We spent the first full day here going around the city.
Gail and I went to pick up groceries for the next few days, including all the stuff we would need for Thanksgiving dinner and the big pot-o-soup for the week after. We literally filled a grocery cart, and were surprised that the total bill was only about $170. At home, we can only get maybe two bags of groceries for $100. The twenty pound turkey was nine dollars. Nine.
The gas is at $1.88 or lower everywhere as well.
Colorado Springs has exploded to almost 450,000 people, double the approximately 200,000 here in 1980. There are entire sections of the city I don't recognize at all. It is a true statement: you relly can't go home again.
But some areas are almost the same.
We walked around the downtown core of Colorado Springs, which has picked up a surprising amount of public art. The old churches still look nice, and there are a lot of restaurants and bars.
Next we headed up to Old Colorado City, the “historic” part of Colorado Springs that was first settled around 1859. It is full of old brick and false-front wooden buildings with bars, cafes and cutesy shops lining a main street.
The next morning we were all up early to take the cog rail up to the summit of Pikes Peak. I have climbed Pikes myself over a dozen times, in the early 1980’s. The 13th trip I shattered my leg on the way down.
Now, this would be a chance to take everyone up the easy way.
We went up to the station in Manitou Springs to catch the early train. On the way up, near the summit, we saw two bighorn sheep.
The wind was fierce on top, the temperature below zero. I stood outside and looked long at the Sangre de Cristo range, visible from New Mexico, running all the way north into the Collegiates in Central Colorado. Looking north I could see into Wyoming, east into Kansas... the view you never tire of.
Sufficiently frozen, I walked into the gift shop to find everyone else, and bought us all fresh, hot donuts and coffee.
After we got down, we walked around Manitou Springs, poking in and out of the shops. The pot shops are nestled right in next to the tourist stores, and there is a lot of art here as well. I took a sip of the "healing water" from the spring itself. It tastes like soda water at a bar, and I felt myself suddenly infused with energy.
Or perhaps it was the coffee kicking in.
We headed home for crackers, cheese and wine before dinner.
We woke up to snow on Thanksgiving morning.
Spent the morning cooking, but took a break to go to the Garden Of The Gods, dedicated I’m sure to old Manitou himself. I love the way the snow limns the red rock, the way the trees are dusted.
We spent the rest of the afternoon alternately eating, then in a coma, rousing to eat again. We slept the day away, missing the point of two movies.