A Full-time Life

Category: Colorado

GARDEN OF THE GODS

In 1859 two surveyors exploring locations in Colorado came upon this beautiful area of sandstone formations. One of them said "this would be a capital place for a beer garden." The other one, who had a poetic turn of mind, said "Beer Garden? Why, no, this is a place fit for the gods to assemble. We will call it Garden of the Gods." And so it has been called ever since.

In 1879, the railroad magnate Charles Perkins purchased 240 acres of land here, at first thinking he would build a summer home. He never did, deciding he would rather leave his wonderland in the natural state for all to enjoy. He didn't leave any written plans for the area when he died in 1907, but his children, knowing his feeling for the Garden, gave the 480 acres to the City of Colorado Springs. They specified that it should forever remain free to the public and that the only buildings on it were to be those necessary for maintaining it as a public park. (They also specified that there are to be no alcoholic beverages in the park, so that guy who wanted it to be a beer garden would still be out-of-luck.)

We went to Garden of the Gods in the late afternoon, after exploring Pikes Peak earlier in the day. It had been cold and windy up there. Here, the summer sunshine reflected on these beautiful red rocks made it seem even warmer than the 80 degrees it was.

You really need to dress in layers in Colorado!

Geoff and Lisa at the Park Visitor Center.

July 7, 2009
PIKES PEAK, UNBUSTED
The switchback road to the summit of Pikes Peak is owned and kept up by the City of Colorado Springs. It's a toll road. We paid and then a few miles further up, we noticed a booth on the other side with a line of cars. We wondered if the City charged again for coming down. The down booth, it turned out, is a brake check. If you're overheated, a guy tells you to pull over until the brakes cool down. Geoff knows how to drive in the mountains and didn't ride his brakes, so we didn't get busted. We thought going down the switchback curves was less scary than going up.

It's not too hospitable an atmosphere up there above the treeline, so I'm pretty sure people would have paid to get back down if they'd had to! Only 60% of the oxygen available at sea level, plus snow, thunderstorms in the afternoons (possibilities of hail, wind, and lightning any time of the year). The temperature rarely goes above 40. (I think it was a little warmer the day we were there, but it was quite windy.) Here you can see the afternoon black clouds rolling in.

Here are some things we learned about this 14,115 foot mountain.
- It isn't a National Park or monument. A small upper portion was designated as a national historic landmark in 1961.
- It was discovered by explorer Zebulon Pike, but he never made it to the summit. Someone named Edwin James was the first to do so (in 1820).
- Gold was discovered in the area in 1858 and "Pike's Peak or Bust" became the slogan of the Colorado gold rush.
- There is an annual car race called "Pikes Peak International Hill Climb". (Only two of the people in our car cared a thing about this race. They sat in the front seat. They were father and son. The other two of us thought that the sharp curves were quite treacherous enough at safe speeds.)
Katherine Lee Bates, a professor from back east, thought of the words to the poem "America the Beautiful" while she enjoyed the majestic view from the top of Pikes Peak. She had taken a train journey and seen other sights that she put into the poem (later set to music) but said that the words came together while she was here.

It was a fine day trip. Beautiful scenery and good company. We've always heard about Pikes Peak and we're glad we got to go to see it.
July 4, 2009
ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH JUNE 2009

Our son and daughter-in-law moved to Longmont, Colorado about the same time we started our most-time (then Full-Time) RVing, so we've been coming to the Loveland-Longmont area once or twice a year for a decade. By now, it is another place that feels like home and it's good to be back again.

A week ago on Saturday, Geoff and Lisa picked us up for a day trip through magnificent Rocky Mountain National Park. It was a beautiful day. Sunshine, snow (but none on the roads), elk, and the closest we've ever come to a moose (mother and baby). Scroll through the pictures — they really say it all.

Yup, it's beautiful Colorado in June. We're lucky to be "home."

June 30, 2009
SCULPTURE GARDENS, LOVELAND

As if the surrounding mountains are not enough to feast your eyes upon, there are two beautifully done sculpture gardens in the town of Loveland. A visit to either garden makes a very enjoyable afternoon. It's lovely to stroll around viewing the art and gardens while enjoying the fresh mountain air. Much better than a stuffy museum (and much more likely to be visited — by us, at least.)

The nationally famous Benson Sculpture Garden Park is centrally located in the older part of the city. Every year, Loveland has a juried exhibition when the city buys new sculptures for the park and to place elsewhere throughout the city. There are well over 100 sculptures in the park. Most are bronze, but there a few in other mediums. Most are quite naturally located in the large park, so that it is as if you were just stumbling upon this farmer coming in from the potato field or children playing or whatever the various sculptures depict. We visit this park each time we're in Loveland, looking for new additions and checking on our old favorites. Click on this link to see a few more of our favorites: (click on the first picture to start the slideshow) . Some of the sculptures in the park are more contemporary or abstract in design. Those are also fun to look at, but our favorites remain the more traditional.

http://travelingrainvilles.typepad.com/photos/loveland_sculpture_park/

The Chapungu Sculpture Park is newer. This garden is at the edge of town, near a new and "upscale" shopping center. The park was built and the sculptures purchased by the shopping center developer and (as far as we could figure out) it is managed jointly by the development corporation and the city. This park has contemporary fine art by Zimbabwean sculptors. Telling stories through carvings is a tradition in that country. The landscaping in this newer garden is more natural grassland, which I imagine is rather like that of the sculptors' homeland.

This was the first time we'd visited this park. Some members of one sculpting family were working in the park when we were there. It's always fun to watch experts at work.

The captions on the photos in this album are taken directly from the carvings. They made it seem like you were hearing the sculptor talk to you about the work.

http://travelingrainvilles.typepad.com/photos/sculpture/index.html

June 22, 2008
A VISIT TO A MOUNTAIN TOP – COLORADO JUNE 2008

Mount Evans is one of quite a few 14,000+ feet peaks near where our son Geoff and his wife Lisa live (and also near where we live when we're in Colorado). But this Mountain is different from the rest because it has a paved road all the way to the top. It is said to be the highest paved road in the world.

This is really a lucky break for us — believe me, we're not going to be climbing anything that high ever. Just getting out of Geoff's Jeep and walking around is enough high-altitude hiking for us.

The wind was blowing very hard. We really noticed the difference in altitude and temperature as we "climbed".

We are glad that we got to experience a little bit of what it's like up on the top of the world.

Real climbers probably kind of hate that there is an easy way to get to the top of this mountain and I really couldn't blame them. But this real mountain climber didn't seem to mind us being there as he looked down from his even higher perch.

This building on top of the peak, called Crest House, was built in 1939 and was the highest structure in the world at 14,260 feet. It was destroyed in a propane explosion in 1979. Only the outer walls remain; it's now an observation platform. You can see for miles.

Reading the warning sign actually made me feel good — as if we were in pretty good shape just to stay alive up there!

June 16, 2008
More from Colorado

This is Colorado's state flower, the columbine. We saw it last August, when it was still like spring up in the mountains above Denver. Wouldn't it be cool if we could get a picture of every State flower?

This visit to Colorado wasn't actually an RV trip at all. When we came home from our London stay, we flew into Denver and then spent a while with our kids in Colorado before heading back to the Northwest by car. (We had stored the fifth-wheeler in Oregon.)

On one of the days we were there, Geoff took us on a Jeep ride up to these mountains above Breckenridge. I don't think there could be a greater contrast than between living in the busy and crowded city of London and then just a few days later being up in these wide-open spaces. We were so lucky to get to do both!

This is the Jeep Trail up the Mountain. The pass is called Radical Hill(!).

________________________________________________________

And here's some of what we saw when we got to the top. (Click on the pictures to get full views.)

There were so many great views and the mountain goats were so amusing. I could hardly stop taking pictures. These are just a sample. It was a great day.

December 4, 2007
Colorado – in the Fall, 2006

Loveland, Colorado is one of several places where we've "lived" as RVers. We like to pretend that we're locals whenever we stay in one place for more than a week. And Loveland certainly qualifies — we've stayed there a whole bunch of times. Our son and daughter-in-law, Geoff and Lisa, moved from the Northwest to near Boulder in 1999, about the same time we started RVing. We've visited there once or twice a year ever since.

Of course, with the kids there, we'd have visited often anyway, but it was a great bonus for us that they chose this beautiful area. We've always stayed at Riverview RV park, which is actually right between Loveland and Estes Park. The first time, we were kind of disappointed because the park wasn't closer to the kids' house — it's about 20 miles. But we found the distance easy to manage and we loved the park. It's well-kept up, has great views of red cliffs and the Big Thompson River, and, of course, besides being close to the kids it's also close to Rocky Mt National Park and is a good jumping off place for exploring the whole area.

We've experienced some interesting Colorado weather over the years. (Sometimes, you only need to stay a few days to experience two or three seasons — the weather can be very changeable.) But most of the time it has been beautiful, with crisp clear weather and blue skies. The altitude and dryness take a little getting used to, especially the first time, for those of us more used to the damp Northwest. But it's well worth it — the area is drop dead beautiful.

All of these pictures were taken in Autumn, 2006, around Riverview RV Park and at Devil's Backbone, a great little hiking spot, that's practically in downtown Loveland. We went from snowy Yellowstone in September to freezing-cold Casper Wyoming in October, and then on to still beautiful autumn-like Colorado, where we stayed until mid-November.

Later on in the fall and winter, there were record snowfalls in this part of Colorado. But by that time, we were down on the Gulf Coast of Texas. That's one of the nicest things about RV living. Wherever we live, we try to live there only when the weather is at its finest. And we love it that way!

November 29, 2007