More Colorado Springs

Friday, we started our day with a little hiking around the Garden of the Gods, a famous park with spectacular rock formations. This is of course very popular, but still worth doing. This park was donated to the city by the family of a prominent citizen, around 1910.

We stopped at McDonalds to use their WIFI to check email and post to the blog. Looking at Trip Advisor, one of the recommended restaurants was Bird Dog BBQ. This was out of the way, but very good food. We both had the daily special, the Brisket Sandwich. Unlike many barbeque restaurants, the meat was not marinated in barbeque sauce; you could choose your own sauce from the table.

On the drive, we were both somewhat amazed at how large Colorado Springs has become; it was seemingly endless housing developments.

We then headed out to the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame, which was Cynthia's idea. Most of the museum consisted of glass cases containing photos, text, and objects, related to famous rodeo people. There were also bronze sculptures, saddles, and other displays. Although Cynthia and I have been to some rodeos, we are certainly not steeped in rodeo history, so almost all the museum was new information for us. The museum is surprisingly large. Ultimately, we suffered from burnout, leaving after more than 2 hours. Although it was somewhat interesting, I felt that it was primarily of interest to rodeo aficionados.

Contrary to Richard, I thought that the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame was stunning. The glass cases have individual photos of famous riders, pieces of their personal equipment, and the reasons why they are in the Hall of Fame. The displays were grouped by rodeo events; ie calf roping, bulldogging, bullriding and such. There is a room devoted to Chris LeDoux, his music, and his rodeo accomplishments. If you know nothing about rodeos, you will come away in awe of the athleticism, danger, and brute power on display at a rodeo. Very nice bronze sculptures, usually of a bucking horse, are displayed throughout; the 2D art is forgettable. Your next winning bar bet: Deer Trail Colorado held the first ever rodeo. Cynthia.

A chicken with feathered legs, held up for inspection.

Saturday morning we slept in, and started our morning with “Ranch Day” at the state park. Rangers and volunteers had demonstrations and activities related to ranching, for the benefit of us city folks. We learned about chickens, saw a dye demonstration, and learned a great deal about the brands used in ranching.  Branding is not obsolete, and we were told that if we are ever invited to participate or watch a branding, that we should be sure to do so, as it is quite a big deal.  The calf is roped, branded, innoculated, castrated, and tagged, a hard day for the calf.  Cynthia says to enjoy your hamburgers!   Richard is thinking about making a New Age brand, suitable for Boulder. Rather than a Lazy L brand, perhaps a Flying Buddha brand. ;-)

Our next stop was “Old Colorado City”, the original territorial capital of Colorado. We saw the log building which was part of the territorial capital. We visited art galleries, and walked by many souvenir shops. We looked at miniature city scenes in one shop, walked through the farmer's market, and generally took in the area. We had a light lunch at a tapas restaurant, and finished our visit by going to the Agia Sophia coffee shop and bookstore. Downstairs, it looked like any coffee shop. Upstairs, it was a bookstore of religious books from the Russian and Greek Orthodox tradition. The name of the coffeeshop is a play on the famous church in Constantinople (Istanbul) , the Hagia Sophia.

We then visited the money museum, which had a special exhibit on money and the Civil War. The Union printed paper money to cover the cost of the war, while the confederate money, promising cotton after the end of the war, suffered from extreme inflation. As in most aspects of the conflict, the Confederates had disadvantages in the field of money, including poor tax collection and a lack of engraving facilities.

We went to church, had a quick dinner in the camper, and then went to square dancing at the park, which was part of Ranch Day. A good time was had by all at the dance, young and old.

A very full Saturday, but very enjoyable.

Sunday morning we went to the May Museum of the Tropics, a bug museum. A lot of bugs in glass cases, including some spectacular ones, but not very much text or context. An amateur collection, but still impressive. A reminder of the difference between a professionally curated museum and an amateur museum.

On the way home, we stopped in Falcon for Richard to visit his Firebird sculpture, which he had not seen since it was installed in 2009. It looked about the same as when it was installed, so that is good.

The drive home was uneventful. We are now looking forward to France, while Richard needs to get ready for the Loveland Sculpture Invitational show in August.