More Travels with Hawgwash

Well, today was an absolutely beautiful day. There were almost no clouds in the sky, the weather was warm, the air was clear...well, you get the picture. Since our Internet access has been very slow and I was getting extremely frustrated with the lack of speed and / or access, we decided to go out for a bit and explore Colorado Springs.

We are camping very close to the Garden of the Gods. I had visited the Garden when I was a young girl, so I really was looking forward to seeing it as an adult. (It has to have been over 40 years since I was there...) We drove the 4 or so miles up to the Garden, and as we were getting near, I kept looking over at some cool rock formations which kept reminding me of something. Then the signs said to turn left for the Garden of the Gods. Lo and behold, the rock formations I had been watching as we were riding along were the entryway to the Garden of the Gods. I knew there was something familiar about it.

For me there were significant changes, but what would you expect in 40 or so years? Anyway, even though I had high expectations, I was not disappointed with what I saw. There were a few monoliths I didn't find that I thought I remembered as a child, but I am now not sure that those monoliths were here. They could have been somewhere else in our travels. The main changes I noted was that the road is no longer dirt and there are very well marked paths all along and through the Garden.

The City of Colorado Springs and the Parks Services have done a wonderful job keeping this Garden a place to visit. This year marks the 100th year anniversary. I found the plaque that dedicated the Garden of the Gods to the City of Colorado Springs and have included that picture here. Unfortunately, the pictures do not do justice to this magnificent park. It is a registered National Landmark (as it should be) and should always be free to visitors. That was part of the agreement in 1909 when it was dedicated to the City of Colorado Springs.

If you are a technical climber, this is a great place to go play. They allow climbers (with the appropriate permits and equipment) to climb many of the rock formations. We had the opportunity to watch several climbers attempt various rock faces. One lady looked like a new climber, but did a fantastic job getting to the top of one of the formations. It made me want to go locate my old climbing gear and start climbing again. Luckily, I didn't have a chance to climb, I probably would have broken my neck.

If you ever have an opportunity to come to Colorado Springs, I would highly recommend taking a trip to visit the Garden of the Gods, it is an awe inspiring place to go. I just wish we had more time to spend wandering around. The park is fairly large and there is a wonderful network of hiking trails all around. Hopefully in the next few years we will be able to have time to spend wandering around this Garden.

That is all for tonight. Thanks to being in business for myself, I do have the opportunity to visit locations like this at the spur of the moment. People chained to a regular job would be hard pressed to be able to wander around as much. Tomorrow I will continue on my thread of how to let people know you are in business. Take care....