We made our way to Manitou twice.
And it probably takes much more than that to fully experience its quiet charm laid out at the foot of Pike's Peak.
The first time around, we walked through town, looking in shop windows and occasionally stepping in when something caught our eye. We stopped to hear a wiry, old man strumming a familiar Johnny Cash tune and sang along (okay, that was just me). We kept in stride and chatted between ourselves the whole way to the pizza place near the end of the road. We ate and chatted a whole bunch more.
The second time around was much different. We had our gym shoes laced, our water bottles packed in backpacks alongside stacks of protein bars, and we braced ourselves for 2,744 vertical steps up "The Incline" of Pike's Peak. I'm not ashamed to admit that it was (much) harder than I expected and at certain moments, I thought the thin mountain air would be my end. The summit seemed to stay permanently fixed in the distance as if we weren't actually moving, although my screaming calves told another story. Eventually we made it, but only after a lot of pep talks and water breaks.
There's something thrilling about the mountains, whether you're looking up to them or down from them.
Manitou gave us the opportunity to do both.
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