Colorado Springs - Glen Eyrie Conference Center

We have arrived for our SOWERS month of service at 

Glen Eyrie Conference Center.

The place is so beautiful  - what a treat to be here!

I was able to meet a friend and co-worker from 40 years ago!

We had a delightful lunch and catch up time at the 

Garden of the Gods Resort and Spa.

Glen Eyrie is famous for its castle.

General Palmer ( the founder of Colorado Springs)  built this as a residence for 

his family. 

I love all the red rock country in Utah, 

but this is so gorgeous with all the greenery and mountains around here.

There are so many gorgeous red rock formations that it is hard to stop taking pictures.

WILD LIFE THAT WE HAVE SEEN SO FAR

This one was about 20 feet from our camper door.

Bobcat sighted by a friend.

The Bighorn Sheep and babies

There is a great video of the herd that was in our campground, 

see it on Facebook.

(I can't get videos on this blogspot)

I'll be looking for more shots of them.

Not exactly wildlife, but fun to see:

Hummingbirds and the nests.

This one is on the front porch swing of one of the cottages.

Others have seen mama bird come to feed the babies!

WORK DUTIES

(yes, we came to work)

The place is so large, that we have this transportation to the various work sites.

Ladies assignments to work on the gardens of the 

Big Horn Lodge.

The Butterfly Bush

Here's our happy crew - just a pullin those weeds!

Lou is working on rebuilding the rickety old steps.

And today, Lou got to work on repainting (priming ) this cabin.

He finished priming the side of the building - 

lots of sore muscles!

THE END

(of our first week!)

Air Force Academy - Colorado Springs, Colorado

The Visitor Center at the Academy is open to the public

but the lines to get in to the base are long.

It is a huge complex, and a treat to see it all.

The scenery is beautiful and it is thrilling to understand some of their 

rigorous training.

THE CHAPEL

The main reason  I wanted to see the chapel at the Academy was because our family drove to Colorado Springs every Easter Sunday for church at this chapel

These are internet pictures.  

Today the chapel in 'under cover' for renovations that will last for 5 more years!

This is today's picture of the chapel.

What a disappointment!

"I could fly my glider here at the Air Force Academy"!😊

Look carefully at the upper left hand corner

there's his plane.  

(Video is on Facebook)

And a good landing.

This plane was meant for ground combat, but had it's first air- to- air victory 

shooting down an Iraqi helicopter.

The Thunderbirds ended their demo flights with this aircraft when there was a tragic accident in 1982.  

This was a beautiful day on the Academy grounds.

Florissant, Colorado - Is this trip our "Fossil Trip"? (Florissant Fossil National Monument)

 

We stayed at a Harvest Host Campground

(between Breckenridge and Colorado Springs)

This is the Florissant Grange.  Apparently the Grange is a fraternal organization, primarily for the farmers and ranchers in rural areas.  

The property is a former schoolhouse from 1887.

There are 35 Grange members, 3 of them are 91 years old and attended this school.

Lovely evening with music and pot luck dinner with other Grange members.

Among the Grange activities are a weekly music/pot-luck get together.

They also have classes (art, pine needle basket weaving, gourd making) on a regular basis. It is a surprisingly "together" community for the rural folks.

Then, the fossils.  

This is the quarry that is open to the public for personal "fossil hunting"

For $15 an hour per person, they give you a box of rocks (shale) 

and the tools to find fossils.

Primarily a razor blade and kitchen knife to split the layers!

Our 'catch' was primarily leaves and sticks.

Not nearly as much fun as the fish from Wyoming.

The landscape in this area is mostly flat, some rolling hills.

They say that the forest was covered with Redwoods.

Imagine that - a Redwood forest covered this now flat landscape.

Many petrified wood stumps of redwood have been uncovered and are a part of the National Monument.

The "Mother Tree" had these three 'babies'

Breckenridge, CO - Boomtown from mining to skiing

A beautiful summer day in the now very touristy town of Breckenridge.

A free gondola ride to the top of the mountain to see all the summer activities.

Kids 'learning the ropes'

Alpine slides are in most of the ski towns now.

Always love the Colorado Columbines

And then the history - we always try to get the story.

                            Survival in an isolated town.
 

The winter of 1898 had snow of 20 feet.

The “supply chain” was blocked for 78 days

 by the snow on the railroad tracks with snow drifts as high as 50 feet.

                            The Legendary High Line 

Train completed in 1884 from Denver to Breckenridge to Leadville, and crossed the Continental Divide twice.

The journey that had taken days by stagecoach or mule train could be done in about 12 hours.

These towns were no longer isolated from the outside world.

During the snow storms, the engineers would first try “bucking” to get thru the snow (moving forward thru the drift, then back again). 

 

When that failed, they would bring on the rotary snowplow (like a giant snowblower) to try to get thru. 

If that failed the townspeople would come out and shovel by hand.

Then in the BIG SNOW, all efforts failed for 78 days.

Lou examining the rotary engine.