It has been three long years, but the Orange High group was finally able to get together this year in Manitou Springs, Colorado. Diana and Shoo found a wonderful house (named the Allison House after the man who restored it) and we really enjoyed its accommodations.
For those of you not familiar with Manitou Springs, here is Google’s short description of this pretty town. Manitou Springs is a resort city in Colorado, just outside Colorado Springs. It’s known for its mineral springs and mountain landscapes, dominated by soaring Pikes Peak. The Manitou Cliff Dwellings are a group of reassembled ancient cliff structures. Hundreds of steps lead up a steep slope on the Manitou Incline Trail. Manitou Avenue is home to art galleries and specialty boutiques. All of this is true, but I found the charm of the people and area to be most captivating. “Manitou” is from the Algonquian language meaning “great spirits.”
The Allison House with its entrance bridge over Fountain CreekFountain Cree runs through Manitou and ends up being in confluence with the Arkansas River.The locked mystery door in the retaining wall in back of the house. There is a small mountain directly in back of and above the wall, so the door must lead into a storeroom of some sort. Storage for roots, canned goods, guns, people, loot from robberies??? We had many scenarios.Our dinner guestWe were within walking distance of the main street where many cool shops are, and these are just a couple of them. So many things to take home.Lynda discovered this little coffee shopElizabeth and I joined her one afternoon and enjoyed the Appalachian music playing in the backgroundLynda in front of an old engine on the Cog Railway. Cogs had to be used to help the engine take passengers up to the summit of Pikes Peak (14,115’), the highest of any cog railway in the world. Some of the grades were 25%. The steepest cog railway is the Pilatus in Switzerland at 48%! A regular train’s maximum grade is 2.2%.The funny looking thing between the tracks is the cog. (Click on the photo to see them better). This is at the summit of Pikes Peak (Since 1890 Pikes Peak has officially been spelled without the possessive apostrophe. The U.S. Board of Geographic Names has removed nearly all apostrophes from place names for uniformity and ease of signage.). The red things at the end are the new cog railway engines/passenger cars.Elizabeth had never been to the Garden of the Gods and we definitely had to remedy that.Pikes Peak in the far background. That faint line going diagonally up a nearer mountain is the mile-long Manitou Incline, a series of steps going up a VERY steep incline. People run up this trail. We didn’t. 🙂Checking out the Balanced Rock along with many other people. Parking was hard to find.One wonders how it has stayed balanced for so many years.
After Garden of the Gods, we drove to downtown Manitou and walked to The Loop, a nice Mexican food place. We all ate too much but we can’t prove it because none of us took pictures to document this event. We got to talking and somehow everything was gone before it entered our minds.
Wednesday, we had our Zoom call with those who were not able to join us. That was quite a feat to get the room dark enough for the almost right ambiance. Thank goodness Alan was there to help. The ladder was in the background so as to hang a comforter over the window so that we wouldn’t be silhouetted by the sun.The ZoomersThe Manitou Springs attendeesThe afternoon following the Zoom, we went to a tea party…except no tea was served. Our friend, Connie, had prepared an exquisite repast of meatballs, salmon, salad, shrimp cocktail, other tasty treats and last, but certainly not least, wine. Again, we were all having so much fun with many conversations going that we have no photos of said party. Maybe that’s good? No, I’m sorry we have none as it certainly was fun. Adding to the excitement was a nearby thunder storm that not only displayed some vibrant lightning but several sharp claps that were a bit nerve wracking. This photo displays some of Connie’s enthusiasm on a hike a couple of years ago.
Lynda needed to leave the day after the Zoom to return to Denver for a family gathering…a birthday celebration!
Elizabeth, Diana, Shoo and I went to the Broadmoor, a destination resort for lunch and to walk around the grounds. It is fun to walk in the buildings and see a lot of art and some local history. Lunch at Cafè Julie’s.Founder Spencer Penrose’s wife, Julie, and an early Broadmoor painting.One of the Broadmoor’s wings beside the lake. We saw some good sized fish in this small lakeThat evening, Alan and Jack joined us for our last night’s dinner. Alan helped prepare dinner.Elizabeth prepared condiments and her daily avocados.While having hors d’oeuvres on the back deck, it began to rain and poor Jack cooked the burgers while it was pouring. We enjoyed our repast inside and had some wonderful little cakes Jack had picked up at the local bakery.
Our time at the Allison House ended much too quickly and I’m sure we didn’t have enough time to chat about everything we wanted to. We especially missed those of you who were not able to join us. We hope it will work out for next year.
buzzardnotes 