Growing up, many movies used NORAD as part of their film. One of the ones that sticks out the most, War Games. The tag line was classic and has become part of our everyday language, “Would you like to play a game?” And because Mathew Broderick character chose Global Thermo Nuclear War instead of chess or checkers, he got a free trip to NORAD.

On Friday morning, I checked out their website, they were in Colorado Springs and currently have suspended tours. But it would be cool to get a picture of the sign. So, I grabbed some snacks, got the doggo and plugged in the address into the robot and off we went.

It’s mainly farm land for a good bit of the trip, but it’s tricking you because you don’t notice the incline. Until you can’t swallow because your entire mouth and throat have become so dry, you can only cough.

The next thing you know, you have came around a curve, hit the top of a rise and see something like this. ⬆️

During my trip, I bounced between phone calls and an audio book. My friend who visited earlier this year, her sister is in hospice and it is very close to the end.

When I arrived in Colorado Springs, the first thing I noticed was it looked different than when I was 8 years old. Also, there was a lot of road construction and it’s probably the same construction from the 1970s. The second thing I noticed was this road construction was not picked up by the robot. 🤖 And that was the start of some literal road blocks.

Well, the entrance gate to Cheyenne Mountain Complex was blocked and no matter which way I turned, I couldn’t get close to the main gate entrance. I wondered if maybe Peterson AFB or the Air Force Academy were connected and maybe I could somehow get close and I drove around trying to decide what to do and thought maybe some Carl’s Jr. and a fresh Diet Coke might help. It didn’t. I just got more bad ideas.

But I started thinking, this is an election year. We just had an attempted assignation on a presidential candidate. We just had ours president step back a bit. We have crazy people masquerading as sane people. And they are in charge of stuff. And because of that, they were not going to let anyone in anywhere. Except maybe the Air Force Academy, parents helping kids move in, I’m a parent, I’ve done dorm room move in, I know this works. So I get in line. (Lots of work for a picture of a sign right?)

Lots of check points before the actual guards. But, I could hear them, dripping with exasperation, loudly stating “If you do not have a freshman cadet, you cannot enter. There is no graduation ceremony today, and no commissioning ceremonies today, you cannot enter. No, you cannot enter really quickly to get a picture of the wings” U-Turn it was.

I drove around to see what else there was to see besides the other “big” tourist areas.

I found this cool statue, don’t know who it is, because I couldn’t get back to that intersection, because of road construction, detours and closed roads.

I also saw this cool house/hotel/building. Don’t know it belongs to, again road construction, detours, closed roads.

I saw this beautiful view while looking for a way to get to the above building.

Also, didn’t know Lockheed Martin was here, but it makes sense.

And, there was a memorial for fallen fire fighters.

Lots of great street art too, like this one.

But then…I found the Wild West Ghost Town Museum! This will make a fun family outing, for sure!

I plugged my home address into the robot 🤖 and began the trek home. Lots of new experiences for me. And I prayed and asked forgiveness for trying think of ways to get a picture of a sign. But this street sign summed up my trip.

The goal is 60 new things before I turn 60 and I have 29 more to go and I can’t wait!