North America’s Most Visited Peak

Pikes Peak entrance.jpg

Pikes Peak near Colorado Springs is America’s Mountain, states PikesPeak.com.  The peak height is at 14,115 feet and it attracts 500,000 visitors every year.  https://www.pikes-peak.com/

Visitors enter through the main entrance and, pending no stops, can make it to the summit in about 30 minutes, if the road is open all the way.

Pikes Peak summit bus area.jpgDuring our visit in late September, travelers parked at lower stations and a bus carried passengers to the summit.  Construction was being done at the summit and there was insufficient parking.  Also, weather affects the drive so travelers must keep aware of conditions.

Pikes Peak trees 1.jpgLeaves were changing and most had bright yellows mixed with green.

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Stay tuned for more photos on subsequent posts.

Big Foot also?  You decide.

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Blessings!

Ron

Skirted Heifer

Skirted Heifer 5.jpgWhat?  A restaurant?

Yes, the Skirted Heifer in downtown Colorado Springs is a popular restaurant nestled among the businesses, shops and restaurants.

Skirted Heifer 1.jpgThe restaurant prides itself in being an eco-friendly place, including the floors being made of bamboo.  The beef is local grass-fed.  Their story and eco-friendly facts are included at http://skirtedheifer.com/#story.

We almost passed the restaurant when trying to find it as we were traveling in the downtown environment – trying to watch traffic, people and stores.

Skirted Heifer.jpgSkirted Heifer had a line to the door, during a perceived non-rush time.  This confirmed to me at the onset that this must be worth the wait. You can figure that out easily by checking on where the locals eat.

Skirted Heifer 7.jpgI wasn’t sure what the Skirted Heifer burger was but I ordered it.  The cheese was flattened and spread outside the bun, covering the patty like a skirt.  Interesting concept.  I had never heard of this before.

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So, if you are around Colorado Springs and would like a good hometown burger, fries and custard cuisine, Skirted Heifer is worth the try.  We enjoyed it.

Skirted Heifer 6.jpgRemember Guy Fieri on Food Network’s Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives?  He has been at Skirted Heifer too.  This Food Network link provides some basic information and comments from other guests.   https://www.foodnetwork.com/restaurants/co/colorado-springs/skirted-heifer-restaurant

Blessings!

Ron

Don’t let it fall!

Garden of the gods 11.jpgMy last post of the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs includes the tilting rock.  It seems to me to be more of a balancing rock.  I wonder how it just sits there without falling with it’s own upper weight?

Stewart M. Green, provided some good information about the rock at https://www.outtherecolorado.com/colorados-precarious-rock/, and comments that the balanced rock, poised above the park road at the Garden of the Gods, defies the laws of physics as it balances on a sloped ledge of sandstone. “The famed boulder, appearing in publications around the world as one of the best examples of a balancing rock, is the most famous rock formation at the Garden of the Gods, the number one city park in the United States.”

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Geology of the Garden and Balanced Rock – Stewart M. Green

“Balanced Rock, rising 35 feet above its pedestal base, weighs about 700 tons or 1.4 million pounds.

Balanced Rock is composed of Fountain Formation sandstone deposited along the edge of the Ancestral Rocky Mountains between 290 and 296 million years ago. Coarse sediments with sand and chunks of rock were swept off the mountains by quick-moving streams and rivers, which then deposited them in deltas and alluvial fans. Heat and pressure later cemented the sediments into rock, including sandstone colored red by iron oxide, mud deposits that formed soft shale, and mixed sand, pebbles, and cobbles forming conglomerate.

When the current Rocky Mountains began rising over 60 million years ago, today’s Balanced Rock was uplifted and exposed as part of a rock ridge that connected with nearby Steamboat Rock and an escarpment to the south. Water erosion and frost wedging excavated the ridge for millions of years. Its current shape, formed in the last two or three million years as a soft layer of shale at the base of the formation, eroded faster than the harder sandstone layers above, leaving the boulder perched on a narrow pedestal.

Geologists call Balanced Rock an erosional remnant, a formation that was not transported and deposited in place but instead was eroded from surrounding bedrock. Balanced Rock, like other precariously balancing rocks, is an incredible natural wonder that appears ready to topple over at any moment.”

Are people taking a risk in posing under the rock?  Well, they’ve been doing it for a long time.  However, if I am there and feel the ground shaking even a little, believe me, I’ll move out – away from the rock. Garden of the gods 9.jpgWikipedia has some good information about the garden at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_of_the_Gods, including:

The area now known as Garden of the Gods was first called Red Rock Corral by the Europeans. Then, in August 1859, two surveyors who helped to set up Colorado City explored the site. One of the surveyors, M. S. Beach, suggested that it would be a “capital place for a beer garden.” His companion, the young Rufus Cable, awestruck by the impressive rock formations, exclaimed, “Beer Garden! Why it is a fit place for the Gods to assemble. We will call it the Garden of the Gods.”

I still like my personal understanding of the garden.  It is the creation of our one and only God and I appreciate the beauty He has provided.

Blessings!

Ron

Colorado’s favorite garden?

Garden of the gods 8.jpgGarden of the Gods in Colorado Springs is a popular garden in Colorado and in my opinion – the most popular.

Garden of the gods - sign.jpgI wonder how many people around the world know of this unique place.  I’ve been there three different times and it is intriguing.  I was not aware of its presence until my first visit a few years ago.  It’s worth checking it out.

“The Park is a unique biological melting pot where the grasslands of the Great Plains meet the pinon-juniper woodlands characteristic of the American Southwest and merge with the mountain forest of the 14,115-foot Pikes Peak – America’s Mountain.

The 300 million years of geological history of the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs reveal one of the most extensive pictures of earth history found anywhere in the United States. It is a true geological wonder.” https://www.visitcos.com/things-to-do/garden-of-the-gods-park/

 

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Garden of the gods 7.jpgThe garden was given to the City of Colorado Springs in 1909 by the children of Charles Elliott Perkins in fulfillment of his wish that it be kept forever free to the public.

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Blessings!

Ron

Colorado Springs ahead

Road to Colorado SpringsAlong the highway just up ahead

It looks so close and yet so far

We travel high and low,

Almost like we’re traveling to the stars.

Countryside approaching Colorado Springs-1Cattle, horses and deer adorn the land

As we approach Colorado Springs.

Isn’t it grand to see life different from home,

And as I see animals, I wonder where the buffalo roamed.

We see the mountain peak in our sight

It’s getting closer

Maybe before the night.

Countryside approaching Colorado Springs-2

But it gets larger the closer we go

Where we’ll stop, who knows.

How much time do we have to stop and look

At the beauty around us in Colorado Springs;

Then we’ll be on our way – Pikes Peak and beyond

But we’ll stay a day or two and highlight certain things.

Getting ready to endure the change in elevation.

At an elevation of 6,035 feet, Colorado Springs has two-thirds of the oxygen found at sea level and the summit of 14,115-foot Pikes Peak has only half.   https://www.colorado.com/articles/8-things-you-didnt-know-about-colorado-springs

Blessings!

Ron

 

Wind for power

Colorado windmills-2

Wouldn’t it be great to use these windmills throughout the world to harness the power of the wind?  I’ve seem them in Germany too but I’m not sure who else uses them.

Colorado windmills-3How would these devices work in a hurricane environment?  Would they stand up against the ferocious winds?

Maybe someone smarter than I can share some light on the subject; but I was thinking of ways people without electricity – like those affected by Hurricane Michael, could use power generators like windmills – probably on a smaller scale.

However, I understand it would not be safe to generate power while the grid is not safe.  But maybe there is something that can be done to have power more available in respective communities or in homes – while being safe.

Colorado welcome signWhile traveling from Kansas to Colorado at night we could see red lights spread out everywhere.  First thought was maybe they are alien landing lights across the open plains.  Well, I knew better, and confirmed they were windmills.  I was impressed with the red lights though.

Colorado windmills-1Well, during the day we could see how massive these windmills are.  They amaze me.  I  could just sit there and watch them.  To me, they seem so peaceful, maybe hypnotic.

When we think about the power of the wind – like in a hurricane – it is so destructive and doesn’t provide much value to quality of life.  However, wind is power and provides power for good to those who receive the benefit – like from the windmills.

Let’s keep harnessing the power of the wind for power – and quality of life.

Blessings!

Ron