One of my favorite, and most surprising, travel
destinations has to be Colorado Springs. The surprise element comes from how
much there is to do. There is truly an activity to please everyone in the
family, young and old. When we last visited, we had three generations in tow
with varying physical abilities, and everyone was able to participate in all we
did. And the weather is always beautiful, with an average 243 sunny days
annually. Plus, I loved the small-town atmosphere with quaint stores and restaurants.
A popular activity with my family was taking the Cog
Railway to the top of Pike’s Peak. This little train chugs its way over 14,000
feet to the summit. Along the way, we viewed various wildlife and flowers, as
well as the occasional sturdy hiker. The views from the top are spectacular.
An inspiring stop is the Olympic Training Center,
which is a beautiful facility for our Olympic contenders to train. For those of
us who’ve never been to the Olympics, it gives insights into what a real
Olympic Village is all about. The pool is impressive, being larger than any I
could have imagined. The kids loved climbing through the Olympic rings.
Another must-see spot nearby is the Royal Gorge
Bridge, the highest suspension bridge in the U.S. As you walk across the
bridge, you can feel its movement, which can be a bit disconcerting. There is
also a gondola that runs across the gorge. It was great fun to look down and
watch kayakers brave the Arkansas river rapids. If you’re brave enough, you can
also bungee into the gorge or zipline across. Uh, no, didn’t do that. However,
we did do something called the Incline Railway, which takes you from the top of
the gorge to the bottom, and is loosely named, if you ask me. It’s more of a
white-knuckle, gee-I-hope-this-thing-doesn’t-crash, gravity-defying trip to the bottom. Okay, it’s actually pretty tame, but I don’t do
thrill rides. Yes, I’d do it again.
Probably the most awesome area in Colorado Springs
is called Garden of the Gods, which is listed as a National Natural Landmark.
It contains beautiful and colorful rock formations. One great place for a
nature walk.
If you’re looking for other activities, I highly
recommend the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, hiking the Seven Falls, touring the U.S.
Air Force Academy, and the Will Rogers Memorial Shrine. Like I said, there’s so
much to do in Colorado Springs.
***
Title: Love for the Holidays (my story, “The Little Chapel of
Abiding Love”)
Author/pen
name: Diane Deeds
Genre: Romance
Publisher: Sin City Romance
Writers
Date of Publication: Nov. 3, 2017
ASIN: B07564WJQL
·
ISBN-10: 0998672157
·
ISBN-13: 978-0998672151
Blurb: (for Book) Love is always in the cards with
Love for the Holidays. Las Vegas temperatures are cold in December, but the
heat from these seductive holiday tales will keep you warm. Whether the hero is
a casino owner, executive, playboy, or rancher, they’re no match for the ladies
of Vegas, when Christmas magic is in the air
(For my story)
When a Las Vegas resort owner encounters the screenwriter
who left him at the altar nine years ago, can he forgive her? It’s Christmas at
the Little Chapel of Abiding Love, where forgiveness comes with the season.
Buy links:
Excerpt:
It’s common
knowledge things in Las Vegas blow up. Jeci knew it all too well. In her short
thirty-year lifespan, she’d seen some great hotels be blasted to smithereens.
The Bowles family had made an outing of it when the Dunes went down in
ninety-three. Daddy was alive then. Jeci recalled him taking her by the hand
and pulling her away from the rolling cloud of debris created when the building
caved in upon itself.
Imploded.
That’s what they called it. Crumbled from the inside out leaving only an empty
shell, which, too weak to stand on its own, collapsed in upon the wasted
fragments of its former self.
She could
relate.
As she
drove past the Welcome to Fabulous Las
Vegas sign, she almost turned the car around. Then she remembered there was
nothing to go back to.
On a
typical visit, she’d never drive the Strip. There were too many stoplights, and
the gawking tourists slowed things down. Today, something compelled her to take
the slow route toward her mother’s house.
The
Bellagio had risen to take the place of the Dunes. The Sands, the Aladdin, the
Desert Inn were all gone, replaced by larger, more modern hotels with more
alluring names; the Encore, the Aria, Palazzo and Cosmopolitan. Everything was
bigger, more upscale.
She headed
north, not concentrating on the destination, but her heart beat faster with
every block closer to the scene of her crime. Maybe it wouldn’t be there any
longer. Maybe.
Who was she
kidding? Wasn’t she trying to distract herself from turning her head toward the
opposite side of the street?
She strived
not to look, but the urge to see the hotel was too strong. As she stopped at
the light, she glanced up to view the Hotel Eterna. His hotel. The southwest sunlight gleamed from its face like a
beacon, momentarily hypnotizing her. The entrance curved outward like arms
beckoning her toward the glass entry doors. The whole place could have been hers.
Theirs.
A tall, fit
man in a dark suit exited a limousine in front of the hotel. It looked like—no,
it couldn’t be Tait Ellison. The figure shielded his eyes glancing out toward
the street and seemed to strain to see who drove the Bentley. Of course, he’d
recognized her car. How many powder blue Bentleys are cruising the Strip?
An
obnoxious horn sounded behind her, making her jump. The light had changed, so
she proceeded through the intersection.
On the
opposite side of Sahara, the Stratosphere stood as always, shooting toward the
Las Vegas sky on its three spindly legs. How would they ever implode it and
what would that look like? If the entire building fell over instead of inward,
it wouldn’t hit anything of any importance.
Except for
one thing.
One tiny
unobtrusive building wedged between a dilapidated apartment building and what
was now a bail bond office. The Little Chapel of Abiding Love.
The car
seemed to steer itself into the lot, where she parked facing the entrance. It
was just as she remembered, a cute little white cottage with a blue painted
door and rose bushes on either side. Except now, white twinkle lights outlined
the building’s roof, and a balsam wreath with a red bow decorated the door.
Pain radiated throughout her chest, and she couldn’t manage to suck in a
breath, as though she were—imploding.
Author bio:
When
Diane Deeds answered the call to write, the characters in her head remained on
call-waiting for many years. She is excited to commit their thoughts to paper
before she is committed. Diane relocated decades ago to the heat and
bright lights of Las Vegas, Nevada to thaw out after many winters in New York.
She resides with her first and only husband , their college-aged daughter, and
three spoiled rescue cats.
