Colorado
Day 2 of our Alaska roadtrip began in Amarillo, where we spent a few hours before resuming our journey north by northwest. Our route cut across the Texas Panhandle and the top right corner of New Mexico on the way to Colorado.
Entrance to the Garden of the Gods
Colorado Springs
In our prior lives, each of us had once lived in Colorado, but we hadn’t spent much time in Colorado Springs. So it was with some excitement that we spent the entire third day of our trip exploring this little metropolis at the foot of Pikes Peak. This landmark is named for Lieutenant Zebulon Pike, who discovered (and attempted to climb) the 14,110 ft mountain in 1806. As the easternmost of Colorado’s “fourteeners”, Pikes Peak would serve as a beacon to generations of travelers across the Great Plains – “Pike’s Peak or Bust” became the slogan of the 1859 Colorado Gold Rush. The first road to the top opened in 1889, and cog railway service from Manitou Springs was inaugurated in 1891. Alas, the weather didn’t cooperate for our ascent to the summit, so we’ll have to try again next time!Colorado Springs was founded in 1871 by General William Palmer, as a more sober alternative to rowdy (Old) Colorado City, a nearby mining supply town which sprang up during the gold rush. The city’s scenery, climate and mineral springs made it a popular tourist destination in the early 20th century, and several major military installations were established here during the Cold War. Colorado Springs is also home to the U.S. Olympic Training Center, and is the headquarters for a number of evangelical religious organizations.
- Click here for more photos from Colorado Springs.
Manitou Springs
Colorado’s first resort destination owes its existence to the dozens of mineral springs in the area, whose naturally carbonated waters are renowned for their medicinal effects.
| Ute, Arapahoe, Cheyenne, and Kiowa once frequented this picturesque valley, and the springs began to attract outsiders in the early 19th century. Dr. Edwin James, who first climbed Pikes Peak in 1820, wrote glowingly of the health effects of the mineral waters, which attracted the attention of other adventurers such as Albert Gallatin Boone (grandson of Daniel Boone, and Craig’s distant cousin), John Fremont, and George Ruxton. William Palmer purchased the soda springs in 1870, and named them “Manitou” after an Algonquin spirit popularized in a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Laid out like a European spa town and accessible by railroad, Palmer’s “Little Switzerland” soon began attracting vacationers from far and wide, and was the number-one tourist destination in Colorado by the end of the decade. |
Among the “who’s who” of notable visitors in the town’s heyday were U.S. Presidents Grant, McKinley, and Roosevelt, and celebrities such as P.T. Barnum, Thomas Edison, and Jerome Wheeler, president of Macy's department store, who erected the town clock in 1889 for the opening of the Manitou Mineral Water Bottling Company.
- Click here for more photos from Manitou Springs.
Garden of the Gods
Colorado Springs’s most spectacular park was donated to the city in 1909 by the children of the late Charles Elliott Perkins, who stipulated that it would be known forever as the Garden of the Gods, and "where it shall remain free to the public, where no intoxicating liquors shall be manufactured, sold, or dispensed, where no building or structure shall be erected except those necessary to properly care for, protect, and maintain the area as a public park." The name was coined in 1859, when two surveyors from Colorado City came across this magnificent collection of red sandstone formations. When one of the men noted that it would be “a capital place for a beer garden," his companion exclaimed, "Beer Garden! Why it is a fit place for the Gods to assemble. We will call it the Garden of the Gods." The moral of the story seems to be that the gods don’t drink beer ... |
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United States Air Force Academy
Colorado Springs is home to several important military facilities. Camp Carson and Peterson Field were both established in 1942, and expanded during the Korean War. The former, redesignated Fort Carson in 1954, is now home to the 4th Infantry Division, while the latter, called Peterson Air Force Base since 1976, is the headquarters of Air Force Space Command (AFSPC), U.S. Northern Command, and North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). The previous NORAD headquarters was in nearby Cheyenne Mountain, the deeply buried underground complex depicted in the movie “War Games”. The most recent addition to the Colorado Springs military community is Schriever AFB, another AFSPC facility established in 1983.
Thunderbirds display at the USAF Academy
In 1954, Colorado Springs was selected as the site of the academy for the newest of the military services. The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) began operations at Lowry AFB in Denver while its new campus on the outskirts of Colorado Springs was completed. The first class of cadets graduated in 1959. In its first five decades, the Academy produced 35 Rhodes Scholars, 34 astronauts, over 400 general officers, and one Medal of Honor recipient (Captain Lance P. Sijan). Other notable graduates include Chesley Sullenberger, the US Airways pilot who safely landed on the Hudson River in January 2009; Gregg Popovich, coach of the San Antonio Spurs; and Chad Hennings, former Dallas Cowboys lineman. The Air Force “Falcons” football team has appeared in 17 bowl games, and routinely beats its Army and Navy rivals for the coveted Commander in Chief's Trophy.
- Click here for more photos from USAFA.