Miramont Castle and Broadmoor Hotel

Miramont Castle (French for “look at the mountains “) was constructed in 1895 and add to in 1897. It was built for a French Priest and his mother.  They only lived there for around eight years before returning to France.  The Sisters of Mercy purchased it and used it for a Sanitarium and later as a retreat and summer home. In 1946 it was sold to investors and turned into apartments for returning soldiers of WWII. It changed hands 11 times in the ensuing years.  In 1976 the Monitou Historical Society was formed to save the  building from condemnation and destruction.

It is built up the side is the mountain so that each of the four floors has a ground level opening.  It has 30 rooms, featuring 9 architectural styles including English Tudor, Romanesque, Moorish, and Byzantine. One room has 8 sides and another has 16 sides.  When constructed it included electricity and in-door plumbing.

There is a chapel, a great hall for the display of artwork, servants quarters, dining room, a conservatory, and a solarium.  A shoe was found in the rafters that was placed there by the builders as a charm to protect the occupants from evil demons or witches. 

We strolled through old town Manitou Springs and also visited the Broadmoor Hotel, a famous and huge hotel complex. Interesting place..

US Air Force Acadamy

The repairman called and they should have parts by 1 pm so we drove up to the US Air Force Academy for a tour.

The mission of the Academy is “To educate, train, and inspire men and women to become leaders of character, motivated to lead the US Air Force in service to our nation.”  The visitor’s center had displays that show how the academy achieves its mission through education, physical fitness, character development and extracurricular activities. 

Our tour guide was a 1963 graduate of the academy.  We got an overview of the main campus, walked around the iconic chapel (the inside is closed to visitors for 3 years for renovations), and watched all 4,000 cadets line up and march into the dining hall for lunch.  They can feed those 4,000 cadets in 25 minutes. We walked through the Honor Court and viewed the Polaris Hall tower before a light lunch in Arnold Hall.  We also got to drive around a very small portion of the 18,000 acre complex that includes the airfield, sports fields and football stadium and housing for staff and officers.  With the mountains as a backdrop, it is a very impressive place.

We’ve had a few hitches with getting the A/C replaced but it was finally finished about 6:30. 

Pikes Peak

Several weeks ago, John had contacted an RV repair service in Colorado Springs about replacing our A/C unit and fixing our generator. This morning the mobile service technician showed up without the A/C unit!  It had not come in but was expected later on Monday.  The repairman worked on the generator and determined that it needed a new fuel pump and he looked at the A/C unit and determined it only needed a new motor which they could order and have tomorrow.

Now we can enjoy the rest of day.  Back when John and I were kids, we had at some point driven up to the top of Pikes Peak and we wanted to do it again since had been so long ago. We thought about taking the Cog Railroad but found out that it was closed down for a total makeover and wouldn’t open again until 2021.  The drive up is now paved (probably has been for a long time).  The peak is at 14,115 feet above sea level. We passed Crystal Reservoir but it had been drained for repairs to the dam.  Big foot has been sighted in this area but not today.

At about the 10,000 foot mark a sign read that we were 1 mile below the peak.  The total drive on the road is 19 miles but if you hike it is about 11.5 miles.  At the 16 mile mark we had to abandon our car and ride a shuttle up to the top due to construction all around the peak.  In about 3 years they will have several new buildings, new walking paths, new view points, a new restaurant and new parking area. So finding a place to view the valley below and the horizon beyond was next to impossible.  In fact, I slipped and strained my knee trying to get to a view point.  But, despite all of that, I’m glad we made the trip.  It was awesome!

Garden of the Gods

Even though is was only a 45 mile drive from the lake to Manitou Springs, it was a lovely drive through gorges and canyons made up of red rocks and boulders.  Our Garden of the Gods RV Resort is only one mile from the Garden of the Gods Park which is owned and run by the city of Colorado Springs and is free for all to visit.

There are numerous naturally occurring rock structures in this 3 mile long park with many walking paths weaving in an around the rocks.  Most of the roads are marked with bike lanes and there are lots of pullouts for picture taking opportunities.  We stopped at the most popular areas where we watched young folks rock climbing.  Many rocks are named like Kissing Camels, Gray Rock, Sleeping Giant, the Three Graces, and the Pulpit Rock.  The Balanced Rock was at one of the entrance/exits.

Around supper time we walked around Old Town Colorado Springs looking for a good dining place and settled on an okay Italian restaurant.

Eleven Mile Lake State Park

As we were leaving Buena Vista Friday morning, John spotted the Central Tractor store and thought they might have the parts he needed to repair our electric cable that runs from RV to Jeep. And they did have it!

We then drove over to Eleven Mile Lake State Park, a whopping 54 miles.  We have camped here before and enjoyed it then as we did this time.  It was’t too busy even though they had a fishing tournament on Saturday so we had a fairly secluded site. John then spent most of the afternoon fixing the electric cord while I walked around the loops enjoying the cool air and warm sunshine.

Saturday morning I explored an area  just up the hill from our campsite looking for wildlife and picking up sticks for our campfire.  We also walked down to the Marina but it was too early to see the fishermen coming in with their catch.

After our naps we decided to run down to Cripple Creek in hopes of taking a tour of an old gold mine.  We drove the back country gravel roads, took a wrong turn and arrived in Cripple Creek too late for a tour.  Oh, well, we still enjoyed our walk up and and down the main drag.  There must be a dozen different casinos all around the business district and it is very popular with the much-older-than-us generation. We must have passed 10 folks in wheel chairs, toting oxygen tanks.

It was a perfect evening for a campfire while watching the harvest moon rise up over the ridge.

Tin Cup Pass

John treated me to breakfast this morning at the Rooster Crow Cafe.  As we drove to the RV we decide it might be fun to drive over Cottonwood Pass and down to Taylor Lake in the Jeep and try an off road trek over Tin Cup Pass.

We were in this area about 5 years ago and the drive from the top of  Cottonwood Pass down to Taylor Lake at that time was all gravel.  Today we drove on a brand new paved road!  We wouldn’t hesitate to take an RV down this toad today.

We slowly drove through the village of Tin Cup, which hasn’t changed in 5 years, and then thought we could drive over Tin Cup Pass to get back to Buena Vista via the back roads. Even though we are pretty sure we have taken this route before we didn’t remember it being so rough.  We stopped at Mirror Lake for lunch,  the mountain goats were grazing high up on the mountain side and a couple of fishermen were catching trout.

Then the really tough part of the climb began.  In over an hour we may have traveled a couple of miles. When two Jeep Rubicons passed us coming down,  we asked about the road on up.  Both drivers suggested that our little Jeep would really struggle on some of the rocks and boulders so we wisely turned around and went back the way we had come. John thinks we may have been okay if we had been traveling with a group, but being alone on these trails is not really very smart. We would hate to get stuck up there all night!

We ended the day with a walk around Buena Vista and a nice dinner on a restaurant patio.

On the Road Again

We debated on staying in Frisco another day or two but decide it was time to move on towards Colorado Springs since we have to be there on Monday to get the AC replaced.  We pulled out of the campground around 10am and drove down to the sanitation department where they maintain a dump station for RVs.  Before dumping we decided to hitch up the car.  The last thing we do before driving off is to check the tail lights on the car and RV to make sure they work.  This time, the first time ever, they did not work!

A quick trip to Walmart for a new plug, then rewiring the cable (with a slight slip of the knife and a cut hand), and John got it fixed so we were off after a 3 hour delay. We got as far as Buena Vista, unhitched the Jeep so we could explore some National Forest campgrounds, and then decided to stay at a commercial park before moving on.  The forest campgrounds were either to far down a washboard road or just plain not good for our class A coach. The good part of a commercial campground is long hot showers!

Long Stay in Frisco

Following a lazy Saturday morning we rode our bikes into Frisco to participate in their annual Food Tasting and Arts Show.  They blocked off about two blocks for the food , beer and wine tasting and the arts tents were set up on the lawn of the History Museum.  We dined on Cajun food and enjoyed going through the arts and crafts displays.  One artist had beautiful paintings on the back side of glass create neat three dimensional picture.  If one would have fit in our house we would have purchased a piece, but not. I found a nice pottery tray that is going home with me.

Sunday’s weather forecast called for rain so I made John drive us up to Breckenridge for their annual October Fest rather than ride our bikes.  It did rain but we could have missed the wet drops on a bike ride. We enjoyed the German foods and beer while doing some major people watching and listening to polkas played by different bands on two different stages.  

Monday and Tuesday were bike riding days.  Monday was the 21.7 mile ride up to Keystone and back and Tuesday was the 6 mile ride up hill to Copper Mountain with an easy cruise back down.  

Enjoying Summit County

Wednesday we rode our bikes up the hill/mountain to Breckenridge where we shopped and had lunch before cruising back down to Pine Cove.

On Thursday we hiked the Shoreline Trail around the peninsula where we are camped then drove back up to Breckenridge for a half price happy hour dinner starting at 4:30!  We sat at the community table and enjoyed visiting with a young couple from England. 

Today my best friend from high school, Mona, drove up from Denver and we had a great visit and went to the Dillon Farmer’s Market for Palisades peaches and tomatos.  John rode his bike over there and discovered the seafood booths so we now have crab cakes and salmon in the freezer.

Time to Head South

We pulled out of the Bighorn Mountains and headed south toward Colorado.  It was a long hot drive down to Casper, WY where we stayed for the night so I could do the laundry and fill the cupboards and frig with supplies.

Then on Tuesday morning we continued our trek to Frisco CO, arriving mid afternoon with hopes of snagging a place in Heaton Bay campground.  We had no luck there so we ended up on the Dillon Lake shore at the Pine Cove Campgroud which is really just a parking lot made into camping slots for RVs. But - we are right on the lake with a great view of the mountains.  We’ll hang out here through the weekend and then decide where to go next.

South Tongue River

John was tired of me dragging him up mountains and down steep trails only to have to come back up the steep trail so he planned a day trip where we hiked some easy paths and drove on some easy and some difficult trails.

Near the Dead Swede Campground we found a wonderful path along the South Tongue River that led us through quiet forest, along soft pine covered trails and past interesting boulder strewn hills.  I imagined that my grandchildren would have had a great time climbing over all the rocks and wading in the river.

As we traveled the gravel road we enjoyed the scenery and kept an eye out for moose or mule deep, neither of which were spotted.  We did stop at an historic Splash Dam where tie hacks would build a temporary dam to hold back the spring snow melt to be released when conditions were right in order to ease the movement of  railroad ties from the forest to the sawmills in the valley.

We then found a rugged four wheel drive road that led to Groundhog Gap.  It was so slow going that we turned around after just 3 miles and headed back to the gravel road.  There was a short road that we took up a hill so we could hike up to Calvin Lake, a small mountain lake that was a refreshing change from the ruff roads and mountains.

To cap off this lovely day, John took me out to dinner for a great hamburger and fries.