Exploring Colorado Springs

Like the native New Yorker who has never been to the Statue of Liberty, we live close to the town of Colorado Springs, but have never explored it. We decided to make a short trip to see the sights and visit the museums.

Our first stop was the Western Museum of Mining and Industry. The museum had several large working steam engines, as well as working models of stamp mills, dredges, and other equipment. I am of course always a fan of machinery. We were invited to try our hand at gold panning, but only turned up fool's gold. We had our photo taken with two of the burros in residence.

Cynthia especially liked the old photos of life outside the mines, including the town and the home. There were photos of baseball teams, 4^th of July parades, a schoolhouse and schoolchildren, and a woman who took in laundry and told fortunes. Life was hard, but the immigrants came anyway, looking for a better life.

Our next stop was at Cheyenne Mountain State Park, near Fort Carson, south of Colorado Springs. Cynthia and I did some light hiking, under heavy overcast, on an unseasonably cool day.

We slept in on Thursday. Our first stop was to the Visitor Bureau. Besides the usual brochures and maps, we learned about an historical conference related to massacres. Cynthia called about the conference, and learned that it was full. We might be able to get in if there is a no-show, however.

We headed to the Fine Arts Museum. The upper floor was closed for an installation, but there was quite a bit on the lower floor. Perhaps the most impressive part of their collection was of New Mexico popular religious art, including crucifixes.

After a light picnic, we went to the Pioneer museum, which is a better than usual local historical museum, in the old courthouse. We learned a lot about the hospitals and sanitariums which cared for the people suffering from tuberculosis. The courtroom looked like it came right out of Perry Mason.

Steampunk art - Bonemaking machine

Our final stop was at the Cottonwood Center for the Arts, where many artists have galleries. We saw an exhibit which included many “steampunk” artworks. The photo of Cyntia and I is with a bonemaking machine.