Mar Ride to Salida with Fox

Fox's First big Motorcycle Ride

It's spring break for my grandkids. Klair says her kids have a bunch of "hangouts" planned so they can't go do any multi-day activities. I would have loved to take them all to the Grand canyon or something else epic. So instead I'm going to take my grandson Fox on a long motorcycle ride.  I thought about asking if he wanted to go, or even asking where he'd want to go, but when I talk to Koren (his mom) she said that given the choice he'll just sit home all day and play video games. So we're just going to tell him he's going on this ride. 

I picked him up Monday night and we did let him play some video games and watch some TV. I went to bed early since I'll be riding all day. Nannette made him go to bed at 9:30. I did hear some of their conversation, Nan ask him "why do I have to tuck you in when your mom doesn't?". He said "cause you spoil me."

I woke up at 6:00, showered, ate some breakfast, and went to do a little bit of work. I didn't hear a peep out of Fox until 9:00. Usually when he stays with us he's up with me at 6:00 but not today.

Trying on the mask and snorkel and pretending to swim

I had made him some eggs and bacon so he ate those then we packed up the bike and got ready to leave. One goal of this trip is to take him swimming and teach him how to use a mask and snorkel. He's going to Hawaii this summer and that will be a helpful thing for him to know how to use. We tried on his mask and made it fit but there's no way the swim fins made for 3-year-olds was going to fit. So we rode over to Target to look for bigger ones. They didn't have any. 

We gassed up the bike and started to head south towards Pueblo. Normally I would take highway 115 down to highway 50 but there's a great big fire on Fort Carson and the road is closed. So we took the freeway all the Way down to Pueblo and then took highway 50 over towards Canon City.  Traffic wasn't bad but I hate freeway driving and don't like highway driving much better. 

It was about 86° so we stop to get cold drinks then drove her out of town on highway 50.  Just outside of town we turn off onto skyline drive. We took pictures at the entrance and then started driving up the road. It's a one-lane road the climbs up on top of the ridge and then drive straight down the top of that Ridge for about 4 miles.  We took a bunch of pictures. He kept saying " what a view!"

The entrance to Skyline Drive

Hobgacks Recreation Are on Skyline Drive

Fox on Skyline

Rock Climbing on Skyline Drive

Riding the Hogback

More Skyline Drive

We got back on the highway and drove about 20 mi until we reach the turnoff to Royal gorge. I was saddened to see a bunch of the restaurants in this area were closed and several look like they were for sale.  I've eaten a lot of meals in this area because one of my favorite rides is to come out this way then go north and a little bit east through Guffy and cripple Creek, then back home. 

We turned off towards Royal gorge and drove the 5 mi out to the parking lot. It cost about $50 for both of us to get in. We took the gondola across the board and then started walking down the trail. We saw people zip lining across the gorge as we were crossing. It looked pretty cool and Fox really wanted to try it. I told him we would check after we finished looking around. 

Glass Floor in the Gondola

Bridge from the Gondola Area

Train at the bottom of the Gorge

Rock Climbers on a guided tour in the Gorge

We got off the gondola we started walking down the path. A lot of things were closed but we took pictures and enjoyed the views. There's a pretty interesting playground set with slides bridges and other things but Fox had no interest I'm doing any of that. He also didn't want to ride the merry-go-round. We did go watch the movie about Royal gorge and how it was built, it was pretty entertaining. 

Finally you got to the bridge itself and all fox had to say is "So why are we here?". I asked if he didn't think it was kind of cool and said yes but I don't think he was all that impressed. The train was just going through the gorge beneath us. It was barely going at walking pace.  There is an open cop car with a bunch of people in it. I asked Fox what he could see and he said,"I train car filled with coal".   I asked him several times but he just couldn't make out the details. Maybe it's time to get him a real eye exam. 

Crossing the bridge

View from the bridge

After we cross the bridge we grabbed ice cream cones and sodas and tried to sit down in the shade to relax. There was a wasp on the table so Fox kept jumping up and running away. He said if one stings you it will just keep stinging you until you die. I told him if it stings me I'm going to kill it it won't have a chance to kill me. 

Another trip in the gondola

After we finished our cones we got back on the gondola and rode across to check out the zip line. It was open but unfortunately they have a minimum weight of 125 lb and Fox just didn't make that so he couldn't ride. He was disappointed 

We got back on the gondola and again got the glass bottom car. Once we started going I had Fox lay on the glass and act like he was about to fall he loved it and I got some interesting pictures is he pantomimed falling. 

Help I'm Falling

Help I'm Falling!

I can see my house from up here

Photo op

We got all our stuff packed away and suited back up, then started back towards the highway. I had thought about stopping along the Arkansas River to take pictures we've already got a lot of pictures so we just rode enjoying the scenery. I haven't even picked out a hotel yet so when we got to Salida I pulled over in some shade and started browsing hotels.com and found one right across the street from the aquatic center. 

The silver Ridge Lodge was $98 including tax for one night. There's a pretty good size room with two queen beds. I thought about going out to a restaurant for dinner but both of us were a little bit tired and we'd been in the sun quite a bit today so I just ordered Domino's. A medium pepperoni pizza and ate chicken wings.

Our Room

Let me present our refrigerator

A Fox in its nativ habitat

Dinner

I let Fox play on the switch while we waited and I started editing my insta360 photos and uploading them.  The pizza came after 20 minutes and I ate two pieces pretty quick. Finally had to make Fox turn off the game before he'd start eating but then he devoured three pieces pretty quick. After half an hour we started getting ready to go to the aquatic center. It's so close we don't even need to ride the motorcycle we just put on our suits, a shirt, and our shoes without socks and walked over. 

It cost about $25 for both of us to get in. Since it was Fox's first time there he had to take a swimming test or he'd have to stand beside me the whole time. He did a lot better on the swim test and I thought he would. He did freestyle the whole length of the lane and the lady said he's just fine. 

Salida Aquatic Center

Snorkelling - he suit was constantly trying to come off

Jumping off the diving board

Our goal was to get him used to wearing a mask and snorkel. He started trying to do it in a deeper section of the pool where he couldn't touch bottom and that didn't work well. We switched to the shallow end of the pool and the water was very warm there, probably 100°. It felt really good. 

The shallow water also worked a lot better. I taught him how to slowly and smoothly put his head underwater so the snorkel wasn't constantly filled with water by diving deep, then I showed him how to blow the water out of the snorkel and within a few minutes he was happily paddling away looking at the fish starfish and seashells painted on the bottom of the pool. He enjoyed it. 

He also enjoyed going off the diving board and I took a few slow motion videos of him diving.  I swam a few laps just to get loosened up, then took a few pictures of him snorkeling around. He got pretty good at just keeping his head under floating along and moving himself through the water I think he'll do great in Hawaii. 

After 7 people started going home and soon there weren't many people left in the pool. There was one older lady that Fox played beach ball volleyball with for 20 minutes. I think she enjoyed it every bit as much as he did. And finally it was time to leave. The pool closes at 8:00 but they like people out of the water by 7:45.   We were there close to 3 hours.

We just put our shirts and shoes back on because we just had to walk across the road. As we were crossing the highway, the lady that Fox had been playing volleyball with joined us crossing the street. She told Fox she was following him because she had so much fun. They went to the hotel next to ours.

Walking back to the hotel - Fox doing his Forrest Gump impression

Once we are back in the room I made Fox grab stuff and take a shower. He got his pajamas but when he went to look for his underwear he couldn't find any. I guess he'll have to do the Big hero 6 thing, front side, back side, inside out, front side, back side. He's got underwear for several more days I guess. 

Once he was done with the shower he ate the last piece of pizza. I'm going to shower and finish the chicken wings. 

TOMORROW I WILL ADD DAY 2