Colorado Spring - April  2023

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On a Thursday in mid-April, I flew to Colorado Springs for a five night stay. Two of my three sisters, Doris and Mary (and husband Roger) live here & we met for dinner at my hotel at 7 pm, their homes only a short distance away.   

We got together every night for dinner, and, on three mornings I had a good hike with one or both of them, at nearby parks.

On Friday morning Doris, Mary and Mackenzie, and I visited nearby Ute Park. a place I've been before & there are extensive walking/biking/jogging trails, with easy to moderate degrees of technical difficulty.    

Sheryl & Larry, friends of Doris, also attended. Both are retired; Larry was an ER Doc while Sheryl was a flight nurse, and these days goes on trips a few times a year as a wilderness medicine teacher.  

While taking photos I lagged behind the group (as usual) and a mountain biker came along, pushing his bike, saying he'd had a crash. We caught up with the others, and Sheryl took responsibility for the bike and the patient, saying his swollen arm (just below the left wrist) might indicate a fracture. 'That's where I impacted', he said. Cheryl is personable and helped the guy stay calm & focused. Someone called his wife, who soon came out with their (six-month old ?) baby, from a local car park.

Once back at their vehicle, Sheryl and I loaded the guy's beefy mountain bike into the back, the front wheel ending up next to their bemused child, sitting backwards in a car seat. We made sure it was stable.      

note - you can enlarge any part of a picture by left-clicking in and then out again (with some exceptions). 

	Ute Park, heading out				injured mountain  biker in the lead
		his wife and child came out to meet us		almost to their car		a glimpse of red sandstone at the upper left (car park on right)
	back on the walk				Pike's Peak (14,115 ft.) from the car park (when we first arrived)

I was at the hotel again around noon. I did minor shopping up the big hill at a local King Soopers grocery store, to stock my tiny kitchenette.

In the afternoon I drove into town, to the CS Museum of Fine Arts (MoFA), a place I've been many times before.      

	'Eye Dazzler' Jar, 2017 by Frederica Antonio, Haak'u, (born 1969).		Nampeyo, bird migration pattern, see note		Horses in a field, by Iia McAfee (1897-1995)
		Don Quixote & Sancho (1931) by Boardman Robinson, (1876-1952)		Dale Chihuly glass

note - Rachel Nampeyo Sahmie (Hopi, 1903-85) was considered to be the finest 20th century pottery artist working in the Hopi tradition, and today her bowls are in museums around the world. 

On Friday evening the fam had dinner at Mary's, with impromptu after dinner entertainment provided by their friendly cat Maya, who acted as an exit-announcer (the opposite of a greeter) at the restroom door, meowing loudly when any of us exited. It was pretty amusing and M&R said she had never done that before. Once I left the door ajar and she marched in like the police, meowing loudly as I did my standing up business.  

Saturday morning - at 8 am there was an inch of snow on the ground, and it was windy and really cold outside, so we took a day off from hiking. After breakfast I was finishing a book I'd brought, and sat by a large window, having coffee & looking out on a snowy landscape. Snow has the magical ability of turning the world from color to black and white, at least for a few hours.

In the afternoon I drove into the City again, this time to visit the Pioneer Museum, in the old courthouse building. I had not been here for a long time, so it was good to refresh the story of the early days in the the Springs, when City founders and business leaders generated promotional efforts to attract residents from back east, emphasizing the inherent health effects.

Sometimes, exaggerated health claims were made, like this one from the CS Chamber of Commerce in 1915 - "The climate of Colorado contains more of the essential elements which effectively promote health than that of any other country. These requisites are found in the chemical composition of the atmosphere; in the dry, pure, clean, soft yet stimulating breezes which quicken circulation and multiply the corpuscles of the blood; in the tonic effect and exhilarating influence of the ozone; in the flood of its life-giving, germ-destroying sunshine". 

But it is certainly true that both the elevation (6,500 ft.) and dry climate were a benefit to chronic TB and asthma sufferers.

	4th floor hotel view on Saturday morning				still cold & windy at 1 pm
		1917 Otis Birdcage Elevator		TB sanatoriums in Colorado Springs by 1915		Doctor Solly
	good portrait painting of him

A visitor here could easily spend up to two hours reading displays and watching historical videos, or, you can sit in an atmospheric old courtroom & have it all to yourself, like the last photo shows.   

On Saturday evening we had another great dinner, this time at Doris' place, and we went over family history, recalling many hilarious anecdotes. When I left around 10:30 pm, it was snowing & the windshield had a thin coating of ice. Roads were not slippery, I was glad to see. 

Sunday morning  - it was warmer & all traces of snow had vanished. Mary and I enjoyed walking on the popular Monument Creek trail, close to downtown.

	Mary & Mackenzie		Monument Creek		near Colorado College
				good scenery, looking north		turnaround point
	M & M		natural looking (concrete) bank stabilization

Later on Sunday four of us met Larry & Sheryl at Jack Quinn's Irish Pub, in the center of town. Here we enjoyed good food & traditional music. It was pleasantly uncrowded at 4 pm & the music was not loud, so we could hear each other. The musicians were really good and they played traditional jigs and reels plus ballads.     

	Jack Quinn's Pub		Uilleann pipes		the Sunday afternoon house band
		Larry & Sheryl, see note

note - Sheryl said she had spoken to the injured bike guy (or maybe to his wife) earlier in the day and he had indeed fractured his left wrist, and maybe broke a finger too ? ....but was doing well, overall. 

On Monday it was balmy & clear and Doris & Mary and I had a steady uphill walk along Monument Creek, where it emerges, heading south, from the immense Air Force Academy property.

Unexpectedly, after the second photo my camera turned itself off, possibly due to a spent battery, a bit of a mystery to me.  

Ute Park, heading out

On the drive back to the hotel Mary told me about Poor Richard's new/used bookstore downtown. In the afternoon I drove into town once more and traded a new hardback book I had brought along, for credit, and for only a few dollars more came away with two used hardback books, in good condition. 

Poor Richard's consists of four businesses: the bookstore, a coffee & pastry & dessert bar, an upstairs Pub, and, a toy store. Mary said that owner Richard says he has the only toy store in America with a liquor license ! 

That night the fam had dinner in town at a good Italian restaurant, Doris having been a long-time customer. The food was great and huge, even the salads. I was back at the hotel with plenty of time to get organized and watch an NBA playoff game. 

On Tuesday morning, my departure day, I met Doris & Mary at the IHOP next door to the hotel. We had a few minor details to discuss about our convergence in Dublin, Ireland, in late October.   

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Epilogue - My thanks to Doris, Mary, and Roger for hosting an enjoyable weekend visit. I'm really impressed that they have access to great scenery & walking trails, so close by.   

On all three walks we went at least five miles. 

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