The Chapel at the Air Force Academy was actually one of the few things one could see up close. The actual grounds are off-limits to visitors. However, I did find it odd that the Protestant facility was on the top level of the dual-level building and had a nice vaulted ceiling and took up the majority of the space whereas the Catholic facility was in the basement and much less vaulted. Of course, someone has to have the main space and might as well be the more populous group I suppose.

The structure is made out of aluminum (I suppose natural for the Air Force) and has some nice reflective effects. Here you can see the light from the stained glass, the main cross and the view outside through some tinted glass in the rear of the chapel.

The next major stop was the Garden of the Gods, an amazing group of red rock formations sticking out of the ground. Click on the above panoramic to see a larger version. (Once again, I got a sinking feeling that I was taking the same photo as thousands before me)

This rock formation is called "Kissing Camels" it was quite amusing

The most interesting rock in the place was "Balanced Rock" for obvious reasons. It was quite a long wait to find a moment where the other 30 or so tourists in that area weren't posing with the rock as if it had just joined their extended family.

Then it was back to Denver International Airport for mom and dad, to fly back to Burlington, Iowa. Quite the impressive place and not a single glitch that I noticed. There's a neat underground train that takes one from the terminal out to Concourse A, B, or C and along the walls of the tunnel are little metal fans that spin when the train goes by. I dare to wonder how much more expensive each ticket through DIA is because of those decorative fans...

This wasn't mom and dad's plane, but it was a neat arrangement of planes, so I snapped a photo