To Shiny Rails

My sister Vickie and I played disc golf at Palmer Lake this afternoon. The course is also known as “Rockin’ the Rails” because the “front nine” go right alongside the railroad (BNSF/UPRR) right-of-way from north of the pedestrian bridge over the tracks on the mountain side of the tracks (holes 1 and 2) to south of the bridge and east of the tracks (holes 3-9). The “back nine” are closer to the lake. Had we been stronger disc throwers there would definitely have been a concern about discs going into the railroad right-of-way. We almost finished the 9th hole before the weather drove us off the course (rain, cold, windy). Here’s a big clue for newbies on this course: the 7th basket is back toward the bridge from the 7th tee. We went the other way, quite a ways, to find nothing. The 8th basket is buried in very high, thick bushes. If you happen to be a railfan as well as a disc golf player, you’ll love this course. If you’re there a couple hours, odds are a train will come through.

Here are a few pics from the January TECO Model Train Show that Matteo and I attended at the Colorado Springs Events Center.

We took our California visitors over New Year’s weekend to the top of Pikes Peak via the BROADMOOR Manitou and Pikes Peak Cog Railway. First time on the total rebuild of the system. Took several years and about $100 million. As it turned out, we road on one of the cars that remains in the stable from pre-rebuild days. All the photos start here.

I took Matteo and AJ to Big Train Family Restaurant after church and then on to the TECO Train Show at the Chapel Hills Mall Event Center. What a hoot! There were plenty of fabulous layouts and AJ really got into the scavenger hunt they provided to help the younger ones focus on layout details. The Rocky Mountain Railroad Heritage Society had a booth there, too.