Colorado Springs: The Top of the World and Other Earthly Wonders (Sept 9-12, 2021)

Remember when I said I found myself being really depressed and sort of brain dead last year? Well, I've had a draft of this blog for exactly a year sitting around. Started on 9/25/2021, finished, I guess tonight. 

I always like to get my vacations written down soon after I get back so I don't forget some of the smaller details of where we went and what we saw. Luckily, I wrote a lot of bullet points, but let me fill you in on the vacation I took a year ago. From now on, it will be from the perspective of me, in 2021. 

I went to Colorado Springs a few weeks ago. 

I didn't know what to expect, but I didn't expect it to be so much of a desert. Just 90 minutes north is Denver, a city with gray mountains and cloud coverage. 90 minutes south, a desert, with strange natural wonders scattered throughout the dusty landscape. 

When you're driving east and west on highway 70 in Missouri, you can sort of forget that these beautiful natural wonders exist all over the country. When you're used to the flattest of flat lands lined on either side with billboards both telling you to get right with Jesus and stop at this 24 hour adult store, seeing any sort of mountain, or hell, large hill is a treat. 

Colorado Springs sits at a convergence of desert, mountains, and forest, which gives you an incredibly unique landscape. 

Garden of the Gods is indescribable. Dozens of rock formations scattered among an area. Each rock formation doesn't seem possible. An alien surface right here on Earth. 

It's technically in the desert, so the shift between temperatures in the exposed sun and the shadow of the rock is enough to give you whiplash. 

My only regret is not having enough time to do a true hike. We only had a few days, so I had to settle for bouncing around the park for a few hours.

Mom, Steve, Nick, Mariah, Sal, and I just constantly calling for the attention of everyone else to see the awe inspiring thing we just found.

The city of Colorado Springs is carved between so many mountain ranges, which gives it a unique layout. It's almost shaped like a really narrow L. We stayed in what I guess I would call the suburbs, only about 10 minutes from downtown on one side and 10 minutes from Pike's Peak on the other. 

I turned my notoriously picky brother onto ramen not long before this trip. Mariah, Nick, Sal, and I were on our own for dinner the first night and I found a random Sushi and Ramen place downtown called Yoo Mae. This place was incredibly unassuming, and almost had that pizzeria look to it, where everything was pleather or dirty tile, so you knew the food would be good.  

Folks, the food was incredible. Sal and I shared a few sushi rolls. Some of the best sushi I've ever had. 

Next door was a bar, that somehow was unaffiliated with Yoo Mae, but was a Japanese inspired cocktail bar called Chiba bar. There was anime on every wall of the room. 

Nick and Mariah called it early, it had been a long travel day. Sal and I weren't quite finished so we found this Irish pub called Alchemy. It was fine. Totally just OK. Sort of you run of the mill, dungy Irish pub. The thing that was awesome is that there wasn't a single person in the bar from Colorado Springs. Everyone wanted to trade stories of their travels and where they live. 

We had an early night for us, 10 pm or something like that because the next day everyone but me had an early morning appointment for riding horses. 

I stayed behind. Having a bad knee doesn't exactly lend itself to riding giant animals. Instead, there was this hooky "Ghost Town Museum" near where we were staying. I went there. It was just me the entire time in this giant warehouse with all these weird little displays that I don't necessarily think screamed "Ghost Town" rather just sort of "Western." But I had fun at how stupid it was. 

I did my own hike waiting for everyone to come back in Red Rock Canyon. It was no where near as cool as Garden of the Gods, was super dusty, and had no shade. 5/10 hike, but I did get to listen to a ton of podcasts. 

That night we had all been looking forward to going to The Rabbit Hole. Like weeks and weeks we had all been texting about all the food we wanted to order off the menu. 

We were all having a beer at Phantom Canyon Brewing when we got a call 20 minutes before dinner saying there had been a kitchen fire and all reservations were cancelled. Panic set in as we were all trying not to show how hungry we were and now we found ourselves in downtown Colorado Springs, all dolled up, with no where to go. 

Sal and I did some quick detective work, finding a steak house, imaginatively called, "Famous Steak
House." Somehow they had someone cancel and could fit our group of six in, with no notice, on a Friday night. And you know what... it was unbelievable. Just one of the most solid old style steak houses I've ever been to. 

After dinner, we met some of Mariah's family who took us to some really cool cocktail bars, Shame and Regret and Lee's Spirit Company. Lee's was particularly interesting as it was setup like an old prohibition speak easy. You walked into what looks like a men's formal wear store and have to knock on a wall to be let into the bar. 

It was a late night. A fun one. But we might have had a little too much to drink as the four of us had to wake up the next morning early to catch a train to the top of Pike's Peak. 

We were all feeling maybe a little groggy in the morning. I wouldn't say I was hungover, but I also wouldn't say I wasn't hungover. 

There's almost no parking around Pike's Peak, but driving around for 30 minutes looking for a spot was much more appealing than trying to drive up to Pike's Peak. The road was long, winding, and in some areas, just wide enough for one and a half cars. 

I've learned as I've gotten older, trains are my preferred mode of transportation. I don't get motion sick, I can wander around and do whatever I want, and in a few hours I magically appear where I need to be. The train to the top of Pike's Peak was an hour ride through beautiful mountains, where we saw all sorts of mountain goats, waterfalls, 

Pike's Peak gives you a perspective. To think that humans summitted this 100 years ago without the help of machines. Truly inspirational. The 30 minutes you got at the peak was not enough to have the existential crisis you should have standing at the top of the world. 

The four of us stopped at Cerberus Brewing on the way home to grab lunch and a beer. Was great beer. I wish we had more time to try some more. 

Frankly Coffee became the group of sixes go to coffee shop. We lived off of their incredible brews. I'd go as far to say that our trip was sponsored by their go-go juice. 

We all managed to get back to the Air BNB around lunch, took naps, and then back to downtown to have some pizza. Mariah, Nick, Sal, and I sort of wandered the town square. The weather was perfect. Everyone was out. There was live music on every corner. It was the most alive we saw Colorado Springs. 

That night, Sal and I went to a wine bar, again, cleverly called Upstairs Wine Bar... because it's upstairs... and a wine bar. It was sort of a nice, low key way to end the trip. Sal and I tend to chat up the locals whenever we travel, it's one of my favorite parts of being somewhere else. We met Zach, the bartender. 

Zach was born in Colorado Springs, had moved to Utah and Arizona briefly, but made his way back home. It was interesting hearing stories from Zach because I got the feeling that not many people in Colorado Springs were born in Colorado Springs. 

Zach told us a tale of a city with an identity crisis. The people that actually live in Colorado Springs tend to be environmentalist. People that love climbing rocks and running rapids in kayaks. People that both want to be left alone, but welcome you into their house for a beer. 

And then there's the military bases that surround the city, bringing in thousands of "patriotic dipshits" (his word, not mine) that like to start fights and puff their chest forcing the locals to "respect the troops." He said over the past 30 years, the vibe has completely changed as 24 hour news cycles and the internet have collectively broke the brains of everyone in America. The type of people that generally run around town on military leave, expect to be treated like kings. 

It was a pleasant conversation over a bottle of a delicious French Pinot. 

The next morning was Nick, Mariah, Sal, and my last in Colorado Springs. Mom and Steve were staying for one more day of relaxation. We decided to all get a nice breakfast on the way out of town and that's exactly what we did. 

The weather was perfect. The town was still asleep. Bon Ton's Cafe was ran by an immigrant with Communist Leanings. (At least the books for sale would suggest it) And damn, just the best send off meal I could've asked for. 

We took our time, we talked, phones were away, and we just had a very slow and casual breakfast. Perfect ending to a quick trip. 

This was during the height of Covid 19, but right when we were trying to pretend like things were normal again. So the airport was wild. Everyone had to wear masks. I was impressed with how many people angrily wore their masks around their chin, not really covering their nose, or like this comically angry man, bought a mask that said, "Government Mandated Muzzle."

Finally getting this blog over the finish line has me thinking there might yet be hope to get the Seattle and Portland blogs finished.