7-18-2018 Colorado Springs, CO

Leaving Wyoming behind, next on the agenda was visiting Colorado Springs.  Friends we met on the pickleball court, Vicki and Bob, live in Florissant, about 50 miles distant and it was necessary to party with them for an overnight.  There wasn’t a remote possibility that Bee would make it up the grades and over the divide to their home so we camped in Colorado Springs, threw together an overnight bag and launched mostly upward in the Jeepster.  Our friends have a beautiful home where we sat on the deck that overlooks the valley and the mountain peaks on the horizon. 

View from Vicki and Bob's deck

It is quite remote and most of their company is furry:  deer, coyotes, bears and the occasional skunk.  We learned that one never leaves fresh-baked blueberry muffins to cool on the kitchen counter.  The neighbor recounts that a bear broke the screens and windows, entered the kitchen, devoured the muffins and then, apparently quite satisfied, left.  Vicki and Bob like to keep hummingbird feeders on their deck.  However, at times, the bears like to drink that refreshing sugar water.  Fortunately, these are black bears, they don’t eat humans that much.

No. 3 engine of the CCVNGRR

Abandoned dried up mine

In the morning, Vicki and Bob took us to the interesting historic gold mining town of Cripple Creek which was established in the late 1800s.  In 1890, Robert Womack discovered an enormous gold vein on his claim.  He was so happy that he went on a 3-day bender and sold his property for $500 and a couple cases of whiskey and didn’t remember diddly.  The lucky purchasers subsequently pulled multi-millions of dollars’ worth of gold from his mine and Dumbshit Robert himself died penniless.

Vicki, Bob, Rob and Lindy

Naturally, Cripple Creek was completely destroyed by fire at the turn of the century.  The town was rebuilt of brick by 1924 and the miners continued to pull gold from the mines as the population of Cripple Creek exploded to 50,000 people.  The Cripple Creek & Victor Narrow Gauge Railroad played an important part in the mining operations and it still runs on a short 4-mile tour so we jumped on.  It took us past many prospector holes and mines along the way, some still active and others dried up and abandoned.  The entire town is on the historic landmark registry and the beautiful old buildings are now casinos, saloons, cafes, boutiques and antique shops except for the town’s requisite whorehouse, er, “parlour house,” which is still standing and restored.

The "Parlour House" in Cripple Creek

After a fun 24-hour visit, we bid farewell to our friends and made our way back down to the flatlands to dine at Edelweiss, a wonderful authentic German restaurant where the wienerschnitzel and sauerbraten are fresh and hot and the German beers and wines are cold. 

The next day, the goal was to pay a visit to the Air Force Academy.  There was not much to see, here, understandably, as the academy was established in 1954 running about 150 years behind West Point.  The Barry Goldwater Visitor Center offers information on how the Cadets are trained and disciplined.  At a viewpoint, we could see the beautiful chapel and the Falcons football stadium (where my nephew Mike played for 4 years, yay!).  The Air Force is pretty secretive and the Cadet areas and campus are off limits, which is fine.  If it’s supposed to be classified then I don’t want to know.  After we left, we found a lookout along the freeway that parallels the aircraft runways.  Usually, there are gliders being pulled up and the Air Force sky divers’ drop zone is nearby but because it is mid-Summer, there wasn’t much activity here either.

B 52D on display at the AF Academy

Nose art and bomb count
This plane has shot down two MIGs

Cadet Uniforms

Falcons Stadium

Yay, go Falcons!

The day ended with a lazy cocktail hour followed by a bbq’d rib eye steak from the Butcher Block in Laramie that was so tender it could be cut with the side of the fork.  Life is good.  Tomorrow, on to 4 nights in Taos, NM, a place neither of us have seen yet, so bring it!