It was a power-packed day touring some of the iconic places in the area. We saw and learned so muc
h, I don’t know how I’ll be able to share it all. We began the day travelling to Manitou Springs to board the cog railway train to the top of Pikes Peak. Manitou Springs is a city that developed around 4 naturally carbonated mineral springs. This is the only city in the country where the springs are cold…the other springs are hot springs. Anyway, these springs were thought to have healing powers, and many patients with tuberculosis were brought to the area for the clean, dry air, and the mineral springs. Many were cured! The houses along the hills are called “TB houses” because the 200 area doctors would house their patients in small cottages around their home to be able to treat and monitor their progress. ..just fascinating.
The cog railway is the world’s highest and longest cog railroad and has been chugging tourists up Pike’s Peak since 1891! Pike’s Peak is one of Colorado’s 14’ers…that’s what they call mountains higher than 14,000 feet, and Colorado has 58 of them, making Colorado the highest state in the country, with an average elevation of 6000 ft! NORAD, the North American Command Center is located on one of the mountains, and they have facilities where people can live for 2 years. Since 9/11, there are no tours of NORAD, and all we could see were antennas.
The railroad goes almost straight up the mountain, with some grades of 25%—Yikes! It is 7 miles up via railroad, but the road to drive there is 50 miles long! It takes 6 hours to hike to the top. The summit is above the treeline, and each mile brought colder temperatures. By the time we reached
the top, it was 35 degrees, and very very windy! They had oxygen available at the summit house for anyone that needed it. The trek was worth it…
the panoramic views were magnificent! That’s Jim standing out on the rocks, near the triangle time capsule that was put there in 1991. Katharine Lee Bates was inspired in 1913 to write America the
Beautiful while standing on the summit at Pikes Peak, and there is a plaque at the top commemorating this. It was truely beautiful with spacious skies and purple mountain majesties above the fruited plains! Our next stop was Garden of the Gods, a designated national landmark
full of towering sandstone formations, created during a geological upheaval along a fault line, which pushed t
hese rocks straight up from the earth. There were plenty of interesting and unique rock formations, a
nd Jim came to the rescue helping support the Balancing Rock…he had a lot of weight on his shoulders!Our next stop was the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. On the drive in, we were gre
eted by Diamond Lil..a B52 bomber perched proudly at the entrance—quite an impressive sight. But, just as impressive was the Cadet Chapel with its 17 spires reaching skyward. Inside views w
ere more spectacular with lots of glass and stained glass, creating a striking play of light streaming through the windows from the front, rear and sides. There were multiple chapels…Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, and even a sign for Muslim but it was closed.
The Air Force Academy grounds were impeccable, and the athletic complex was pretty unbelievable,
with practice fields, a couple of buildings with an indoor ice rink, swimming pool, basketball court. We came home very tired after a long day. We met some very interesting people, and I’ll report more on that tomorrow.
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