Colorado Springs, Colorado - March 1st to 3rd, 2023
Our first stop of the season was not far from home. Since we were in a new rig, we wanted to be close to home in case we discovered something wasn’t working properly. But Colorado Springs is a nice place to visit anyway.
Our Season Five travels have begun. The four and a half months we were home flew by fast. It didn’t seem like enough time to get everything done. We felt rushed to purchase two vehicles, make mods to Red Tail (our Winnebago EKKO), go to doctor and dentist appointments, arrange for some home improvements, install the backsplash for our kitchen remodel (now going on three years), and visit with friends. It didn’t help that the water pipes in our finished basement froze and broke on Christmas Eve, so we, along with our kids, spent three days ripping out drywall, insulation, and carpet over Christmas to prevent mold from forming. Then it was dealing with our insurance company and hiring a drywall company. We still don’t have carpet or baseboards yet, but that can wait until we get back in the fall. At least the walls are closed up again.
Ann was hoping to get all of the Season Four posts out by the time we hit the road again, but that didn’t happen. She still has about a dozen or so posts to go. That just means she probably won’t get caught up again until 2024. We will be home a little longer next time.
Our first day’s drive was pretty short, just down to Colorado Springs from Broomfield, less than two hours. It was the most relaxing way we have ever started a trip. We could take our time getting ready, making sure we had everything. There was even time to go out to lunch with our son before we left.
Along the way to Colorado Springs, we stopped at a CAT Scale to weigh Red Tail. We were 100 pounds over the GVWR (Gross Vehicle Weight Rating), but we were not over the axle ratings for either axle. Red Tail was fully loaded, with our propane tanks and gas tank full, along with our fresh water tank close to 90% full, about 45 gallons of water. Since a gallon of water weighs about 8.3 pounds, we just need to shed about 12 gallons of water. What that actually means is we will probably get into the habit of dumping our gray and cassette when we leave a campground and wait to fill our fresh water until we arrive at the next campground.
There was a winter storm warning, but the snow flurries stopped by the time we started our drive. We installed the water heater antifreeze kit the day before. Since the temperatures were below freezing, we put the flue plug in and set the water heater to antifreeze mode for our drive. When we arrived at the campground, we removed the plug, turned the propane on, and set the water heater to comfort mode. We will leave the antifreeze kit installed all the time and only remove it when we need to decalcify the water heater.
We were camping in Cheyenne Mountain State Park for the next three nights. We camped there before during Season Two (Cheyenne Mountain State Park - August 25th to 28th, 2020) and enjoyed hiking the trails in the park. It was a little colder this time so we decided to check out some other activities in the Colorado Springs area this time. On the drive to our camp site, we passed some deer along the road. A bunny rabbit hung out with us at our camp site for a little while. It felt good to be back out among nature again.
We’ve been to Colorado Springs many times before. You would think after living in Colorado for over twenty years, we would have already visited and seen everything there is to do in Colorado Springs, but we haven’t even come close.
Thursday, we knocked two more items off the list. First we took a tour of the Olympic and Paralympic Training Center. There are 19 training centers across the U.S., but only two of them house athletes for months or years during their training. Colorado Springs is one of those two, with Lake Placid, New York being the other. We were a little surprised that the training centered required proof of COVID vaccine to enter the facilities. Fortunately, we still were carrying our COVID vaccination cards in our wallets, although they were not updated when we received our booster shot last fall. They didn’t check for the booster shot, just that we had been vaccinated. The athletes probably appreciate the extra caution to protect them against getting sick. That would set back their training for while.
Unfortunately for us, there were no athletes training at the time, most of them were away, competing at international events. However, we did get to see all the training facilities and our guide was quite interesting as he had been working at the center for many years.
After the tour, we headed to downtown Colorado Springs. We’ve never gone downtown before, but it looked interesting when we drove by on our way to the training center. The area was pleasant to walk around. There was a mixture of new and old architecture along with sculptures every now and then. There were views of Pike’s Peak down the side streets heading to the west.
The Pioneer Museum and the Olympic Museum are located in the downtown area. The Pioneer Museum is located in the former El Paso County courthouse. It is an impressive granite building built in 1903.
The Olympic Museum is an interesting modern building. Next to it is an unusual pedestrian bridge, the Park Union Bridge, that leads over to America the Beautiful Park. We did not go into either museum as we generally avoid museums. Museums are just not our cup of tea.
We stumbled upon an alley called AdAmAn Alley. It had some nice murals on the walls along the alley. The alley is a tribute the AdAmAn Club. The club was formed in 1922. The original group of five, which became known as the “Frozen Five”, ascended Pike’s Peak on New Year’s Eve and set off fireworks from the summit. The tradition has been repeated every year since. The name of the club comes from “Add a man”, since the plan was to add another member to the club every year. There are currently 105 members.
Another impressive building in the downtown area is the El Paso Club. The club, founded in 1877, is believed to be the oldest private town club west of Chicago. The building was originally the home of Professor James H. Kerr of Colorado College, built in 1883. The El Paso Club bought the building in 1890. The club started with nine members and now has about 400 members.
During our stroll around downtown, we stopped for chai at the Perk Downtown coffee shop, one of Colorado Springs oldest coffee shops. Then we decided to have dinner at Jack Quinn’s Irish Pub & Restaurant, just across the street from the Perk Downtown. It was a little too early for dinner, so we strolled around a few more blocks of the downtown area before returning to Jack Quinn’s.
The restaurant had a lovely atmosphere and the food was delicious. Ann had the Celtic Reuben with sweet potato fries. The reuben is made with Mary Rose sauce instead of Thousand Island. Marie Rose is a British condiment. Keith went more traditional Irish and ordered the Irish Coddle along with a lager. We both had a very enjoyable meal.
Friday we visited Garden of the Gods. We have been there quite a few times before, but it had been about ten years since the last time we went. Garden of the Gods is a free city park. The land was donated to the city in 1909 from Charles Elliott Perkins’ estate. His children, following their father’s values, specified several stipulations with the donation: It will always be known as Garden of the Gods, “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.” (gardenofgods.com/park-history/)
We hiked the trails through the park, making a large loop through most of it, starting at the visitor center. In general, we followed the Garden of the Gods Outer Loop route in AllTrails, with a few deviations. The main deviation was at the beginning, instead of following Susan G. Bretag Trail around the north side of the main spires of the park, we opted to cut through the Central Garden, between North and South Gateway Rocks, on the Gateway Trail, then picked up the Palmer Trail on the west side of the park.
In total, we hiked 6.3 miles with an elevation gain of 696 feet in two hours and 45 minutes. We counted it as hike #4 of our 52 Hike Challenge for 2023. The previous three hikes were a Volksmarch at the Carson Nature Center in Denver in January (8.1 miles) and a couple of hikes in Keystone Gulch in February (5 miles and 6.1 miles).
After our Garden of the Gods hike, we treated ourselves to some chai and cranberry crumb cake at the cafe in the visitor center. We enjoyed our refreshments while sitting at a table with a view out over the Central Garden.
On the way back to the campground, we stopped at Home Depot to pick up some Command hooks. One was for hanging the sink cover when not in use. Another was for hanging pot holders on a cabinet door. A third hook was for hanging Keith’s hat on the side of a cabinet. That evening, Keith installed all the hooks.
Our first stop went well. Colorado Springs has so much to offer and we’re glad we got to experience a couple of new things this time. It also felt good to be on the road again. It didn’t take us long to get back into the rhythm.
Check out our related video: Colorado Springs, Colorado
(Ann)